Aaron: This episode of the Cascadian Beer Podcast has been made possible by
Aaron: the BC Ale Trail. Arrive thirsty, leave inspired at the BCAleTrail.
Aaron: ca.
Aaron: Welcome to the Cascadian Beer Podcast. My name's Aaron and
Aaron: I'm a Cascadian. In this podcast series, I highlight the
Aaron: breweries of Cascadia, a region that has a strong presence
Aaron: in the international beer scene. Cascadia is a vial region
Aaron: in the Pacific Northwest on the North American continent. It's
Aaron: made up of the US states of Washington and Oregon,
Aaron: as well as the Canadian province of British Columbia. If
Aaron: this is your first time here, welcome. I hope you
Aaron: enjoy this episode and I hope you hit subscribe wherever
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Aaron: episode.
Aaron: I'm in the provincial capital of Victoria, not too far
Aaron: away from friends of the podcast Swans Brew Pub and
Aaron: Spinnaker's, both of which are other historic breweries in the
Aaron: city. My guest today opened in 1996. Canoe Brewpub is
Aaron: located in an historic hundred year old building, close to
Aaron: the Victoria waterfront by the Johnson Street Bridge. In recent
Aaron: years, they've had some major renovations done to the space
Aaron: with a few more on the way. I sat down
Aaron: with their brewmaster.
Kyle York: My name's Kyle York. I'm the brewmaster at Canoe Brewpub.
Aaron: All right, cool. Beautiful building. This is a massive space.
Aaron: It's kind of tucked away in the back, but you
Aaron: can see your tanks going on out there, so what's
Aaron: the size of the brewhouse?
Kyle York: The brewhouse is a 20 (hypalitre) brewhouse with five
Kyle York: fermentation vessels and seven bright tanks. And we actually pour
Kyle York: off the bright tanks. We don't use kegs here at the brewery.
Aaron: All right, cool. So then the question, how did beer find you?
Kyle York: Beer found me ... my background is in restaurant management and
Kyle York: the restaurant I was working at made the mistake and
Kyle York: give me two weeks off and I volunteered for the
Kyle York: Victoria Brewers Society in their first year of working. I
Kyle York: came down here and was leading an event, chatted with
Kyle York: the general manager here and then ended up getting a
Kyle York: job for the summer as a server and bartender, and
Kyle York: then decided I want to go to brewing school. So I
Kyle York: went over to Kwantlen Brewing Program over in Langley, did
Kyle York: the inaugural first two years of the brewing program there.
Kyle York: So I've a diploma in brewing and brewing operations. And
Kyle York: then came back, was a part- timer here, as well
Kyle York: as a server on the patio inside in the dining
Kyle York: room and all that stuff. Then slowly decided I wanted
Kyle York: to work my way just full- time into the backend.
Aaron: All right, cool. So, how long have you been the
Aaron: head brewer then here?
Kyle York: I took over his head brewer here in May. So
Kyle York: previously, I was here for about two and a half
Kyle York: years under Daniel Murphy who had been here for seven
Kyle York: or eight years. And then previous to him was Sean
Kyle York: Hoyne, who everybody knows owns obviously Hoyne Brewery. So Daniel,
Kyle York: he didn't look like he was going to leave. So
Kyle York: I actually went over to Twa Dogs Brewery over in
Kyle York: Saanich for about eight months and I was heading up
Kyle York: to head brewer there. And then the opportunity sewed up
Kyle York: to, for me to come back here and take over
Kyle York: operations here, which I just couldn't pass up. It was
Kyle York: an opportunity of a lifetime.
Aaron: All right, cool. And so like it's a massive space. I mean generally speaking, normal nights,
Aaron: I mean you're somewhat full, reasonable, comfortable crowds. Like what
Aaron: kind of styles of beers do you produce to fit
Aaron: in with that crowd that comes here to enjoy your pub?
Kyle York: Yeah. My philosophy is producing beers that are fresh, don't
Kyle York: bog you down too much. I like to live a
Kyle York: fit West coast lifestyle. I'm out hiking, I'm not running,
Kyle York: I'm working out. I don't want to be hung over
Kyle York: the next day. I want to even maybe have a
Kyle York: beer after work and then get home and maybe go
Kyle York: for a run or something. So I like lower alcohol,
Kyle York: refreshing bright beers though. Lots of vibrancy to them. Lots
Kyle York: of flavor. And that's my kind of take on it.
Kyle York: We produce a vast array of beers we have from
Kyle York: a helles to a whip beer. And then we have
Kyle York: an IPA all the way to a Baltic Porter in
Kyle York: the wintertime. So I don't think we really hone in
Kyle York: on one region specific, but because of the people coming
Kyle York: into our brewpub, we've learned over the years, kind of
Kyle York: what they're looking for. A lot of people from Seattle
Kyle York: and Portland all across Canada, lots of tourists is our
Kyle York: kind of our big jam here. Another huge patio outside
Kyle York: and you kind of cater to them. What are they
Kyle York: going to be ordering and also trying to create some
Kyle York: fun beers in the summer. This summer I did some
Kyle York: colorful beers. I did a purple blueberry beer, I did
Kyle York: a a pink... Our first kettle sour here. They did
Kyle York: a boysenberry kettle sour and it was a really cool thing teller.
Kyle York: Just something fun in the summer that really shines on
Kyle York: the patio here.
Aaron: All right. And do you have any cask engines at
Aaron: all that you work with?
Kyle York: No cask engines? No, our setup is we don't have
Kyle York: a cellar that's chilled at all. So unlike Spinnaker is
Kyle York: that they have all their setup over there. We literally
Kyle York: just have those seven bright tanks that are all hooked up
Kyle York: to the taps. So we have three different bars that
Kyle York: we pour from to help with alleviating the stress of
Kyle York: the servers and allowing them to really give exceptional service
Kyle York: to the guests. But yeah, so I'm stuck with the
Kyle York: seven bright tanks for the moment. I'm working on maybe increasing
Kyle York: our tank volume or tank capacity and then hopefully then
Kyle York: we'll be able to offer some more options to people.
Aaron: Yeah. So like how, how much of an expansion than
Aaron: are you talking?
Kyle York: I would love to do like... So if we have
Kyle York: seven break tanks now, I'd love to do like six
Kyle York: or seven half of those size. So we're turning over
Kyle York: the options that are in them a little more frequently.
Kyle York: But it also gives us maybe six or seven new
Kyle York: lines on the draft lines.
Aaron: I'm in conversation with Kyle York of Canoe Brew Pub.
Aaron: I just want to thank the BC Ale Trail really
Aaron: quick. And you know, Victoria is a real historical hub
Aaron: for BC craft beer and the best way to discover
Aaron: what else you can find is by visiting the BCaletrail.
Aaron: ca. The BC Ale Trail showcases many parts of the
Aaron: province. And on the website you'll find recommended itineraries for
Aaron: each region, a comprehensive list of every craft brewery in
Aaron: BC, a calendar of beer events, and a blog with
Aaron: lots of great stories. The regional Ale trails include local
Aaron: breweries, pubs and restaurants along with other activities the area
Aaron: has to offer. So whether you're planning a weekend trip
Aaron: or just being a tourist in your own backyard, let
Aaron: the BC ALe Trail guide you to your next beer
Aaron: adventure. Arrive thirsty, leave inspired at the bcaletrail. ca. And
Aaron: thanks again guys for supporting this episode. Now let's jump
Aaron: back into the conversation with canoe brew pubs, brewmaster Kyle
Aaron: York. So summertime, obviously busy tourists, but like you said,
Aaron: fit West coast lifestyle. If somebody was coming to visit
Aaron: Victoria, what are some of your favorite things to do
Aaron: when you're in Victoria?
Kyle York: East Sook Park, one of my favorite places to visit in
Kyle York: Victoria, the the cliff views over the ocean is just gorgeous.
Kyle York: And then you can just run around the coast trail
Kyle York: there. I do a lot of hiking up Mount Finlayson
Kyle York: in biking. The [ Galloping Goose 00:00:06:46] . I live out in
Kyle York: Langford, which is what about 15, 20 minutes out of Victoria.
Kyle York: So I like to bike in. It's about a 20
Kyle York: kilometer bike ride, bike into work bike out, bike home.
Kyle York: It's just phenomenal. There's so much to do and you
Kyle York: can do it year round. I'm just a little bit of
Kyle York: a wuss when it comes to the cold weather.
Aaron: Yeah. Yesterday was blowing a gale. I mean did you
Aaron: bike yesterday?
Kyle York: I did not bike yesterday no.
Aaron: So from here, what's, what's the craziest beer style that
Aaron: you've managed to pull off in this pub? Do you
Aaron: have much room for experimentation like apart from that, blueberry
Aaron: beer that you mentioned?
Kyle York: Yeah, like I said, the kettle sour was the first
Kyle York: soured beer we had done here. I kept it as
Kyle York: a kettle sour to keep all of the bacteria like contained
Kyle York: in the brew kettle. We don't have a lot of
Kyle York: space. We have a lot of brick, we have a lot
Kyle York: of wood and being a brewpub, we are putting out a
Kyle York: big volume of beer that is sitting in a bright
Kyle York: tank for an extended length of time sometimes. So I
Kyle York: don't want to go too crazy and start accidentally souring
Kyle York: anything. We don't have a lot of space to have
Kyle York: backup hoses and backup equipment and stuff like that. So
Kyle York: we don't have a separate area to do a souring
Kyle York: facility. We also don't have anywhere to hold barrels. So
Kyle York: maybe in the future there's options to just maybe grab
Kyle York: another space somewhere that we can do some barrel aging
Kyle York: stuff and have all of our sour stuff there and maybe a little like
Kyle York: separate packaging line or something. But for now pretty much
Kyle York: kettle sours is I think is as far as I'm going to go.
Kyle York: And I like to keep them just slightly tart. Just something
Kyle York: nice in the patio. Just adds a little bit of
Kyle York: a crispness and tartness to that sunshine.
Aaron: And so then who's inspiring you to make better beers
Aaron: and stuff like around like Victoria and the province and
Aaron: whatnot. Do you get to check out many other beers?
Kyle York: Yeah, well being in Victoria, such a small place, we
Kyle York: know each other like we all know each other, right?
Kyle York: So I'm seeing what Spinnaker's is putting out, see what (Swans)
Kyle York: is putting out. They're our two closest... Phillips, they
Kyle York: just opened the new tasting room. It was about a
Kyle York: year ago I think. And honestly it revitalized like my
Kyle York: interest in them. They'd been putting out some small batch
Kyle York: stuff that's really cool. So I've been seeing kind of
Kyle York: what they're doing, obviously checking on Instagram, seeing what the
Kyle York: really hip Vancouver market's doing. And just trying to keep
Kyle York: up. And we know that we're in a little bubble
Kyle York: here. So we're a couple of years behind Vancouver, which is
Kyle York: probably a couple years behind Portland or something like that.
Kyle York: So seeing what's coming up through the pipeline is really
Kyle York: useful. And then kind of a catering your recipes to that
Kyle York: is the plan.
Aaron: And what would be some advice that he could give an inspiring brewer
Aaron: to make better beer?
Kyle York: I think just getting people to taste your beer, taking
Kyle York: constructive criticism. You can't learn anything if you do everything
Kyle York: right every time. I mean I'm presenting my beers to
Kyle York: the management team here and our staff. And I get
Kyle York: better feedback just going to the guests that are sitting
Kyle York: at the tables and be like, " Hey, what do you
Kyle York: think?" And sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad. Usually it's usually
Kyle York: it's good, I'm not going to lie. But taking that
Kyle York: feedback and changing it in your next recipe. The bonus
Kyle York: of being a brewpub is we're not packaging a lot of
Kyle York: stuff. So consistency wise I get to play with recipes
Kyle York: from batch to batch to batch and can always honing
Kyle York: in and always changing it just slightly to really dial
Kyle York: in everything to where I want it to taste like.
Aaron: All right, cool. Well thanks Kyle for your time. Really appreciate it.
Kyle York: Yeah, thanks so much Aaron.
Aaron: Big thank you to Kyle, really appreciate his time and
Aaron: it's such a beautiful space and I'm looking forward to
Aaron: the further developments that they have in the works. And you
Aaron: know what, I'm going to hit that patio in the
Aaron: summer. I love going to Victoria and I'm definitely going
Aaron: to be back on that patio in the summertime. Big
Aaron: thanks again to the BC Ale Trail for making this episode
Aaron: possible. Check out everything they have, including previous BC brewery
Aaron: episodes of this podcast on their website bcaletrail. ca. If
Aaron: you want to follow this podcast along on social media,
Aaron: you can we're at facebook. com/ Cascadianbeer on Twitter @ CascadianBeer
Aaron: and on Instagram @ Cascadianbeerpodcast. For more episodes of this podcast
Aaron: series, subscribe in your favorite podcast app, or hit the
Aaron: website cascadian. beer. Thank you so much again for your
Aaron: time. I really do appreciate it. And until next time,
Aaron: remember, support your local.