Fuggles and Warlock Craftworks

A short time ago, in a municipality not far away, two brewers whose beers have been turning heads and generating long lineups at festivals brought their vision to life: a full scale, honest-to-goodness brewery of their own.

Fuggles and Warlock have been exercising creativity, defying the odds and pushing the envelope for some time. Their products have been on shelves and on tap all over the Lower Mainland long before the brewery came to be. Up until this point, they had been brewing out of Dead Frog’s facility, along with other collaborations with several different breweries.

The future of F&W is exciting! Having built a beautiful, 11,000 square foot brewery, they are brewing and packaging all of their products in-house. The equipment is gorgeous, the space massive and the team has hit the ground running. In February, they will be launching a 1,200 square foot tasting room and opening their doors to the public. Rumor has it that they have been experimenting with sours, brettanomyces, and other creative endeavours, and my guess is that you’ll be seeing that sort of creativity show itself in their tasting room before long. For a better look at their operation, check out their latest video here.

Theirs is an especially important role in our community, in that they have established a precedent for getting the city behind accommodating breweries in the city of Richmond. “Being the first production brewery in Richmond, there were hurdles for sure, especially with zoning.” admits Dan “Fuggles” Colyer. “As there was no zoning in place for having a tasting room in an industrial area, that was probably the biggest challenge we had.”

Fuggles, Tony “Warlock” Iaci, and their incredibly close-knit, dedicated team made their case at City Hall, navigating the process – one hearing at a time. At their side, a huge contingent of people who filed into the room en masse to support them. F&W-branded shirts adorned a veritable sea of friends, family and community who all believe in what these guys are doing.

And for good reason.

“We’ve been very fortunate with how well we’ve been received at festivals and it is very rewarding to win awards that were attendee-voted at those events”, remarked Fuggles. If you’ve been at any cask festivals in the last year, you’ll know what he’s talking about. I have witnessed long lineups to get a pour of their Last Strawberry Wit, for example, often tapping out long before anything else being offered on-site.

 I have little doubt that 2016 will be a banner year for Fuggles and Warlock. Every other week, their beer shows up on taps throughout BC, reaching even more consumers everyday. Having paved the way for other breweries to open in the city of Richmond is not only inspiring, but enriches our craft beer ecosystem as a whole. Expect tremendous things from them in coming months, and be sure to congratulate them on a job very well done when you see them in the wild.

Jeremy Noonan – Community Liaison, CAMRA Vancouver