Brewmasters and Brewery Creek: A History of Craft Beer in Vancouver

Review By Nancy More

December 10, 2024

With Brewmasters and Brewery Creek Noelle Phillips presents a well-documented history of the brewing industry in Vancouver through to the early 20^th century, the rise of Prohibition, and the start of consolidation of the independent breweries into larger companies. Phillips then takes us to the 1980s when the craft beer industry emerged in British Columbia.  In doing this, she provides contrast between the early industry and the later development of craft beer by bringing the stories of the people involved to life, demonstrating how critical legislation is to the alcoholic beverage industry, and showing the real passion that drives the brewing industry. For many readers, this may be their first introduction to the history of brewing in BC. The connections made between the past and the current city and breweries help us to see this as a living history by, for example, “listening to the waters of Brewery Creek” (4) and exploring the locations of the historical breweries in Mount Pleasant, Stanley Park, and Arbutus Walk.

I have learned over time that it is the people who make the brewing industry special. Phillips tells stories of the people who started and worked at the original breweries on Brewery Creek and as far away as Stanley Park.   It is through these stories that we learn who these business owners and workers were and the circumstances that contributed to their success or failure in the industry.  When she takes us through the modern craft beer renaissance, Phillips tells the stories of the people who were instrumental in developing the modern craft beer industry and the passion, skill, and persistence that they share with the pre-Prohibition brewers.  These are the people that I consider the heroes of our modern industry.  Phillips also takes care to introduce some of the few women running early breweries. I’d love to meet Mary Mueller, Brewery Manager of the Columbia Brewery in the early 1900s and described as “fiery and unafraid.” (82)

The book is well annotated, allowing the reader to expand their knowledge and frequently causing enough intrigue to send me in search of the sources.  Phillips uses a broad cross section of references from city, museum, and university archives, city directories, history books, university theses, personal memoirs and files from families and individuals.  She derives insights from the descriptions in current and historical press as well as historical advertising. This is not an easy task when one is dealing with old sources.  She describes the challenge of finding materials with conflicting information or not containing citations of source materials and then creates an impressively researched and referenced book, including bringing some of the conflicts to light.

Phillips helps us see the patterns that have and will continue to influence the brewing industry in Canada and BC.   Brewing is a regulated industry, and those regulations are based on prior history, usually from a prohibition mindset.  She describes regulations that impacted early breweries, such as barring breweries from selling and serving beer to consumers on-premise, and contrasts this by describing how their removal in 2013 resulted in a surge of growth in BC craft breweries.   The consolidation of the BC breweries prior to Prohibition can be seen in today’s brewing industry.  Brewing is a business that is impacted by economies of scale, in size of equipment, cost of materials, and production efficiencies.   In a time of high inflation and consumer price pressures, some breweries are currently choosing to share production facilities to manage production costs.

Phillips is a good storyteller and an elegant writer.  While the narrative is meant to start at the beginning and be read chronologically, it can be enjoyed in individual sections. While the focus of this volume is on the stories of Vancouver, Phillips left me hoping that she will make this into a series that explores other parts of BC.