Tag Archives: road trip

Beer on the road – Road Trip Northern BC and Okanagan

by Mike

Road trip to the a Portion of Northern BC and the Okanagan

Last year I took a road trip to the Kootenays region of BC for Craft Beer and hotsprings and I even made it back to the Kootenays for the East Kootenay Beer Festival this year.  The 2800km road trip really got me excited to explore more of the vast province that is British Columbia.  With a week at our disposal we hit the road to check out some of the Northern BC breweries as well as checking out a few of the latest breweries in the Okanagan.

NorthernBCRT-60 NorthernBCRT-61

When the trip was finished the odometer read 3433.3km which is a hell of run but we live in a beautiful area and it is a crime that we always fly elsewhere to Holiday.  If you were paying attention you would notice we took a dip into Alberta to visit Jasper National Park to camp and check out the Athabasca Glacier and a brewery (surprise surprise).

This run of driving brought us to Three Ranges Brewing, Jasper Brewing Company, Barkerville Brewing, Red Collar Brewing, Cannery Brewing and Tin Whistle Brewing.  Our plan had us staying in a hotel in Valemount while camping in Jasper National Park, Quesnel and Shuswap Lake (Shuswap Lake was not possible due to extreme thunderstorms and 30mm or rain so we continued to the Okanagan) and we started the whole trip in Squamish.

With the price of gas skyrocketing in Canada and especially in BC it is getting harder to pull off affordable road trips.  Your best bet will always be to camp as your average night will be around $40 or less instead of the $100+ in hotels.   One thing to note with camping at Provincial Park campgrounds in BC is that most sites are now only available as reservable sites.  The campground will likely say full even if they have lots of room.  The only way to camp now in British Columbia is to book ahead and as soon as possible.  The best way to do it is online at Discover Camping although you can also book on the phone in Canada and US at 1-800-689-9025 or Internationally at 1-519-826-6850.  National Parks are a whole different game with awful websites that have mazes of links and unhelpful information.  Your best bet is again to book in advance but if you are going to Jasper National Park click here to book sites and any other National Park just search for online booking of campsites in the park you want to stay in.  It will save headaches and frustration.

What is a road trip without Photos?

Alice Lake Provincial Park Campground (Squamish)

Mount Robson Provincial Park (BC), Jasper National Park and Jasper Brewing (AB)

Quesnel, Barkerville and Pinnacles Provincial Park (BC)

Kamloops (BC)

NorthernBCRT-58

A total of 3433.3km may seem like a long way but it barley touched the surface of the province of BC.  I can’t wait to explore event more of the province in the future!

NorthernBCRT-59

I hope this can inspire you to both explore more of the Province of BC and its nature and Breweries or really wherever you live!  Some times it is just better to explore your back yard no matter how big it is and I know BC is bloody big with 944,735 square km (or 364,764 square miles) inside its borders.

Pacific Beer Chat Podcast #5

by Mike

Originally posted on http://www.pacificbeerchat.com

Keeping up with the Beer Geeks (Pacific Beer Chat Podcast #5)

Welcome to Episode 5 of Pacific Beer Chat.

Bloggers involved include;
Joe of http://thirstywriter.com/,
Terry of http://westcoastbeergeek.com/
Mike A of http://thebeerrater.com/
Steve also of http://www.mikescraftbeer.com
mike G of http://www.mikescraftbeer.com.

Topics of Discussion:
1 – Recent attended event recap and upcoming events.
2 – Pumpkin Beers Arrival
3 – Wet Hop Beer Season

East Kootenay Beer Festival (4th Annual) 2015 – Fairmont Hot Springs Resort

by Mike

Sometimes really cool events come up that inspire you to go on a road trip.  On a visit to Vancouver’s Bomber Brewing I was made aware of the East Kootenay Beer Festival at Fairmont Hot Springs resort in the Far Eastern portion of the Province right on the Alberta border.  If you have been following this blog for a while you will know that last year I did a road trip around the Kootenays and loved it (Click here to read).  On that trip I fell in love with the Kootenays and could not wait to get back (but assumed it would be years before being back).

East Kootenay

A beer festival held at the base of a ski resort that happens to be at a Hot Springs resort sounds like a match made in heaven.  Already using many of my holidays I took a long weekend to attend the festival.  On Friday June 19th my Mom and I hit the road around 9am for our 850km trek to the resort.

EKBeerFest Route

Heading to the resort we headed East on Highway 1 until we got to the Coquihalla Highway.  The Coquihalla Highway brought us to Kamloops where we joined back up with Highway 1 until Golden.  Once in Golden hundreds of km from home we took highway 95 South to the resort. The drive is very picturesque and will take your breath away!

On arrival to Fairmont Hot Springs we were greeted with a welcome to the 4th annual beer festival.

Fairmont HS-035

Seeing as the last time I was at this resort it was only to use the public hot spring pools as my Girlfriend and I were camping down the highway we did a bunch of exploring around the resort.  Besides the Hotel portion of the resort there is also camping (although I think it was only for RV’s).  They also have a golf course and it looked like a mini golf course but I only spied it while driving by.  On top of this they also have a ski hill which rounds out their Winter operations and this is where the festival was to be held on Saturday June 20th.

Seeing as I wanted to get up early on Saturday to hit up the hot springs as well as head into Invermere to visit Arrowhead Brewing I headed to bed at a pretty reasonable time.  Once Saturday rolled around wristbands could be picked up after 1pm that would allow you into the festival grounds.  Shuttle buses started at 3:30pm to bring you up the 3km access road as the festival ran between 4pm and 8pm.

EKBeerFest-001

Breweries that attended this years festival were as follows:
Arrowhead Brewing
Banff Ave Brewing
Big Rock Brewery (Alberta)
Big Surf
Bomber Brewing
Bravo Beer Co
Cannery Brewing
Cariboo Brewery
Fernie Brewing
Hoyne Brewing
Last Best Brewing
McClelland Imports
Moon Under Water
Mt. Begbie
Okanagan Springs
Pacific Western (Scandal)
Phillips Brewing
Prohibition
Rider Cider
Russel Brewing
Stanley Park
Steamworks
Wild Rose Brewery
Yukon Brewing

The brewery list was fairly impressive considering the distance some of the breweries had to travel including all three Victoria Breweries that came!  The cost of the festival on its own was $49 and was all inclusive for the beer while food could be purchased from a food truck and the bbq stand.  There was live music played by the band Cod Gone Wild and they rocked it.  The festival was a blast!  Between the live music, beautiful setting and a bunch of beer that I had actually never been able to sample I was totally in my element.  The people from the Kootenays were amazingly friendly as well as all of the Albertans and the odd crazy person like me that came a long way to partake in the festivities.  I would not hesitate to head back to this festival in future years.  The beer was served from packaged products (Bottles and cans) as well as from tap depending on how the breweries transported it.

In some ways I would have to say that I had more fun at this festival than most I have been to.  Yes as a blogger and beer traveler I know many of the brewery staff but I did not know one festival goer at the festival!  I made some many great short term (festival) friends and had a ton of great conversions with interesting people.  There was even an after party at the ski lodge from 8pm until 11pm with a cash bar and other live music.  I headed down the mountain without sticking around for the after party to meet up with many of the brewery staff for more beer and a soak in the hotsprings.  Sadly when Sunday rolled around my Mom and I had to hop back in the car for anouther marathon drive.  This time we took the South Route though and went through Osoyoos and Manning Park on the way to Vancouver.

EKBeerFest Route2

This drive is a at least an hour longer than the Northern route but just as pretty.

For the sake of showing the entire route we took on the 1800km trek here are two maps one close up of the entire trek and one of the entire province of BC for scale.

I had an epic time in the Kootenays and so did my mom and I look forward to getting back sooner than later!  The East Kootenay Beer Festival for 2016 has already been announced so think about saving the date June 18th, 2016!  The long weekend model is quite feasible for Albertan and Okanagan residence and I would not hesitate to recommend considering going this route.  If like me though you live further West or even further North or South I would recommend taking a week and taking a few days to explore the province on the way to and from the Festival.  The Kootenays also have so much to offer in the way of Hot Springs, Breweries, hiking and really any outdoor activity you can think of.  Once you get to the Kootenays don’t run away as you will love every second you linger in this beautiful countryside.  If you can’t make it for the East Kootenay Beer Festival take a trip out to Fairmont Hot Springs Resort when you can you will not be disappointed! Congratulations Fairmont Hot Springs Resort for putting on a very successful event this year!

Fairmont Hot Springs Resort
http://www.fairmonthotsprings.com
5225 Fairmont Resort Rd,
Fairmont Hot Springs, BC
1-800-663-4979

Distances as per Fairmont Hot Springs Resorts website
Cranbrook, BC     108 km (67 mi)
Calgary, AB     299 km (185 mi)
Lethbridge, AB     392 km (244 mi)
Spokane, WA     410 km (255 mi)
Red Deer, AB     432 km (268 mi)
Kelowna, BC     490 km (305 mi)
Edmonton, AB     584 km (362 mi)
Saskatoon, SK     901 km (560 mi)
Vancouver, BC 850km or 950km (last one added by me)

Full sized photos.

So if you are as crazy as I am and live in Saskatoon you could make it to the festival in the same time it took me!

Mt. Begbie Brewing Company – Revelstoke BC

by Mike

Continuing on my loop of the Kootenays I made my way into Revelstoke to visit Mt. Begbie Brewing Company.  These small town breweries have a great feel to them although every one is very different to be sure!

MtBegbieBrew-001

When you walk through the doors you will find a room full of brewery branded swag including shirts and hats to name a few things.  They also have a bar setup but it is only used on scheduled tours.  As I was stopping by the brewery at a random time as all road trips go I was not on a scheduled tour and did not try any samples while at the brewery.  As this brewery has been going in Revelstoke since before the Growler became popular in BC they do not fill them.  They are worried about hurting the many restaurants and bars in the small town that they have been partners with for a long time.  I can not say I blame them for this policy as they are located in a small town far from most big city centers.  They do sell off sales of their bombers and 6 packs on site so do not worry as you will not have to leave empty handed if you stop by the brewery.

Entering the brewery I was amazed at just how small it was.  I have been seeing their beer around in Vancouver for a long time so I just assumed they had one of the larger breweries outside of Metro Vancouver but that is not the case.  They are pretty darn small to be sure.  The system may be small but they are brewing some great beer.  They do have a fairly state of the art canning line now and are starting to move some of their most popular beer into cans.

In the future they do hope to move out of this former car dealership or auto mechanic (I can’t remember) and move into a larger location where they can increase their brew house size and thus the output.  I look forward to this day so that I can enjoy even more seasonal releases from this great little mountain brewery!

Full sized photos can be found here

Mt. Begbie Brewing Company
http://www.mt-begbie.com
PO Box 2995
521 1st Street West
Revelstoke, BC
Tel. 250 837-2756
Fax 250 837-2750

Arrowhead Brewing Company – Invermere BC

by Mike

Located in Invermere BC very close to the British Columbia, Alberta border you will find Arrowhead Brewing Company.  This brewery nestled in the heart of the Kootenays has some amazing style!

ArrowheadBrewing-001

The owners of the brewery have been collection all kinds of memorabilia for years.  When they finally opened a brewery they had somewhere to display all of their crazy stuff!  The brewery also has one of the best collections of swag for purchase of any brewery that I have been to in the entire province!  I left with a shirt as I could not help myself!  The bar itself is quite neat as they have incorporated some of their interesting chalk boards that are used to promote their beer.  The bar sells samples of their beer, bombers, cans and growler fills using a proper pressurized growler filler (one of only two in the Kootenays).

With a small window into the brewery on one of the walls the brewery does not usually do tours.  They are very small and very busy but I was able to contact them a few weeks before my stopping by and was able to secure a quick tour.  Blogging does come with some perks.  They are a small micro brewery but still big enough to make a decent amount of beer that is distributed to portions of the Kootenays in kegs and bombers.  They even have their beer in one Liquor Store in Vancouver but only because the liquor store pays the shipping cost themselves.  This liquor store is Darby’s Public House and Liquor Store.  The brewhouse is quite unique in BC as it is a copper system.  It has a very interesting look and fits in with the style of the tasting room as it is different.

At the time of visiting the brewery I had no idea what to expect as I had only ever had one of their beer on tap and it was at a pub that did not display their branding.  I really love the funky style they have and their beer holds up to that same standard!  If you can not make it out to the Kootenays I hope you can at least find a bottle possibly at the one location in Vancouver.

Full sized photos can be found here.

Arrowhead Brewing Company
481 Arrow Road
Invermere, British Columbia V0A 1K2
778-526-2739
info@arrowheadbrewingcompany.ca
https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=364956420200389&_rdr