Drink craft beer on these pleasant Vancouver patios

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      Metro Vancouver’s craft breweries can compete with those in any other city in terms of quality and innovation. The local landscape also boasts botanical diversity that’s the envy of gardeners all over the world. Put these elements together and we should have beautiful green environments in which you can drink superlative ales. Sadly, such places don’t really exist.

      In these parts, there’s a strange lack of the kind of pubs found in northwest Europe that have lush gardens, terraces, or courtyards for the summer months. That’s likely due to the long shadow cast by the Prohibition era and its aftermath, along the lines of “if we do let you drink at all, it shall not be in a lovely place but in some charmless pit.” The new brewery tasting rooms aren’t permitted to have any outdoor areas at all. The logic presumably is to discourage people from drinking in a healthy outdoor environment and cram them indoors on hot days.

      In the absence of such gardens of earthly delight, Vancouverites at least have some urban oases—pubs and bistro-style restaurants that combine pleasant patios and fine beers. Here are three picks for days when the tarmac wobbles, the sands burn, and a mirage of the ultimate glistening pint glass hovers over the swaying grass.

      For sun and shade on Commercial Drive, the Charlatan (1447 Commercial Drive) has a lovely south-facing, willow-tree-fringed wooden patio facing Grant Street that fills quickly on a warm evening. There are 15 beers on tap, including such B.C. luminaries as Driftwood’s White Bark, local favourite Bomber Brewing’s ESB, and Hoyne’s superb Devil’s Dream IPA. Domestic pints are $6.50 each and the tasting paddle of three six-ounce samples is $7.50, a great choice for a first round. Sandwiches ($11 to $14) come with salad and fries, and mains ($16 to $18.50) include the lip-smacking house-made smoked rabbit pot pie.

      Branas Mediterranean Grill (617 Stamps Landing) offers a tranquil patio looking west over False Creek. You could almost be on the Med, with views over spiffy boats to the distant girders of the Granville Bridge and the glass towers of Yaletown. The tap list is limited to four beers, all from Whistler Brewing Company: Powder Mountain Lager, Bear Paw Honey Lager, Whisky Jack Ale, and the more distinctive Black Tusk Ale, which is light in body, dark in colour, and similar to an English Mild Ale. Main dishes run $15 to $24, with a lamb or salmon burger for $14 to $15. For the full Greek islands effect, try the pork souvlaki, which pairs well with the creamy, dark Black Tusk Ale.

      The rooftop, L-shaped patio above Darby’s Public House (2001 Macdonald Street) is a transformative place. It’s at the intersection of two of the West Side’s main streets yet it’s above the din, floating on a different level with a breeze blowing in from the nearby ocean, mountain views, and a beer list that may induce anticipatory hallucinations. There’s plenty of room up there, too—the honey-coloured wooden tables and surprisingly comfortable contoured benches seat over 50 people, and there are no invasive TV screens.

      The tap list at Darby’s, which changes weekly, features more than two dozen premium-quality craft beers—almost all from B.C. and Pacific Northwest breweries—in a full spectrum of styles, plus three ciders. The beers are excellent value, running $5.50 to $6.50 for 16-ounce pints and a dollar more for a 20-ounce pint. Flights of four five-ounce glasses are $8 for B.C. beers or $9 for imports, which was my choice. I started with Brooklyn Brewery’s Sorachi Ace, a light-bodied and refreshingly earthy and lemony Belgian saison, to get the taste buds rolling. Then I moved on to compare American IPAs, with the magnificently balanced double IPA by New York state’s Southern Tier Brewing Company emerging the champion by a floral nose over the extremely bitter Heelch O’Hops from California’s Anderson Valley Brewing Company.

      The ales paired nicely with the amply portioned jerk chicken rice bowl. Mains run about $11 to $18, and there’s a raft of burgers ($12 to $15) made with natural Pemberton Meadows beef. Among the bottled beers is the St. Bernardus Abt 12—a Trappist quadruple from Belgium that’s considered one of the truly legendary beers, and at $8.75 a snip.

      An oasis is a green space in a desert surrounding a spring. Here’s to putting more vegetation in our urban drinking oases, and more craft beers in the springs.

      Comments

      5 Comments

      Rick Green

      Jul 23, 2014 at 11:43am

      Let's hope this provides Branas and Charlatan some encouragement to up their game.

      Thomas Folkestone

      Jul 23, 2014 at 12:26pm

      There is no such thing as a 16-ounce pint. It is called a sleeve. This is Canadian law.

      Sal

      Jul 24, 2014 at 12:09pm

      Or just pick up a cold six pack and head down to Strathcona Park for the greenery-effect.

      Save $ too!

      Emmanuel Asprakis

      Aug 4, 2014 at 10:01am

      Yep. Nothing reminds me of being on a Greek Island more than a Whistler Black Tusk Ale.

      John

      Feb 2, 2015 at 7:49pm

      Thomas Folkestone: The British imperial system is different than the American imperial system. A British pint is 20 British ounces and an American pint is 16 American ounces. A British ounce is slightly larger than an American ounce. We're lucky to be in Canada.