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Victoria region’s craft brewers feeling growing pains

The Victoria craft beer scene continues to evolve with at least one brewery real estate shopping, others expanding and more with plans to hang “opening soon” signs.
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Site of a new tasting bar and retail expansion by Phillips Brewing Company at Discovery and Government streets. The project is being delayed by a more substantial renovation than anticipated.

The Victoria craft beer scene continues to evolve with at least one brewery real estate shopping, others expanding and more with plans to hang “opening soon” signs.

Phillips Brewing and Moon Under Water are currently building new taprooms, while Hoyne Brewing, which has been dealing with strong sales, has been looking at new digs.

Founder Sean Hoyne said sales are good and he has been “looking for space to help facilitate growth.”

Rumours he was moving into the Albion Fisheries building are just that, as Hoyne said the ceiling heights are not sufficient to house the brewery’s tanks.

He’s not the only one looking at space. After keeping an eye on the neighbouring Modern Beauty Supplies shop on Bay Street, Moon Under Water has taken over the newly vacant spot with plans for a taproom, storage and distillery operation.

“We knew the beauty supply place was leaving, so we decided to move things along,” said sales manager Andrew Reesor, noting the space frees up the brewery to get new tanks and try making some new beer.

The extra 2,000 square feet of space gives the brewer a new cooler to handle all of its cans and bottles, offers a new area for storage and to establish a distillery in a space that will also eventually have a lounge.

The distillery and lounge will be in the old beauty supply store’s retail area, while the new cooler is in the existing loading bay.

Subject to approvals, Reesor said the brewer hopes to be able to produce spirits by the end of this year and have the lounge fully operational by the fall of 2018.

The investment and expansion is a sign of strength for the industry, which grew exponentially in B.C. over the last several years, with Vancouver’s brewing market exploding.

“I think that breweries are continuing to grow,” said Reesor, though he said some of the older, more established companies are starting to see their growth rates flatten out. “But it’s still a growing industry.”

The biggest producer on the Island agrees, but Matt Phillips said it’s difficult to gauge how the entire industry is doing.

The owner of Phillips Brewing, who is also renovating space for a new taproom, said there “does seem to be a fair amount of reinvestment right now, but it’s tough [to measure]. We don’t have stats. Everything is anecdotal. We basically use American stats and divide by 10.”

By that measure, the industry is still growing, but not at the accelerated rate of the last five years.

The U.S.-based Brewer’s Association reported in its 2017 mid-year report that production volume grew by about five per cent in 2016, which they considered a more stable rate in a maturing market.

Phillips said Victoria and B.C. are seeing something similar. “That means everyone is pushed to be more creative and find new beers that will appeal to the consumer.”

Phillips had hoped to appeal to the consumer with a new tasting room in an adjacent building to his brewery by Christmas. But that may be delayed until early 2018.

“It was a bigger reno than we anticipated that has been more complex than we thought. You never know these things until you open the walls and find out what is not there.”

Turns out what was missing was a solid structure and a foundation.

The industry is anticipating new plants in Rock Bay in the former Prima Strada Pizzeria space and another in the Hudson District.