It’s a weird world out there right now. Here are five great ways to support your favourite BC craft breweries while you practice physical distancing.
Visiting local tasting rooms is a favourite activity for my partner and me on a Saturday out-and-about or playing tourist in our town. We just moved to Port Moody this month, and we were SO looking forward to re-exploring Brewer’s Row once we got settled. And then COVID-19 reared its ugly head. (We are healthy, though. So a big thank goodness for that.)
With the closure of tasting rooms, pubs, bars and restaurants — and really almost everything that keeps us social — in BC, COVID-19 has rocked the province’s craft beer and hospitality community. The good news is that we can still support our local breweries even if we can’t snag a great patio seat to enjoy a #pintandaflight this spring. Here are five great ways you can support your local brewery at this difficult time.
1. ORDER beer delivery
Stuck at home? Get your craft beer fix delivered to your door! A VERY BIG thank you to the breweries who have been able to pivot to this model after having to close their tasting rooms. Depending on the brewery, you can either order and pay online, or order and tap payment at the door.
My partner and I ordered from Yellow Dog Brewing this past weekend, and plan to rotate through the Port Moody breweries. Check out the BC Ale Trail Instagram story highlights to see which breweries offer delivery. The BC Ale Trail brewery pages, BC Craft Brewers Guild site have also been updated with delivery and take-out information. For brewery info at your fingertips on the BC Ale Trail app, just search for “delivery” on the keyword search to see which breweries are offering delivery.
In addition, BC Ale Trail podcaster, Aaron Johnson, and blogger Matt Poirier (Matter of Beer) have worked together in collaboration with the BC Craft Brewers Guild to build a directory of BC breweries with options on how to buy beer from them at this time.
Psst! When you order take-out/delivery food from your favourite local, you can now also order packaged craft beer at the same time!
Enjoy delivery and stay social while you’re cooped up inside
- Turn your regular date night out into date night IN. Candles, tasty food, craft beer. Sorted.
- Organize a virtual bottle tasting with friends. Pick a brewery and share your thoughts on what you’ve tasted.
- Schedule a hoppy (ha) hour video catch up with a friend.
2. Order off-sales & TAKE-OUT
Support your local brewery by dropping in or driving through! Many BC Ale Trail breweries have converted their tasting rooms into an off-sales service and some who serve food are now doing take-out. Be sure to call in or order online, and to bring a debit or credit card for contactless payment. Patrons may need to wait outside to await their turn and will need to respect social distancing guidelines of staying two metres apart. Consider checking in with your neighbours and friends to see if they need anything.
Click here to contact your local brewery to see what their off-sales and take out options are.
3. Buy gift cards that you can use later
A wonderful way to help your local at this time is to buy gift cards that you can use later — or consider donating them to a charity so they can fundraise. By doing so, you help breweries stay open and might also help pay their staff. In an effort to support team members affected by their tasting room closure, 33 Acres Brewing is giving all proceeds from gift card sales to their staff. All CRAFT Beer Market locations are also giving 100% of gift card and apparel proceeds to their team members.
4. CONNECT on social media
We’re always on our phones anyway, so let’s put our tapping fingers to good use! Let your brewery know how much you loved them with a follow, likes, encouraging comments and sharing their posts on your social channels. Download the BC Ale Trail app to have their social tags at your fingertips!
And starting this week, tune into our Instagram channel every Thursday at 6:00pm for a live, virtual Hoppy Hour featuring members of the BC Ale Trail community along with guests from the BC craft beer community. They will talk about what’s happening in the beer world, perhaps taste a couple of beers, and answer questions from the general public.
5. Leave a good review on Yelp or Google Reviews
Kind words go a long way — particularly online. Please leave a nice review about your brewery off-sales or delivery experience.
Share how you’re supporting your local craft breweries in BC by tagging us on social @bcaletrail on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
For more information about COVID-19, please refer to these government resources.
