The Spotlight is a series of interviews with the craft beer heroes behind local organizations who are helping grow the beer scene in our fine city. In this issue, we look at Merchant’s Oyster Bar.
Two months ago, I decided to make good on a promise to my girlfriend that I would try oysters again. It had been some fifteen years, and like anyone else, my palate had experienced some changes in that time. We decided to check out Merchant’s Oyster Bar, very close to where we live.
This turned out to be the best decision I’d made in a long time. Imagine my surprise when I was given a beer menu by our server and found a very strong, very exciting beer selection that – as it turned out – had been right under my nose the entire time I’ve lived on Commercial Drive.
Welcome to Merchant’s Oyster Bar. If you’ve never been, prepare to have challenged your definitions of great beer pairings, hospitality, and of course: oysters. The atmosphere is refreshing: intimately sized with less than forty seats, hip-hop playing in the background at a volume that is audible without having to raise your voice to make yourself heard. Oysters on ice displayed front and center behind the bar, fresh herbs growing in a planter suspended from the ceiling, and if you’ve come inside long enough to notice any of these things, you’ve also been warmly greeted by at least one of their staff; all of which you will quickly find are consistently friendly, attentive, and incredibly thoughtful.
The very first night we came in, I ordered a bottle of Deschutes’ The Abyss, followed by Le Trou Du Diable’s Dulcius Sucubus. This garnered the interest of Doug Stephen, owner and – as it so happens – avid beer enthusiast, who came over to introduce himself to us. He curated the rest of our visit, introducing us to some truly exceptional beers and, along with every member of the staff in the restaurant, left us both humbled and reeling in appreciation. What’s more, is that they are mutually as appreciative of their customers, and it shows in every way.
I recently sat down with Doug to talk about his love for craft beer, and refining the art of pairing beer with food.
Merchant’s, up until recently, wasn’t on my craft beer radar. Have you always maintained a craft offering, and if not, when did you start?
Initially, when we opened, I knew that I wanted to maintain a craft beer focus, and I knew that I wanted it to be local. It was right around the time that I started to really, aggressively get into craft beer. In the past, I’d had some brilliant craft beers without knowing just how influential they could be on me. One that comes to mind is the first craft beer I’d ever had: Dogfish Head’s 90 Minute IPA. Right around the time we opened our doors, Parallel 49 was just starting to blow up. Gypsy Tears was a mainstay for us and as we noticed new breweries opening up in the area, we offered some from those as well. Eventually, we started carrying some large format, 22 ounce / 650ml bottles and hand selling them, and we saw some success there. It’s a sort of natural evolution for us to continue with that movement. We decided to put our large format bottles on our beer list, and the day we did we had sold multiple top-tier bottles. It made me realize that we should build and focus on this business model. My restaurant manager David and I immersed ourselves in the craft beer world, and every Friday our staff bring in bottles to share and learn about. To really explore great craft beer, we try most top-tier beers that come on the market within the first week or two, with the exception of some occasional, extremely limited releases. We absolutely adore craft beer; it’s become our culture. To have discovered ways to pair them with food has been amazing. Our beer program will continue, and we’ll never stop trying to source the coolest, newest, most intriguing beers.
Merchants has made a name for itself for offering amazing food, hospitality and, of course, beer, and you’ve cultivated many loyal customers. How often do you have customers come in to eat, and have them discover great beer for the first time?
We’ve found that that relationship between our guests and ourselves is a mutual relationship; we’re always working to maintain a fun environment, and a friendly atmosphere. Very frequently, people arrive and are handed the cocktail and beer list. The beer list is always at the very front, and it’s a pretty heavy beer list to look at if you don’t know your beers that well. We try to make sure that all of our servers taste every last beer we offer, through staff tastings and elsewhere. It’s important to us that everyone here feels comfortable and confident talking about the product, so we always have the opportunity to turn the customer on to something new. It never ceases to amaze me that people are now so willing to give beer a real shot, and to get in on a top tier beer – even at a restaurant pricing level – is still far less expensive than a top-tier bottle of wine, even though the drinkability and quality level are the same. There’s people that discover us when they come in during the afternoon or late night and are surprised by our offering, and they decide to come in for one of our dinners where we can really showcase what we accomplish here. We’re seeing a lot of people who are really into our food, and others who are huge fans of craft beer, and it’s quite enjoyable for me as a business owner to be able to combine both of those things.
Your beer & dinner pairings are an extremely impressive experience. What factors do you consider when choosing a brewery to pair your creations with?
When we launched the pairing program, we were approaching breweries ourselves. Now, we’re very fortunate to be in a position where breweries are starting to
approach us. We want to maintain a focus on breweries that have a lot of similar interests as us, and a desire to explore beyond the usual scope for a beer dinner. Beyond the typical offerings where something is braised with beer, or a sauce that is made with beer. To me, that isn’t the true focus of beer pairing dinners. It’s not how wine pairing dinners approach it. We prefer to look at what foods pair well with the flavors of a beer , and actually showcase the fact that beer isn’t just to be paired with chicken wings, or beer-infused sausage. We found a way to pair beer with lobster, for instance, during our Ninkasi pairing. Beer pairing dinners are all about getting people to think outside the box in terms of beer being looked at as strictly a consumable to get drunk on.
Four Winds and Steel and Oak recently did a great collaboration brew. If you could see two locals join forces to make another, which two, and what style?
I have a very soft spot for the Imperial IPA style. I find the elevated alcohol percentage really helps to balance out the bitterness, and makes it a little sweeter mid-palate. Really does balance it out quite a bit. When I look at the Imperial IPA as a style, one of my favorites would be Lord of the Hops by Parallel 49. I think they did a great job with that style of beer. I’m also a huge fan of Driftwood’s Sartori fresh-hopped IPA. If those two breweries got together to make a fresh-hopped Imperial IPA, I think I’d probably curl up in a ball in shock of the awesomeness. On the other side of the coin, I’d like to see somebody do a collaborative sour. It’s a style that’s blown up in popularity – James over at Storm has been doing lambic styles for years now, almost since they first opened; I think he was very ahead of his time with that. A lot of new breweries are playing around and having fun with sours now too. I would love to see a collaborative sour package from a bunch of local breweries in the same spirit as the Brews Brothers release.
What breweries or pairings are on the horizon?
On the horizon, we hope to do a dinner pairing with the boys at Parallel 49; we very frequently do collaborations with them. We’re also looking at doing one with Driftwood to coincide with the release of their next seasonal beer- which I don’t believe I’m allowed to talk about, but I do know is really awesome. I can tell you about the VCBW dinner. We’re very proud to be working with VCBW on Hyperlocal 2.0 . Last year we worked exclusively with breweries within a two mile radius of the restaurant, which we’ll be doing again. Our products will all be sourced from the local farmer’s market for this event, and we’ll be teaming up with some of our favorites: Parallel 49, Main Street Brewing and a new addition, Strange Fellows. When you think about those three, it might give you an indication as to what styles of beer you’re going to see. We’ll be doing a dinner exclusively around sour beer for VCBW as well.
Jeremy Noonan, CAMRA BC -Vancouver Branch Community Liaison
@jerryvillainous
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Merchant’s Oyster Bar is in the heart of The Drive, at 1590 Commercial Drive. They are a proud supporter of CAMRA and of the local community. Present your active CAMRA membership card for 15% off your beer! They are also entirely responsible for my newfound appreciation for oysters.
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