Another promising brewery has opened it’s doors in the East Vancouver neighbourhood, and is hoping to find a niche in an already saturated area of the city.
East Van Brewing, is spearheaded by Steve Jennings (of Jennings Hospitality) and Andy Agnesini. There is also some pedigree behind the team as Head Brewer James Labbe comes from Steamworks and Deep Cove Brewers and Distillers.
Located at 1675 Venables street, the brewery is in close company to Bomber, Luppolo and Off the Rail. While the team quietly opened the doors to the brewery on November 6th, they are planning on having a much larger opening celebration soon.
The interior of the brewery is a 6000 square foot multi-level tasting room with a total of 66-seats. They’ve taken the spirit of East Van and applied it to the decor of the room, with references to the East Van cross, including the special six beer flight paddle shaped in a cross pattern.
As for the beers, there are currently seven different beer on tap: The Jive House Ale, Humble Hive Brown Ale, Unholy Stout, Buckwheat Ale, Wheelbite IPA, System Jitters XPA and Wet Your Thistle Scotch. The IPA and the Jive are promising, and the Brown Ale uses organic honey from local bee hives.
For food, the brewery offers the usual carb-rich choices, like pretzels and chips, along with calzones and strombolis from nearby Bianca Maria Italian Foods. There are also local pickles from Kaylin and Hobbs.
Overall it’s a good start for the fledgling brewery, and a nice addition to the area. They should see good foot traffic from Commercial drive and being so close to other brewers means it’s quite easy to loop them in to a bike or walking brew tour.
Ale/Sessions 