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Vancouver's East Side emerges as B.C. microbrew hub

Parallel 49 triples its revenue to become the largest of nearly a dozen East Side brewers

Note: This story first appeared in our sister publication Business in Vancouver. To see the original story click here. For more business news go to biv.com.

The proliferation of small craft brewers across B.C. is stealing market share from once-dominant big brewers while producing an ever-expanding range of innovative beers.

B.C. now has at least 53 breweries and 22 brew pubs, according to the B.C. Beer Guide website. Entrepreneurs launched more than a dozen of those ventures in the past two years.

British Columbia Liquor Distribution Branch (BCLDB) statistics reveal how successful these startups have been.

Annual revenue for domestic breweries that produce less than 1.5 million litres of packaged (bottled or canned) beer per year jumped 57.92 per cent in the year that ended Dec. 31, according to BCLDB data.

That compares with a 0.73 per cent rise in revenue for domestic brewers that produced more than 16 million litres of packaged beer annually during the same two time frames.

Parallel 49 Brewing Co. is one of the fastest-growing of the craft brewers and it leapt onto Business in Vancouver’s 2015 list of largest brewers in B.C. at No. 15, thanks to a 223.5 per cent increase in annual sales during the year ended March 31, 2014.

“When we opened in 2012, we basically planned on growth,” said Parallel 49 principal Anthony Frustagli.

“We looked at the landscape of B.C. craft beer and how it was shaking out over the past couple of years. We realized there was huge demand that wasn’t being met.”

He involved partners Scott Venema, Nick Paladino, Graham With, Mike Sleeman and Michael Tod. Each invested varying amounts to equip the 16,000-square-foot brewery with six 5,000-litre fermenting tanks.

The owners have since added 17 10,000-litre tanks.

Investments in both canning and bottling lines have enabled 65 per cent of the brewery’s sales to be packaged.

Parallel 49 also sells kegs to restaurants and fills growlers and pint glasses at its 50-seat pub at 1950 Triumph Street in East Vancouver.

Whether stimulated by Parallel 49’s success or simply by coincidence, East Vancouver has since increased its stature as a craft beer hub within the province.

The area has long housed brewers such as Storm Brewing Ltd. and R&B Brewing Co., but in late 2013, Powell Street Brewery launched near Parallel 49. In September, that Powell Street brewery moved a few blocks west to a bigger space on the same street.

Doan’s Craft Brewing Co. then moved into Powell Street Brewing’s old space.

Other newcomers to the neighbourhood include Bomber Brewing and Strange Fellows.

Callister Brewing aims to launch in spring 2015; other East Vancouver brewers include Coal Harbour Brewing, founded in 2009, and Main Street’s growler-only Brassneck Brewery.

gkorstrom@biv.com
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