Want to know something about beer history? Noëlle Phillips is your gal. An avid beer writer (and drinker, of course), Phillips is the BC-based author of two books exploring the subject matter, most recently the locally-focussed Brewmasters and Brewery Creek: A History of Craft Beer in Vancouver (TouchWood Editions), published in October 2024.

Phillips will be at the Smugglers’ Trail’s 4th Annual Kilt Night Cask Festival this weekend, on Sunday, February 23rd (tickets here), where you’ll also get the opportunity to taste her special collaboration brew. And in the meantime, whet your appetite for Vancouver craft beer and history by reading our recent interview with Phillips below – with a good local brew in-hand, natch. Cheers!

First of all, please tell us a bit more about yourself and what you’re getting up to these days?

I’m an English professor at Douglas College, a professional bellydancer, and of course a big fan of craft beer and beer history. My PhD is in medieval literature and my first book [Craft Beer Culture and Modern Medievalism: Brewing Dissent addressed the medieval history of beer and brewing and how it aligned (or didn’t) with how modern beer marketing uses medieval concepts. My latest book is a deep dive into craft beer’s local history, from the 19th century until now. I love beer writing because it keeps me interested and on my toes; as a writing instructor, I always think it’s a good idea to write across a variety of genres.

I imagine that quite a few beers were drunk over the course of researching and writing Brewmasters & Brewery Creek (you basically say as much in the book). What was the most memorable or inspiring beer that got you through the process?

The pleasure of beer is not just the flavour, but the overall experience surrounding its consumption and the story behind the beer itself. It’s really hard to nail down just one, but high on the list would be the Cascadian Dark Ale made by the KPU Brewing Program and Russell Brewing in honour of craft beer pioneer John Mitchell, whose work really kickstarted the industry here in BC. It’s an unusual beer style for an unusual man, and it was absolutely delicious as well.

What’s your favourite beer snack?

Hmmm…..I think one of my favourite things to pair with beer is a good charcuterie plate, with some cured venison and strong cheeses!

What’s your all-around favourite brewery (or brewpub) for reading in? Do you have a particular spot that you prefer to sit at?

Great question! Depending on the weather, my vote would be either for Locality Brewery out in Langley (head out there on a sunny day and enjoy the view of the pond), or R&B Brewing in East Van, where you’re surrounded by bookshelves. I like sitting at the bench seating alongside the window, often in the corner near the back of the tasting room.

How about your favourite for writing and/or working in?

Another vote for R&B – or Main Street. I find that Main Street’s high ceilings allow me to focus more on my work. Why? No idea.

Can you tell me something super interesting that you found out in your research for Brewmasters & Brewery Creek, that didn’t make the cut for this particular book?

I found some accounting records for Vancouver Breweries (the brewery formed by the merger of D&M Brewery and Red Cross Brewery) from the early 1900s and there were some really strange expenses. The monthly cost of malt, for example, was far, far higher than it should have been. And it seems other breweries were making payments to this larger brewery. I didn’t have time at that point to review these records more carefully and figure out what was going on, but I’d love to solve the mystery sometime (with the help of an accountant, perhaps).

Okay, now please entice readers with an especially interesting, unknown, or unusual fact about Vancouver’s brewery history that is included in the book.

One of Vancouver’s most popular breweries of the 19th century was located near where Shaftebury and then Parallel 49 were built in the 20th, and there were a surprising number of murders and grievous injuries at this particular brewery. It was also the first brewery in the city to be run by a woman – and a woman who wasn’t afraid to horsewhip a belligerent customer!

“So much more needs to be done to remove needless barriers for small craft breweries. These barriers – including taxation and things like the way the SKU system works and how cans get onto shelves in liquor stores – aren’t actually about protecting consumers from the dangers of alcohol, but are more about hangovers from prohibition sentiments or simple money grabs for government. Craft breweries are small businesses that are struggling to survive. I hope BC will continue to progress in changing its laws and helping brewery owners.”

Okay, I know it’s not fair to ask you to pick “favourites”…However, if you had to choose an historical local beer industry figure from the book’s first half to revive in order to join you for a pint and discussion, who would you select and what would you talk about?

It would probably be Mary Mueller (the horsewhipper from the previous question). She managed to defend herself in court, find legal loopholes, and run a successful brewery in a rough area of town with relatively little help from her husband. I’d want to know what made her emigrate from Germany alone at the age of 19 (travelling in steerage) and why she keeps serving beer in the brewery to customers even though she knows it’s illegal and she’s gonna get into trouble. I’d love to hear her side of the story about her horsewhipping that customer too!

On the flip-side: if you could go back in time to taste one historical Vancouver / BC brew, what would you choose?

I’d love to try the Spring Bock (a seasonal lager) made by Red Cross Brewery and much beloved by customers in the 1890s. Jumping forward a century, I’d also like to try the first lager made by Granville Island Brewing in 1984. According to many (who maintain this even today), it was one of the best lagers ever made in the province.

Judging by the amount of details and the extensive timeline featured in Brewmasters & Brewery Creek, the book was meticulously researched. I’m always so impressed (and baffled) by the level of commitment (time, focus and motivation-wise) that it takes to put together a book like this! As someone who’s prone to flights of fancy and fantasy, who’s easily distracted by disorganized thoughts/ideas (among other things) and has a brain like a sieve when it comes to specific dates, numbers, etc., I have to ask: what’s your ‘secret’? Once you’ve picked a topic to hone in on, what’s your routine / method-of-operation? How do you keep on-track and motivated? What happens when (if?) you get distracted and/or a lead goes “cold”, so to speak?

I’m always open to rabbit holes because they often lead me places I didn’t expect! I try to set reasonable boundaries on what I’m actually researching (once the subject matter becomes completely disconnected from beer or a brewery, I abandon it, but if there’s still something there, I pursue it). I do a lot of newspaper keyword searches, and a lot of index searches if there are relevant books. From there, I use the information found to conduct research in archives, where you need to be much more specific about what you’re looking for. You can’t just start with the archives – you need to establish narrower search parameters first. But once you’re in the archives hunting around in the files you’ve requested, you’ll often find something unexpected that takes you even further, or in a different direction. I take notes on EVERYTHING, and it’s only when I’m writing that I begin to organize and shape those notes by crafting the “through line” that links them together.

How long did this book actually take you to complete, from conception to submitting your final draft for publication?

This book took about 3.5-4 years from start to finish, and most of that was done while I was also working full time (although I was given a four month paid leave by my employer, Douglas College, to allow me to finish the bulk of the writing).

Vancouver is recognized in large part for our craft beer scene. Considering this attention on our city (and province, by extension), how do you think that Vancouver can lead the way or set a good example for the beer industry going forward?

I think that the new rules allowing drinking alcohol in certain parks is a good start. In many areas of Europe, such as Italy and France, alcohol is much more freely consumed and yet there are fewer problems with alcohol abuse or public issues arising from alcohol use. Allowing reasonable consumption in public areas is a good first step, I think. And Vancouver has so many wonderful parks and beaches on which to enjoy a good craft beer!

“…drinking less certainly can have its benefits. However, as I discovered at a recent conference and in subsequent research, the neo-temperance movement can be problematic. The early 20th century temperance movement was intertwined with white supremacist goals, and remained so for a long time. Modern temperance organizations should be held to account just as much as alcohol producers are…preaching prohibition does very little towards actually changing habits and helping people make healthier choices about alcohol use.”

Through your research (and your hands-on/osmosis knowledge of the local beer scene) did you identify any distinctly Vancouver or BC related issues in the industry that you believe need to be further explored and/or addressed?

BC’s liquor laws are some of the most draconian and limiting in Canada – and possibly North America. It’s thanks to important advocates in the beer and wine industries that some of these laws have changed over the years (my book details some of these) but it is painfully slow to happen. So much more needs to be done to remove needless barriers for small craft breweries. These barriers – including taxation and things like the way the SKU system works and how cans get onto shelves in liquor stores – aren’t actually about protecting consumers from the dangers of alcohol, but are more about hangovers from prohibition sentiments or simple money grabs for government. Craft breweries are small businesses that are struggling to survive. I hope BC will continue to progress in changing its laws and helping brewery owners.

How about larger, global beer industry issues that affect us right here in Vancouver and/or BC?

The larger turn across the country and even the world to drinking less alcohol for health reasons also has its impact on BC breweries, but many of them are pivoting to adjust. They are offering products like hop waters and low or no-alcohol beers in addition to their core lineups. This is great, because those who don’t drink should feel that there’s something interesting for them to sip on when they go to a brewery with their friends. And drinking less certainly can have its benefits. However, as I discovered at a recent conference and in subsequent research, the neo-temperance movement can be problematic. The early 20th century temperance movement was intertwined with white supremacist goals, and remained so for a long time. Modern temperance organizations should be held to account just as much as alcohol producers are. Movendi International, for example, is the renamed International Order of Good Templars, a freemason society that was founded in the mid-19th century with the goal of stopping all alcohol use. Modern journalists have critiqued the methods and history of Movendi and IOGT, and many researchers have shown that preaching prohibition does very little towards actually changing habits and helping people make healthier choices about alcohol use.

Now that you’ve officially made a contribution to the local beer history canon of print publications, I’m curious about your take on how things will roll out going forward… Imagine for a moment that you (or some other local historian) is penning the future history of Vancouver’s beer scene: what predictions do you have for what will go down in the history books over the next, second century(ish) of brewing beer in Vancouver and/or BC?

That’s a tough question! I think the number of breweries will decrease, but that their quality will increase. I also have a feeling that we’ll be seeing more mergers and consolidations of breweries. This isn’t ideal, in my view; the value of craft breweries lies partly in their independence, I think. However, there may be different options for survival. For example, recently Boombox Brewing, Slow Hand, and Temporal Artisan Ales have joined together under one brewery name and in one tasting room to become a collaborative brewery called Threefold on the site of what used to be Andina Brewing (my article on this is available in the next issue of The Growler). I hope to see many more collaborative breweries in the future!

What’s the next subject/area that you’d like to focus on in a future book? (That is, if you are planning on writing another book at some point?)

I’m considering writing Victoria’s history of brewing!

What’s next for you? For starters, I know that you mentioned you’ve got a special cask entered in the Smugglers Trail Kilt Night Cask festival on February 23rd…any hints about what attendees can expect to taste from your beer, Noelle’s Black IPA? (Or, for those not already planning on attending the fest: please entice us!)

A Black IPA, also called a Cascadian dark ale, is a beer brewed with some darker malts, so it has a slight bit of toastiness to it, but with North American hops, as an IPA would have. It should be smooth and fairly refreshing – it shouldn’t be roasty or taste like a stout or a porter.

Why did you choose this style in particular? What makes it a “standout” and a contender for the winning collab brew against the other participants?

I’ve always loved a well-made Black IPA so I wanted to make one myself for this cask fest, even though it’s an unusual style that not many people will be familiar with. But this is the point of cask beer at a cask fest: to make something unusual, something you couldn’t buy easily at the liquor store. When I last tasted it, it was tasting pretty good – but that was pre-dryhopping. We’ll see what it’s like! I encourage everyone to come out and try my cask as well as the casks made by other competitors and other breweries. It’s a great way to support local and enjoy more traditionally-made beer. I’m not sure if mine will win, but I hope folks will like it!

What else are you most looking forward to at this event, and in the near future, in general?

Other things coming up for me include taking the written portion of the Cicerone exam (I’ve just taken the tasting portion), judging at the Canadian Brewing Awards [deadline for entry is March 4th, 2025] in Toronto, and judging at the Okanagan Fest of Ale [April 11-12th, 2025] in Penticton. I do have my full time job as an English professor, but beer certainly keeps me busy!

Smugglers' Trail Craft Brewery & Kitchen

140 9339 200A St, Langley, BC

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