10 Best Breweries in Vancouver

Steamworks Brewpub offers 20 rotating taps of craft beers, some of which are mainstays and some which are rotating seasonal creations in their Burnaby restaurant. They claim to be the first brewery in Canada to use traditional steam-powered methods of brewing. This brewery opened in 1995, offers a huge space with handsome décor, and is considered a destination for brew lovers in Vancouver, locals and visitors alike. Some of their staples are their Czech pilsner and their Black Angel IPA, which is extra strong and hoppy.

Their restaurant's menu offers up hearty pub food staples like wings, burgers, and the like, but complements them with pasta, steak, and prawn skewers. It's in the heart of city centre.

Parallel 49 Brewing Company is among the more popular breweries, offering up an outstanding selection of innovative craft creations in a wide range of styles. In fact, the beers here are so popular that they're served up in distribution at other restaurants and in off-licences all over the city. The flavour, however, is different when you get it at the source, so if you like one of their brews, head here to try it right from the barrel. Must-tries are Jerkface 9000 and Filthy Dirty.

Parallel 49 has been offering up their unique flavours since 2013, and their taproom, though small, gets full quickly. It's a quick walk from the centre of town to the north.

Yaletown Brewing Company is a staple of the local crowd no matter what time of day it is, with a huge taproom and full restaurant menu. The décor here is rough timber and brick with the brewing operation in full view behind towering glass windows. Some staple brews on draft here are 604 Lager and Loading Bay IPA. The menu offers pub essentials like beer pretzels and fried pickles, but also serves up gourmet options like a bone-in ribeye steak and duck confit.

The vibe here is casual and fun, so it's a good place to rub elbows with the locals and raise a glass. It's about a 15-minute walk south from the centre of town.

Granville Island Brewing offers a broad selection of beer styles combined with a great food menu and offerings that are both staples and seasonal rotations. This one is no longer technically a microbrewery as it was purchased by Molson, but it's still a favoured spot for locals due to the high quality of their creations. Some of their staple brews to sample include their Cypress Honey Lager, their Mocha Porter, and their Infamous IPA. You can also get a taster tray that will let you sample several of their seasonals.

Granville was the first microbrewery in the country, opening in 1984, and they are still innovating. They're 10 minutes southwest of town.

33 Acres Brewing Company offers a fine selection of craft beers with a stark and minimalist aesthetic décor, good food, and $9 flights that make them feel bleeding edge. From the moment you walk in here, you'll be struck by a colour scheme that's only described as white on white. The lines are sleek and modern, and everything about the place is pristine, all the way down to the floors of polished concrete. The beer offerings range from the 33 Acres of Ocean West Coast IPA to the Date Shake Ale and the Black Currant Session Saison.

33 Acres is working hard and succeeding at being a local iconoclast of craft brewing. It's only about 12 minutes south of city centre.

Brassneck Brewery is a small area brewery and tasting room that offers up small-batch craft creations with a rotating selection of food lorry eats. Their beer menu consists of a chalkboard that's changing all the time with a selection of standard beers they call "Dangerously Drinkable," to experimental brews, and some lesser-known styles drawn from all over North America and Europe. A few recommended highlights on their beer menu include the No Brainer corn lager, the Inertia III bourbon barrel-aged stout, and a selection of sours, hazy IPAs, and others.

This one has a special brewery licence that allows you to walk around with your beer. It's in Mount Pleasant, about 10 minutes south of city centre.

Main Street Brewing Co. offers a roomy tasting room in a historic building that's well-appointed and comfortable with a New World approach to classic English beers. One thing that makes this spot stand out is that they allow community members to take part in creating brews with them. They do growler fills, full pours, and taster flights. What they don't offer, however, is a full menu. Their food offerings are mostly of the small bites and snack variety, like nachos, pretzels, or sausage links.

The 1913 building is one of the few remaining industrial heritage buildings in Vancouver, which adds a unique, blue-collar vibe. It's only about 10 minutes south of city centre in Brewery Creek.

Strange Fellows Brewing offers a handsome tasting room with sleek, dark décor with an industrial, modern art vibe and a huge selection of drafts, bottles, and tins. The brewery is as marked for its vibe and look as for its beers. It features a full art gallery right on the premises with modern art from hot up-and-coming artists, giving the place a bohemian feel that draws the crowd to match. Some of their beer highlights include a Talisman West Coast Pale Ale, a Nocturnum Dark IPA, and the Belgian Abbey Dubbel.

The brewery is also famed for its selection of sours and barrel-aged brews. They offer occasional live music as well. They're just 10 minutes east of city centre.

Bomber Brewing is a brewpub dedicated to Canada's national sport of hockey, with comfy and cosy surroundings, small eats, board games, and the vibe of pure fellowship. It's also a mainstay for local bicyclists along the Adanac and Mosaic Routes, so it's an eclectic crowd who all come together for their love of fantastic brews. Every Monday is film night, where they offer free popcorn to go with $5 pints. Their pure highlight is their pilsner, which won them a BC Beer award with its debut.

Whether you're here to play some games, catch a game, watch a film, or just raise a glass with your friends, this is a relaxed and fun spot. It's 10 minutes east of city centre.

Powell Brewing is in the heart of city centre and offers consistently good beers, both standards and experimental and seasonal creations that rotate throughout the year. You can enjoy a tasting tray of four pours that are 5 ounces, or you can try a 12 or 16-ounce pour. They even offer gluten-free beers. Their hands-down staple is their award-winning Old Jalopy, the most popular on their menu. Old Jalopy, in fact, won Beer of the Year from the Canadian Brewing Awards in 2013.

They also offer a selection of ciders and eclectic brews like a wheat beer with ginger and cardamom, and cascara brews. The selection is broad and the husband-wife owner team is friendly and fun.