So, you can be forgiven if you’re a Torontonian but you have never heard of Granville Island Brewing. Granville is actually known as Canada’s first micro-brewery (and of course, we’re talking one started after prohibition and EP Taylor conspired to homogenize all beer in the Country). From Vancouver BC, Granville Island has been making great beers since 1984. In 2004 the company was sold to Andrew Peller wines, and they opened a second, larger brewing space in Kelowna, BC. In 2009, Granville was purchased by Creemore Springs (who were, in turn, owned by Molson-Coors), and their distribution grew nationally. For those of you who don’t read here often, you won’t hear the tired old song from me, about big bad brewery buying the honest innocent little guy; quite the contrary, I’m happy for both Granville Island and Molson-Coors. For their part, Molson-Coors had demonstrated through their handling of Creemore, that they were actually interested in supporting a medium sized brewery. Not changing them; providing them with the capital and infrastructure to take their products to a wider market.
My first experience with Granville Island actually came in violation of ridiculous inter-provincial laws, when I shipped 24 Steam Whistle Pilsners to a friend in BC via the courier service of a popular bus line. In return, Shawn sent me a mixed box of 24 beers from BC. It was amazing. Stuff I’d never heard of before (this was a few years ago, before I had really geeked-out). Included in the box were a few bottles from Granville Island, and they were all excellent. So in addition to feeling good for Granville, seeing them getting their product further afield, I also get to enjoy a bit of nostalgia. Okay, okay, enough typing, more drinking.
Robson Street Hefeweizen - Granville Island Brewery
From a 341ml bottle Granville Island Brewing Robson Street Hefeweizen pours a classic dark gold, a little hazy with a big fluffy head (feel free to roll the bottle to agitate the yeast that will have settled out). Aroma is classic, bananas, cloves, allspice, maybe a touch of lemon peel. Taste is more of the same, rich banana, nearly like banana bread (which I think is partially the malted barley), warm clove, allspice and perhaps a little ginger. Classic tart wheat beer pop on my cheeks, the mouthfeel is actually very creamy. Low tight carbonation keeps that silky mouthfeel just magical. Over-all, the flavour profile is a bit less juicy and fat as some of the weissebeirs I tend to drink, but is still well within the style. It’s worth hitting you with a bit of info here: German-style wheat beers generally adhere to the purity laws that say any weissebeir (literally “white beer”) must contain at least 50% wheat in the grain-bill (of course, all actual German ones do). Some go a lot higher than that ratio which would add a lot of that juicy wheat goodness. I’m guessing this one is closer to 50/50. Still it’s a refreshing beer, and the mouthfeel is just lovely. Another great example of Molson-Coors sitting back and letting the little guys they own do what they do best. I’m not sure if it will be available on draught around the city, but if it is, this isn’t even a “safe bet” beer for Molson-Coors exclusive bars, it’s a beer I would happily order anywhere.
About the Brewery
Since 1984, BC beer drinkers have experienced the finest handcrafted beers from Canada’s first microbrewery. Granville Island Brewing is dedicated to handcrafting its premium beers according to strict quality standards, using only pure ingredients in the brewing process. This guarantees that the brewery’s award-winning beers are 100% all natural.
