ON A MICROBREW ROLL
A SkyTrain extension leads to an unlikely craft beer hot spot in the suburbs of Vancouver, Canada.
PORT MOODY, Canada — It was a sun-dappled weekday morning and I was trundling east from Vancouver, Canada, on the SkyTrain transit line’s shiny new Evergreen Extension.
I was heading for an unlikely craft beer hot spot in the small suburban city of Port Moody, the train flashing past wooded parks and sprawling shopping malls.
When I moved from Britain to British Columbia in the 1990s, transit train lines were limited and good libations were hard to come by. Since then, the SkyTrain network has unfurled across the region, and new microbreweries have frothed up faster than a freshly poured kolsch.
Vancouver is crowded with these ale makers, of course. But SkyTrain’s Evergreen Extension, which opened in 2016, has become an unofficial “beer train” linking four intriguing Port Moody alternatives.
An hour away (with a platform change at Commercial-Broadway Station), they line Port Moody’s Murray Street like a row of bar taps.
Easy bar crawl
I started at Yellow Dog Brewing Co., lured by its Labrador-themed signs. This microbrewery, opened in 2014, was Murray Street’s first.
I joined a gaggle of drinkers on mustard-colored metal stools at its long, glossy wood bar. Server Marni told me about Chase — the beloved family pet for which the brewery was named — while slotting my fourglass tasting flight into a dog boneshaped paddle.
After I verbally wagged my tail about the smoothly hopped Play Dead IPA, she pointed out Mike Coghill, Yellow Dog’s owner.
“One of the big things my wife and I missed when we moved here from Vancouver was the microbrewery scene,” Coghill said. “But building this place was definitely a leap of faith — we didn’t know if anyone here cared about craft beer.”
Luckily, demand quickly bubbled up. And with production surging, the idea for a Moody microbrewery scene made sense.
“The four breweries here are all quite different but we work together as much as possible,” Coghill said. “We’re too small not to be supporting each other.”
A few doors away, Parkside Brewery, opened in 2016, echoed the fraternal feeling, said Vern Lambourne, head brewer.
Parkside’s handsome rec roomstyle bar includes mint-green neon signs and a popular shuffleboard table. But the deck’s umbrella-shaded picnic tables are the main lure on sunny days.
As I slurped my tasting flight, set in a paddle shaped like a small-scale park bench, I discovered a love for the copper-colored Dusk Pale Ale and the subtly fruited Fuzzy Wuzzy Peach IPA.
“The SkyTrain has definitely encouraged more Vancouver drinkers to come out here and give us a try,” Lambourne said. “But they often seem surprised that we have good beer in the ’burbs — people sometimes get a bit fixated on Vancouver’s microbreweries.”
Relaxed scene
Near-windowless Moody Ales feels like a snug neighborhood tavern where you can spend an afternoon nursing a pint or two over a board game.
I sat at the small L-shaped bar and talked to the friendly, tattooed server, who offered tasting flight suggestions.
I loved the Hardy Brown Ale’s toasted malts and the Huge Citrus Hazy Pale’s fruity spikes, before collaring co-founder Adam Crandall for a chat. The room’s relaxed, accessible feel, he said, translates to the beverages.
“We launched with some very approachable beers that we knew craft beer first-timers would like,” he said. “But once they trusted us, we introduced a few different ones to the mix.”
That included the Hardy Brown Ale and a crisp-yet-malty Vienna Lager — both of which quickly gained a following — as well as tasty smoked beers.
I strolled over to St. Johns Street and dived into a deliciously gooey thin-crust boscaiola pizza at Pizzeria Spacca Napoli, one of a handful of new restaurants in Port Moody that have opened alongside the city’s mom-and-pop eateries. Fully fortified, I headed toward my final stop.
Twin Sails Brewing, next door to Yellow Dog, has a quirky tasting room with tall tables and faux-brick wall covering that recalls smalltown taverns.
It was a sunny day, so the room’s garage-style front door was wide open. It’s a laid-back little bar with an intriguing drinks roster.
The four small glasses I sampled looked, at first glance, all the same: cloudy and creamy orange in color. But the flavors were quite different.
Hipster-bearded co-owner Cody Allmin, who dropped by for a chat when he spotted my not-so-furtive note-taking, told me the lineup has changed dramatically since he launched the brewery in 2015 with twin brother Clay.
“We started with German-style beers but then moved on to progressive American-style IPAs. We were the first brewery in British Columbia to specialize in these hazy, unfiltered beers,” he said, as I sipped a silky, hop-forward Street Legal IPA and a lighter, delightfully citrusy Dat Juice, a Twin Sails best seller.
But they’re not resting on their hops. An ever-evolving lineup — they’re planning 15 stouts this fall — keeps the locals sated. And it inspires more travelers to move past their favorite downtown Vancouver microbreweries and hop the Evergreen line to Murray Street.
“Vancouver has some great beers, but Port Moody’s are better,” Allmin said.