Luppolo Brewing has opened its taps on Venables Street in Strathcona. The brewery had planned to open its doors in the summer, but like many other breweries in the province, was repeatedly delayed because of the red tape of the LCLB. But that’s in the past, so let’s thrive in the present!
I visited the tasting room on a rainy Tuesday evening. It has a simple welcoming feel to it, with the brewery’s Italian heritage on display in the paintings and family photos scattered throughout. Luppolo (hops in Italian) is owned and operated by two couples who had dreams of opening a brewery and have made it a reality. The foursome have various ties and heritage to Italy and Italian culture and have channeled this into their business. A nice touch is the family table, tucked in at the back of the room with a window into the brewery. And they serve prosciutto and bread, which seems pretty darn Italian to me.
The tasting room has a big feel to it. Ryan Parfitt, head brewer and co-owner, told me that they went with the largest space allowed for a tasting room. And it feels large, which is a nice change from most of the city’s tasting rooms. The triangle wall design that wraps behind the bar adds to the big open feel and is a real stand out, it’s already become a bit of an icon for the brewery. Ryan explained that his friend designed the triangle wall almost entirely on his computer, with muted blue and yellow colours mixing into natural wood tones. Ryan and family got to work carving each triangle piece and staining them one by one. All of the test triangles ended up as the tasting flight paddles, a neat touch that I’m sure trips people up!
But let’s talk about the beer. It’s damn delicious. I went for a taster flight on my first visit and tried the Saison, West Coast Farmhouse Ale, Fresh Hop Belgian IPA and a classic IPA. All of the beers were clean and well balanced and left me wanting more. So I had more! Next I tried a glass of the New World Sour which was absolutely divine. I’ve been dreaming of it ever since.
Luppolo is an awesome addition to our booming beer scene and is situated at a great location within the East Van beer crawl, and a good beer stop if you’re travelling the East Side Culture Crawl this weekend. The owners and staff are friendly and welcoming and they are off to a great start.
Visit Luppolo Brewing at 1123 Venables Street
3pm-11pm, 7 days a week
Cheers!
Christina is a beer drinking, noodle dreaming introvert. She loves warm fuzzy socks, miniature vegetables and listening to records on a rainy day. If she’s not at the brewery, she’s probably eating a bowl of ramen. Read about her adventures on discoverybird.com
