Backyard Bash
Pair craft beer with live music at Victoria’s best block party.
Phillips’s annual Backyard Weekender in Victoria pro ers the quintessential Canadian summer experience, transforming the parking lot behind the brewery into an outdoor concert venue complete with their excellent craft beer—the Blue Buck ale is a standout—two-handed street fare, and a lineup of musical acts that lean heavily into soul. Among them: locals Electric Sex Panther, Prince’s former band the Revolution, and Reggie Watts (a. k. a. the inquisitive hype man of The Late, Late Show with James Corden). A few blocks over, on a rapidly reviving stretch of the upper harbour, Canoe Brewpub and recently arrived Fishhook at Mermaid Wharf vie for the title of best patio. Also in contention: the Veranda at the Fairmont Empress Hotel. After undergoing a major refurbishment of its rooms and dining spaces, Victoria’s grande dame is also newly revived a quintessential Canadian experience of a di erent sort. To queen and country!— Rosemary Poole