One of the top microbreweries around, North Vancouver‘s Deep Cove Brewers and Distillers offered a warm atmosphere, good food and a variety of great beers.
The brewery used to be based on the North Shore, on Dollarton Highway, not far from the Second Narrows Bridge. Its beers though are sold at liquor stores and bars all over the Lower Mainland.
The brewery gets exceptional reviews, with average ratings between around 4.0 and 4.8 on sites like TripAdvisor, Yelp, Google Reviews and Facebook for their food and their beers. Not many places get reviews as consistently high as that!
TEMPORARILY (HOPEFULLY) CLOSED
In May of 2023 Deep Cove Brewers announced that they were closing temporarily due to leasing issues related to complications with their building. The brewery hopes to find a new location and resume operations. This will likely take a fair bit of time, however, and exact details are to be confirmed. We wish them luck in finding a new place!
North Vancouver’s Deep Cove Brewery
Located at 2270 Dollarton Highway in North Vancouver, Deep Cove Brewers and Distillers was a top independent brewery. There was an on-site focus on what they created, using primarily BC-sourced ingredients.
The brewery is owned by the Gibbons Group which is a local company based in Whistler. They also operate the Longhorn Saloon, FireRock Lounge, Buffalo Bills, Stonesedge Kitchen, Garfinkel’s and a couple of other places in Whistler.
In BC the legal age to drink alcohol is 19. In Alberta it’s 18. Why the difference? We’re guessing Albertans think they’re more mature than us (and they’re probably right)! That’s okay though because British Columbia has better craft beer!
Where is Deep Cove Brewery?
The brewery’s address was Unit 170 – 2270 Dollarton Highway in North Vancouver. The place was about a kilometre east of the Second Narrows Bridge and a kilometre west of the Maplewood Flats Conservation Area.
Note: The brewery wasn’t super close to the seaside village of Deep Cove. It was actually about 7 km away.
BEER IN PARKS
Did you know that, since the summer of 2021, you can drink alcohol in public at a number of parks in the Lower Mainland? You can also consume alcohol in a couple of areas at the Shipyards in North Vancouver and Waterfront Park near Lonsdale Quay. And did you know that locally-made craft beers are the best tasting beers to enjoy at alcohol-friendly parks? It’s true, or at least we think so!
Hours of Operation and Events
Before it closed, the brewery was open seven days a week. From Mondays to Thursdays the hours were 12:00 pm to 11:00 pm and on Fridays and Saturdays the hours were 12:00 pm to 12:00 am. On Sundays the place was open from noon until 10:00 pm.
There were fairly regular live music performances and other events at the brewery (on weekends especially). Sadly, COVID-19 halted them for a while, but they did start back up again.
The Brewery
The brewery had a large outdoor patio and a cozy inside area. During non-pandemic times, the brewery offered tours around the establishment.
The patio at the brewery was a great one. It had a mix of circular tables and rectangular wooden picnic tables. They all had umbrellas for shade in the summer.
As you would expect, the main selling point for Deep Cove Brewers and Distillers was their wide range of on-tap beers. But while that was certainly the case, there was also more on offer. The brewery also served craft cocktails and spirits, meaning that drink-lovers of all kinds could find something they enjoyed.
There was plenty of food available as well. The fare was what you’d expect from a brewpub, with plenty of sandwiches, meat, some salads and dishes like nachos and pretzels. Each day had a different food special which included things like pierogis, lobster rolls and Aussie meat pies.
When we last went to the brewery we had the Reuben sandwich. It was delicious! It came with a giant pickle (which is one of the venue’s signature side options). We also had the lobster roll which was like a lobster salad sandwich on a bun. It was also excellent! The restaurant was also especially well-known for its pulled pork sandwiches. For vegetarians, the Halloumi gyro was a cheese-based item that was highly recommended.
For Deep Cove Brewing’s website visit deepcovecraft.com.
Ordering Online
While Deep Cove beers can be found at BC Liquor Stores, retailers sometimes don’t have a huge variety on offer. This means that if you’re looking for the full selection of Deep Cove’s craft beers it was best to go directly to the source (although that’s no longer possible).
Until it closed, Deep Cove Brewers and Distillers offered two ways of purchasing drinks on their website. The first was scheduling an order for pick-up. With this method you pre-paid on their website and then drove to their building to grab your order there. Along with beverages you could also purchase gift cards and hand sanitizer made on the premises.
You could sometimes have the beers delivered to your home through Uber Eats. Depending on how close you were to the brewery this might have been a nice option. If you lived farther away, however, then you might have been out of range, or noticeably more expensive. (Note: Unfortunately, as of June 2021, Deep Cove Brewers’ food and drinks were temporarily unavailable via Uber Eats.)
There was the option to rent a keg from the brewery. They offered both 30-litre and 50-litre sizes. As of the last time we checked, the first cost around $130 to $140 depending on the beer while the second cost around $210 to $220. The kegs had to be picked up on-site, and you needed a credit card to purchase them as well.
If you just wanted a small amount of beer, you could purchase six packs from the brewpub’s fridge. They also sold growlers which were bottles you could get filled with their draft beers.
About Deep Cove’s Beers
Deep Cove Brewery made some of the best craft beer in the Lower Mainland. Their pale ale, in fact, won a number of awards.
When we last visited, other beers in their fridge included their Screamin’ Zealand Wild IPA (7%), the Crawl Stout (5%), a Hazy IPA (6.8%) and their Deep Cove Lager (5%). They also had a variety of fruit infused brews including ones with hints of raspberry, pomegranate, mango, coconut and ginger. They even had a Coffee Dopplebock and a Cucumber Pilsner!
A great way to try out the beers was to order a flight. Beer tasting flights came in 3 taster, 4 taster and 5 taster sizes with each glass being 5 ounces. We had a flight with the White Tropical IPA, New Zealand IPA, Hazy IPA and Nitro Crawl Stout. Loved them all! Our favourites though were the New Zealand IPA and the stout.
If you drink, drink responsibly (and don’t drink and drive).
Other Information
For more information visit the Deep Cove Brewers and Distillers website.
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