How this tiny town in British Columbia became Canada鈥檚 craft beer capital
Jan 15, 2020 鈥 3 min read
Cannery Brewing is just one of seven breweries in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia 漏 Photo courtesy of BC Ale Trail
If you aren鈥檛 familiar with Canada and the Pacific Northwest, the Okanagan Valley might have flown under your radar. Even for those that do know of the region, they typically think of the great outdoors and wine. After all, the 125-mile-long titular valley boasts more than 180 wineries and is Canada鈥檚 premier grape growing expanse.
However, tucked away in the middle of the Okanagan is one of North America鈥檚 most dynamic communities centered around another boozy beverage: beer. The town of Penticton is one of Canada's best kept secrets when it comes to great craft brews long before that became a badge of honor for outdoorsy towns from Asheville, North Carolina to Vancouver, BC.
On the forefront of a movement
"'The cool thing about Penticton is that we had a beer industry before it was cool. We weren鈥檛 even calling it 鈥榗raft,鈥欌 says Kim Lawton, marketing director for and coordinator of the, an offshoot of the larger BC Ale Trail.
This tiny, 34,000-person community at the southern edge of Okanagan Lake started with just one brewery more than two decades ago and has since organically grown to seven (the newest 鈥 鈥 is expected to open this summer). That distinguishes Penticton as one of the foamiest cities in the provinces, with one brewery per 4,857 people. It ranks amongst the most breweries per capita of any Canadian city 鈥 and to put that in perspective, Calgary has an estimated one brewery for every 29,411 people.
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Part of the growth is thanks to the, which is one of the longest running craft beer festivals in the Pacific Northwest. Every April, revelers come to drink some of the best beers from Penticton and other surrounding cities. This year, the event celebrates its 25th edition.
鈥淭he whole community gets involved over the weekend and all of the breweries have events on either side of the festival,鈥 says Fest event manager Sarah Taylor.
She adds that Penticton鈥檚 gradual growth has helped the festival stay focused on smaller craft breweries and keeping the lineup local. Simply put, it鈥檚 grown into a destination event for beer and general outdoors enthusiasts (the two often share fans).
Making a splash
Then, there are the awards. Cannery Brewing won two medals at the 2019 Canadian Brewing Awards in Toronto and Slackwater Brewing took home multiple awards, including the People鈥檚 Choice award at the (an entirely separate celebration held in Kelowna, the region鈥檚 anchor city). This is just a small sample of Penticton鈥檚 beer accolades.
Lawton also says the city鈥檚 general ethos of acceptance and inclusion has helped every brewery make a name for themselves without fear of competition.
鈥淲e support each other and collaborate together,鈥 she says. 鈥淲e have some of BC鈥檚 oldest breweries and some of its newest 鈥 we look at each other as supporters of a larger piece of the pie.鈥
Looking to the future
As far as what鈥檚 to come for this beer-soaked community, the collective of Penticton breweries plans to grow as much as the demand warrants. Local pizzeria and brewery built their fairly new space with additional capacity in mind and has actually lent that space to Neighbourhood so they could test beers and regularly batch until their space is finished.
鈥淣o one is looking to become a huge, massive brewery,鈥 Lawton says. 鈥淓veryone wants to grow as big as they need to be.鈥
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