Phillips Brewery

Address: 2010 Government St.
Phone: (250) 380-1912
Price: $10 growlers
Notes: Fresh, fantastic local beer



Phillips brewery was my gateway beer. Before I discovered the Maple Cream Ale (now called the Slipstream Cream Ale, although it no longer has any maple) I thought I disliked beer (except Guiness). Turn out, I just dislike lager and mass-produced crap. Cream Ale soon turned into Oatmeal Stout which turned into trying any other Phillips beer and now I'm a card carrying member of CAMRA and a regular at Beerfest.

The lovely thing about visiting the brewery site, if you haven't already, is that you can try samples of anything on tap in cute wee cups. On a warm summer day, after a walk downtown Phillips is not too much of a detour on our route home not to make the occasional stop. Their growlers, large refillable jugs, mean you can take home some of this glorious tapped liquid for the low, low price of $10! The selection on-tap is rotating, but you can usually find out what is currently on by visiting their Facebook page. They are also dog friendly. Bonus!


Service:
I've generally had friendly service  here, with the exception of the time I was practicing being friendly and got very curt responses to my chatty questions. Every other time I've gotten nothing but friendliness, so who knows, perhaps he was having a horrible day. Also, I was disappointed to discover they don't have a way of cleaning/sterilizing the growler bottles if you bring them back, so take note and clean them well at home before you come!

 Drink:
April 1, 2011

 
Dr. Funk Growler via foodspotting.com

 Dr. Funkel ale is dark brown and mellow tasting. Totally smooth, no hint of hops it's pretty much guaranteed to be drinkable by any beer lover so it's a safe bet for parties. I was at a beer event where the speaker claimed that Dr. Funk was going to be a permanent beer (cheers from the peanut gallery!) but Matt Phillips was in the audience and denied it (boooooooo!) however I'm pretty sure it's been available ever since so perhaps he was just being coy. I prefer to believe our enthusiasm tipped the scales in favour of funkalicious beer fans.

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