Vancouver Island Brewery - Victoria, BC - Breweries on Waymarking.com

Originally formed as Island Pacific Brewery in 1984. This was 2 years after Labatt's pulled the 90 year old Lucky Lager brewery out of Victoria. When Labatt left, they immediately stripped all the equipment from the old brewery on Government St and demolished the building. This was a tactic that they thought would preserve their market share and prevent any rival from getting a toe hold on Vancouver Island. It only worked for a little while.
Within months of Island Pacific starting, Granville Island and Okanagan Spring on the mainland quickly followed.

The Island Pacific ran on a very small budget and struggled producing only one product, Goldstream Lager, from a small warehouse in Central Saanich. In 1986, a former dairy farmer and butcher bought about 60% of what would soon become Vancouver Island Brewery. The other 40% is divided up amongst 35 or so shareholder groups. With the new money, the company expanded the product line, which has now grown to 6 lines (One is a seasonal offering only during Christmas time)

The Company continued to brew in Central Saanich until 1996 when they purchased and renovated their present location on Government Street. The move helped with the growth of the company as it placed the brewery in a much more visible location. The major breweries still control about 85% of the market in BC but the rest is made up with the growth of Micro and Craft breweries located throughout BC. There are 35 now with 4 on Vancouver Island (not counting the half dozen or so Brew pubs) Vancouver Island Brewery is currently #3 for production volume behind Granville Island Brewery in Vancouver and Sleeman-owned Okanagan Spring in Kelowna. They sell only about 10 per cent of their volume beyond the Island. About 60 per cent of overall sales are retail (bottles and cans), with the remainder flowing from taps in restaurants and taverns.

Vancouver Island's product is brewed in strict accordance with the Bavarian Purity Law of 1516. The law states that only four ingredients can be used to make beer: barley or wheat malt, hops, water and yeast. There are no artificial preservatives or additives of any kind in the beers and it is unpasteurized.

Vancouver Island Brewery continues to update and expand to remain competitive. In 2006, they added a new $600,000 Italian made canning line. It can produce 55 cans a minute and runs mainly in the spring and summer when cans outsell bottles because they fit better in coolers and are more easily carried around.

The brewery is open 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM Monday to Saturday. They have a store on site to purchase product along with large variety of merchandise including glassware, clothing and other beer souvenirs. They offer Brewery tours Friday and Saturday at 3:00 PM for a fee of $6. No minors and you'll need 2 pieces of ID.

Information for this waymark came from Vancouver Island's website and a Times Colonist article in 2006 on the canning machine.

Website: [Web Link] Location: 2330 Government Street Victoria, BC Canada V8T 5G5 Ratings: Parking Coordinates: Not Listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   09/19/2016 skramble visited it 08/10/2016 The A-Team visited it 04/04/2015 The GO! Team visited it 06/02/2009 Relic Hounds visited it

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