The Proprietors — I
It was November a few years ago when I popped into the Beer and Wine on Denman and Barclay, a rare take-out meal in hand. In bag, actually. A rain-soaked, olive oil-saturated paper bag that was dangerously close to giving up altogether. Ducking into the shop, I pointlessly attempted to leave the rain outside and instead trekked wet footprints to the fridges in front of the counter. Since returning to Vancouver in 2012, I’d been gradually sampling my way through the local craft brewery offerings that had sprung up in my six-year absence. I like a surprise, so I usually let fate decide, and most often, fate comes in the shape of whomever is staffing the till.
“Any recommendations?” I ask the clerk, whose eyes have lasered in on my deteriorating paper bag.
“What do you like? Besides Greek food, I mean.”
“Belgians?”
He points to a tall brown bottle with a white label. “Try the Dageraad Blonde. It’s amazing. I’ll trade you one for whatever’s in that bag.”
He’s kidding, of course. Or he’d better be, because nobody is getting between me and the contents of the bag. He gets money instead and I walk away with my first Dageraad Blonde. Within an hour it had found a home at the top of my list.
Fast forward several years and that tall, dark bottle has several gold medals around its neck, most recently from the 2017 Gold Medal Pints, where it beat out nearly fifty competitors from across the country. In second place was Nectarous, from Four Winds Brewing Company.
“Are you guys rivals?” I ask Dageraad’s owner, Ben Coli. “Do you have rivalries in the craft beer world?”
He laughs at me. “No. It’s actually a really friendly network of people. We’re all kind of helping each other out, trading strains of yeast, tips, ideas. We got into a jam here a while back when our bottler broke. I went onto the brewing community’s Facebook group and asked if anyone could help us out. Turned out Moody Ales just happened to have the part we needed, so they brought it over and kind of saved the day. But it’s like that in Vancouver, I find. It’s more collaborative than other places. Toronto, for example.”
“Even though you’re all competing for the same shelf space? The same customers?”
“Well, we specialize in Belgian style beers. That’s a bit of a niche market. It took a while for people to find us, but now that they have, they keep coming back. Also, we’re out in Burnaby. There aren’t a lot of places like this out here so we’ve got a great local customer base. If we were on Main Street or the Commercial Drive area, we might have a harder time filling the taproom simply because there are so many breweries over there. It’s made a big difference, though, that breweries can operate not only as crafters and distributors, but also as a lounge. Having those two streams of income makes it easier to keep things going, wherever you’re located.”
Coli credits Vision Vancouver for opening up this aspect of liquor licensing. “Before 2013, tasting rooms could only sell a maximum of one 375ml glass per person, per day. Now we can operate like a pub. We can feature guest beers, sell wine, spirits. It’s been very helpful and I think it’s made a difference to the city. When I came to Vancouver in 2005, there were no beer lounges, and now we’re almost spoiled for choice.”
I ask him where he heads when he’s looking for a pint. “Oh, well, I’m in the Commercial area and the Tangent Cafe is my brother’s place, so I’m there quite a lot. He’s got Dageraad on tap there. There’s also Biercraft. But The Drive is full of so many great places, not just for beer. You’ve got Moja for coffee, the La Grotta and JN&Z delis. And it’s all really close. I probably only have to drive twice a month.”
We end with a tour, where the brewery manager, Mitchell Warner, is preparing a batch of Burnabarian, named for the city of Burnaby and one of the brewery’s most popular beers. The Burnabarian and the Blonde are just two of twenty or so the brewery produces, and its taproom hosts even more from the close-knit and supportive community of local brewers. As Coli sees me out, he mentions a room I haven’t seen. This one contains even more variety, bottles and cases traded back and forth in exchange for yeast strains, recipes, and other currencies particular to craft brewing. It’s a secret collection for the thirteen-person team at Dageraad. I’d be envious, but I’ve only just scratched the surface of Vancouver’s craft brewery catalogue and I doubt I’ll ever find the bottom.
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