The craft beer boom extends to the Fraser Valley – Hospitality, Marketing and Tourism

As the Brussels brewing industry continues to thrive, the Fraser Valley is looking to gain some niche markets on the local beer scene.

Gary Lohin, brewmaster of Central City Brewers + Distillers, a couple of hops producers in the Fraser Valley to produce crops for his recipes. Although the main ingredient of the beer is barley, which in the case of Central City comes mainly from the Peace River area, hops are also used as flavoring. Lohin says he spends about $ 2 million a year on twenty varieties of hops and gets a small local percentage that he would like to expand.

Central City buys most of its hops via a Washington State broker, and also commissions them from abroad, so finding more local suppliers could save production costs – if the product is at the same level as its current suppliers, Lohin said:

"They must be as good as the hops I'm buying right now," he said. "They can not make my beer weaker, and the price must be somewhat competitive, nor can I subsidize a local farmer at my expense."

Lohin noted that many strains of hops are protected or patented, which means that they can not legally be grown by anyone else. However, he added, the climate of the Lower Mainland is perfect for growing hops because it has hot, dry summers followed by mild, rainy winters.

According to a report from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the domestic beer market in British Columbia has been growing steadily for nearly a decade. Local beer sales have grown at an annual rate of 17% since 2010. According to the study, small breweries in British Columbia. (production of less than 15,000 hectoliters per year) increased their sales by 51.75% from 2014 to 2015 and of the 102 craft brewers headquartered in the province, 60 have opened over the past five years years.

The Mainland craft beer scene also gave birth to new players in the Fraser Valley. Trading Post Brewing opened in January 2016 in Langley with a brewery and tasting room. Since then she has opened a brewery and a restaurant in Fort Langley. The company now has 60 employees, and founder and general manager, Lance Verhoeff, said the company already sourced hops and berries from farmers in the Fraser Valley for its recipes. craft beers. Mr. Verhoeff added that because of its proximity to local farmers, the trading post can also give back grain to the community. The brewing malt remains represent most by-products of a brewery and can be used to feed the livestock.

"Being in the agricultural center allows us to give our grain to local farmers for free, while many brewers [Vancouver] Zach VanLeeuwen, director of operations for Old Yale Brewing in Chilliwack, said that he was working with local farmers to produce personalized hops for a few years, and also local rye sources used in the company's BC Backyard Lager.

The vast farmland of the Fraser Valley helped his restaurants make themselves known for his various farm-to-table menus. According to the Metro Vancouver website, 94% of the 2,821 farms in the area are located in Langley, Surrey, Maple Ridge, Richmond, Delta or Pitt Meadows.

Matthew Stowe, director of culinary operations of ingredients such as herbs, chicken and Fraser Valley products make up about 40% of the menu items in the company's restaurants.

"We have as much local influence as possible on our menus," Stowe said. "We are working on an Italian concept with a micro-green supplier in South Langley – so micro-basil, micro-coriander. And there are future concepts we are going to work on, I give them a list of seeds and I ask them to plant some things.

Surrey City Development Corp. helped create a brewery [19659003] Central City Brewers + Distillers took a lead in 2013 by opening its 65,000-square-foot brewery and distillery plant in Surrey's Surrey City Development Corp. (SCDC)

. which was founded in 2003 and now has 168 employees, took off after the rapid success of its Red Racer line. The company was developing its market at a breakneck pace, but could not find affordable real estate to open a new facility. As part of the partnership, the SCDC first served as a landlord for the location of the Bridgeview Facility in Central City, which also serves as the head office. Now the company owns the property after buying it from the city through a contract clause.

"I do not see Vancouver doing that, or Burnaby, it's totally unique," he added. "We were looking for a place to grow and real estate is quite expensive, and (the SCDC) stepped in and provided us with an area that really helped us."