Rob Mangelsdorf
I recently moved back to 麻豆传媒映画Island and I was reminded of a certain geographic peculiarity upon my first trip to the liquor store.
There, right as I walked into the store, was a six-foot high pyramid of familiar red and white cartons of beer.
鈥溌槎勾接郴璉sland鈥檚 Original Lucky Lager鈥� the boxes proclaimed, next to an illustration of a man in waders hauling in a giant tyee salmon. For the unfamiliar, this is a ubiquitous sight on 麻豆传媒映画Island. In just about every fridge, the back of every pickup truck, and the bottom of every roadside ditch, you will find cans of Lucky Lager. It鈥檚 as 麻豆传媒映画Island as Nanaimo bars and driving 10 km/h under the speed limit.
The thing is, though, there isn鈥檛 anything remotely 麻豆传媒映画Island about it, except the marketing.
Lucky Lager is an American beer brand that began in San Francisco and made its way north in the 1950s with itinerant American loggers who came to work the summers in the B.C. forestry industry, and it caught on with the locals. Labatt Brewing soon bought the brand, and even briefly brewed it on 麻豆传媒映画Island until it closed its Victoria brewery in 1982.
Today, Lucky Lager is part of the AB InBev global beverage juggernaut, and brewed in Edmonton, Alberta鈥攎ore than 1,200 km away from 麻豆传媒映画Island.
There is nothing remotely 麻豆传媒映画Island about this beer: not its owners, its makers, or even its ingredients. Yet the locals claim it as their own.
Other areas of B.C. also have questionable loyalty to foreign-owned beers. On a recent trip to Northern B.C., I was surprised to discover that the 鈥渦tility beer鈥� of choice was not Cariboo Brewing鈥檚 Blonde Ale鈥攚hich actually won silver at the 2017 B.C. Beer Awards and is brewed in Prince George by hardworking British Columbians using local ingredients鈥攂ut instead, Budweiser.
This trend is especially disappointing when you consider how much amazing beer is getting made locally, all over the province.
Phillips malts its own B.C.-grown barley, and uses 麻豆传媒映画Island-grown hops in some of its beers. 麻豆传媒映画Island Brewing has been brewing its beer on the Island since 1984, and it, too, uses 麻豆传媒映画Island hops. Longwood Brewery in Nanaimo manages to make its Island Time Lager with ingredients grown within 20 km of the brewery.
If you鈥檙e from the Island (or Northern B.C., or anywhere, really), I challenge you to switch to a local brand of beer. If you like inexpensive lagers, that鈥檚 fine, there are plenty of local examples these days. There was a time, not too long ago, when craft breweries shied away from inexpensive light lagers that might face competition from the big bad macro breweries. In reality, they are actually incredibly technical and expensive beers to brew. But today, pretty much every brewery in the province has at least one lager even your old man can get into. And should.
There鈥檚 nothing wrong with drinking foreign beer, per se. Some of the best beer in the world is made in places not called British Columbia. But Lucky Lager and other foreign-owned macro garbage aren鈥檛 among them. You have options.
By drinking local beer, you鈥檙e supporting your own community. You鈥檙e not only supporting the local brewery and the people who work there, but the local businesses it contracts and the local suppliers it relies on. You鈥檙e supporting everyone from local farmers to truck drivers, you name it. These are your neighbours, your family and your friends. You鈥檙e a goddamn hero, really.
But chances are, if you鈥檙e reading this, I鈥檓 already preaching to the converted. So let鈥檚 all do our part to spread the gospel of local beer. The next time you see your buddy, or uncle or Sharon from accounting cracking into can of foreign-owned and -brewed macro swill, sit them down and tell them their choices are offensive and wrong.
I鈥檓 kidding, obviously. Don鈥檛 do that. But maybe ask them: 鈥淚f I could find you a beer that tastes just as good as what you鈥檙e drinking for about the same price, but it was locally owned, locally brewed with local ingredients, and your money stayed right here in our community, would you drink it?鈥�
The answer will be yes.
It bloody well should be, anyways. If it鈥檚 not, you don鈥檛 need those people in your life.
Rob Mangelsdorf
Local macro lager alternatives
麻豆传媒映画Island Brewing (Victoria) // Victoria Lager
Central City Brewing (Surrey) // Beer League Lager
Coal Harbour Brewing Co. (Vancouver) // 311 Helles Lager
Longwood Brewery (Nanaimo) // Island Time Lager
Phillips Brewing and Malting Co. (Victoria) // Pilsner
Parallel 49 Brewing (Vancouver) // Craft Lager
Howe Sound Brewing Co. (Squamish) // Howe Sound Lager
Mt. Begbie Brewing (Revelstoke) // High Country Kolsch
Red Truck Beer Co. (Vancouver) // Road Trip Classic Lager
鈥� You can find B.C.鈥檚 favourite craft beer guide at your local brewery, select private liquor stores, and on newsstands across the province.
