The charming seaside town of Sidney, half an hour north of BC’s capital, is one that has historically been underserved when it comes to locally produced beer and spirits. Despite being so close to the tourist hub of Victoria and it’s booming craft beer and spirits scenes, Sidney has long remained a mostly quiet retirement community, with the average age one of the oldest in BC. Though perfectly situated as a stop between Victoria and the airport or ferry terminal, most visitors skip Sidney in favour of other destinations, but this is beginning to change. Three fantastic award-winning breweries now call Sidney home, joining an established distillery that produces one of the most iconic gins in all of Canada. Recently, a second distillery has opened up in the area as well. In a region that excels in agritourism, these locally producers perfectly complement the local flavours found at the farms, restaurants, cideries, and wineries elsewhere on the Saanich Peninsula. If you’re planning a visit to Sidney (and you should be!) visiting these local breweries and distilleries is one of the absolute best things to do.
Keep on reading to learn all about the best places for local beer and spirits in Sidney, most of which are located very close to one another right in the heart of Sidney’s downtown. This list is not ranked in any particular order. If you think I’ve missed something, feel free to leave a comment below!
Small Gods Brewing Co.
Small Gods Brewing takes literary inspiration and turns it into brewing practice, with both their name being a literary allusion (more on that here) and all their beers are named after books linking to styles or ingredients’ countries of origins. For example, their Neverending german pilsner is named after the classic German tale, The Neverending Story. It’s appropriate, since Sidney is Canada’s only book town, a designation recognizing a high concentration of antiquarian or second-hand bookstores in a small town or village. What matters at the end of the day is the quality of beer, and the beer at Small Gods is exceptional. There’s a wide variety of styles here, and a lot of creativity at play, especially when it comes to unexpected (often locally sourced) ingredients. Check out their dog-friendly patio, and make sure to reference their events calendar, as there are community events happening nearly constantly.
Beacon Brewing
Both Beacon Brewing and Small Gods Brewing benefit from being next-door neighbours in downtown Sidney, so if you’re visiting one it only makes sense to visit the other as well. Similarly to Small Gods, Beacon Brewing has a (new!) dog-friendly patio area and a full events calendar. When Beacon opened it’s doors in 2021 it was downtown Sidney’s first brewery, but it’s been embraced and a thriving beer culture has grown around it and it’s delicious brews. The beers here are easy-drinking and approachable, with a core lineup including a lager, a dark mild, a pale ale, and an IPA. In addition to their flagship beers, check out the rotating sour beer tap, hoppy beer tap, pilsner/lager tap, and seasonal tap. The real selling point however is the friendly staff and community atmosphere, with a variety of events happening regularly.
Howl Brewing
As of April 2024 Howl has closed their taproom, and is working on moving into a new location. You can still try the beer in liquor stores, but that is for now the only way to get your hands on a taste. Howl classifies themselves as a picobrewery, meaning that they operate at an even smaller scale than most microbreweries. The benefit of the small batches (only 280 litres at a time) is that there’s a lot of room for experimentation. There are no flagship beers at Howl Brewing, so every time you visit you can expect to see something new and different, often using local ingredients. Brewer Dan Van Netten researches ancient brewing techniques to produce some archaic beer styles you won’t find anywhere else except for history books, and there’s spirit of experimentation and fun in everything. For some of the most unique beers anywhere on Vancouver Island, Howl Brewing is a must-try.
Best Coast Distillers
There’s a standard procedure when you open up a distillery on Vancouver Island, and that’s to start by producing a vodka and a gin, maybe a few liqueurs, and then after three years release your first whisky. Cory Hastings and Corey Wood’s Best Coast Distillers skips all of that, and instead is set on defying convention. The two have begun production on an agricole sorghum rum and a “tequila”, along with a couple of of coffee-infused whiskys, a cinnamon whisky, and a few other surprises. If the thought of growing sorghum and agave on a 100 year-old North Saanich farm sounds strange to you, that’s because it is. The two crops are much more comfortable in sunny Texas and Jalisco respectively, so growing them here is pretty innovative stuff. Currently the newest distillery on Vancouver Island, Best Coast doesn’t have a tasting room yet, but they can be found at local farmers markets.
Victoria Distillers
You may not have heard of Victoria Distillers, but if you’re into gin you’ve almost certainly heard of their award-winning Empress 1908 gin. This vibrant indigo gin gets its distinct pigment from butterfly pea flowers found in the Blue Suede Shoes tea blend from the iconic Empress Hotel in downtown Victoria, as well as its distinct flavour. Despite only launching the gin in 2017, it’s quickly become more popular and recognizable than the rest of the brand, and is one of the most well-known Canadian gins on the market. In fact, in 2020 Victoria Distillers even tried to trademark the colour blue in gin, potentially preventing other distillers from using butterfly pea flower. Recently Victoria Distillers has rebranded the rest of their gins to match Empress 1908, and though they might be somewhat overshadowed by the popularity of the flagship gin here, all the spirits here are worth a try.
