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. This week’s spotlight is on Brew Street Craft and Kitchen
With 50 craft taps, locally sourced food, and the biggest TV screen in the Tri-Cities, Brew Street Craft and Kitchen is going to be a hot destination for the local beer drinking population in the Port Moody area. After a year operating the Burke Beer House, Heath Ferguson and a few partners thought it was high time to set up a new destination in Port Moody. They bought a well known watering hole named The Golden Spike and refinished it, bringing in a lounge area, a huge bar, lots of TVs for sports, 50 taps and a cask engine!
The beers you will find will certainly have a local flair to them. Heath told me: “We have tried really hard to focus on local breweries, not just the Tri-Cities, we do have those, but we moved into BC in general. We also have some great stuff from the States and some great European beers. People are going to be really happy!” Certainly sounds that way. When I asked him if his tap list was already set in stone, he was quick to tell me that they would be experimenting with their beer list for the next little while, “We will see rotating taps, for sure. We are going to see what people like. We may find out soon which beers are going to stay on and which won’t depending on demand.”
To go with the beer, the new pub will include a food primary section where families can come and enjoy good food. The food, is as locally sourced as possible, trying to support agriculture and industry in the area. Cassandra Worden, Marketing Manager for the establishment explains: “We are really going for a fine dining experience. We have gone out of our way to find top end talent in the kitchen and we think people are going to be really happy with the food.” In fact, that’s what she said when I asked her to define what the place was going to be in as few words as possible “Great food. Great beer.” Pretty simple and to the point!
The pub realizes that there is a demand for a more lively night scene as well as quality product, and they are ready to meet those needs. As the evenings wrap up, and the families head home, a section of the pub is cleared to make a dance floor. Brew Street plans to have music and DJs in the evenings so people can work up a sweat dancing and maybe work off the calories they accumulate while enjoying the fine brews!
For our cask lovers, don’t you worry – they have a new cask being tapping every Tuesday at noon and being pushed through a cask engine at the bar. So anyone that craves the taste of real ale can come over and enjoy a local sampling. Heath told me that he hopes that local breweries – particularly in Port Moody – will be getting on board with their cask program. “This is coming from all the local guys, we are hoping to have them all pitch in. We are serving it through a hand pump beer engine like it should be!” I agree, why let gas do the work when you’re paying a perfectly good bartender who can do it for you – makes sense to me!
Heath and his team are so very excited by the growth of the beer scene in their area. He has a love and a passion for Port Moody and he hopes that with the industry explosion in their community, the rest of the Vancouver Area will fall in love with it just as much as he has. Speaking to the shift in the area, Heath told me: “I think its great. And it is just going to continue to grow as time goes on, especially with the Evergreen line coming in.”
Head to Port Moody and visit Brew Street Craft Kitchen, scheduled to open their doors on February 19th! Oh, and did I mention you get a 15% discount with your CAMRA card? Get on out there and show them some love!
David Perry – @davidjp87
Community Liaison – CAMRA BC, Vancouver Chapter
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For more information about Brew Street check out their website and keep your eyes on their Facebook and Twitter feeds.
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