The plane lands with barely a bump and we glide into picturesque Ganges harbour, courtesy of Salt Spring Air. It is a warm Spring day and I am genuinely excited to be away from my desk and back on the beer trail. I am here on the invitation of Salt Spring Island Ales, a tiny cottage brewery that has been quietly making some rather delicious award-winning ales for well over a decade.
Salt Spring is the largest of the Gulf Islands at roughly 180 square kilometers and has a population of approximately 10,500 people. Located between Vancouver Island and the Mainland in the Strait of Georgia, neighbouring the islands of Galiano, Pender, Saturna, Maine and Prevost, Salt Spring Island is known for its many talented artists, crafts-people, spas and strong agricultural community to name a few. Salt Spring is also a haven for creativity, and that’s a very good thing when it comes to beer.
The bustling central hub of the island is Ganges, a small town on the eastern side of the island brimming with bookstores, galleries, coffee shops, and eateries. I am staying at the Salt Spring Inn, a well-appointed guest house where we I am treated to a fresh lunch and a beer tasting in the restaurant with Becky Julseth, co-owner of the brewery along with her husband, Neil Cooke-Dallin.
Earlier in the day, we dropped in on brewmaster Murray Hunter at work where he gave me a tour of his modest facilities. He currently produces about 550 hectolitres of beer a year (100 litres = 1 hectolitre). To put that into proper perspective, consider that Molson was producing 6,500 hectolitres of beer every single day during the 2010 Olympics!
^ Barley malts – a key ingredient in the production of beer, ranging in colour from light to a dark, each contributing to the brew its own distinct colour and flavour profile.
Salt Spring Island Ales currently produces 5 main beers: a golden ale, a pale ale, a porter, an English-style IPA, and an altbier known as ‘Whaletail’. They also produces some notable and distinct seasonals with the Heatherdale and Fireside ales.
^ Murray stirs the heated mash where the enzymes present in the barley malt convert starch from the grains into sugar.
^ After the mashing , a sweet liquid called wort is produced.
^ A careful measure of dry hops (in compressed pellet form) from the Pacific Northwest is eventually added to the brew kettle as a bittering agent and flavour and aroma enhancer for what is to become a batch of Saltspring’s Golden Ale.
Recently, the brewery owners along with some local supporters and friends planted 100 new hop rhizomes in an organic field at Grandview Farm on Salt Spring Island in a further effort by the brewery to support their local island community and to also produce their own seasonal harvest of hops.
Once a thriving industry in the province, hops are a climbing vine in the nettle family and a very close relative to one of BC’s most well-known cash crop: marijuana.
If you are interested in learning more about this boutique brewery and trying some of their tasty creations, the owners have made the trek from the island for Vancouver Craft Beer Week.
Salt Spring Ales’ Meet and Greet
Red Card Sports Bar
900 Seymour Street, Vancouver
Tel: 604 689 4460
Start Time: 3:00pm – 5:00 pm
Entry is free but limited to 100 people. Come early!
~ PK
