G O F I G U R E
Hop to It
What can bring cheer to the short autumn
days ahead? For the 19th-century Bavarians
who invented Oktoberfest, the obvious
answer was beer! But, as these statistics
show, an aging population, tariffs on aluminum
and a hangover from the craft beer boom are
taking some of the froth off the industry.
—By Michael McCullough
BC B U S I N E SS NOVEM B ER/ D ECEM B ER 2025 | 15 Master1305/Shutterstock
B.C. is home to about
240 breweries,
down from its
pandemic-era high.
17 licensed brewers
closed their doors
in the 12 months
to June 2025.
The province's per-capita
consumption declined
7.4% in 2023 from the
previous year, to 57
litres per person
Sources: Government of B.C., BC Craft Brewers Guild, Beer Canada, IBISworld, BCLDB
Only 37% of craft breweries
in Canada are profitable.
joining the team to help oversee the abso-
lutely key process of removing alcohol from
the wine. There's a multitude of ways to do
this—spinning cone columns, vacuum distil-
lation, even boiling is possible—but the team
hit upon a proprietary method of reverse
osmosis plus a subtle rebalancing to achieve
the lightest impact and preserve the most
authentic flavour profile. And, through trial
and error, they hit upon a 100-percent char-
donnay formulation—a "blanc de blancs," in
Champenoise terms—that they were confi-
dent could sway potential customers. They
just had to get the word out.
Billinghurst crafted an elegantly minimal-
ist label, Helou pounded the pavement with
samples for sommeliers and retailers and
Stoller got working on the socials. Things
were moving in June 2024 in anticipation of
a fall launch, but by the time the big Octo-
ber kickoff happened—a black tie event at
Vancouver's Terminal City Club dubbed the
Glimmer Ball—the buzz, and orders, were
already reaching a fever pitch.
Of course there have been roadblocks:
for starters, the aforementioned capital
intensity is very real for a startup in this
area—but the team has been astute in lead-
ing several successful rounds of financing.
And because the end product is technically
classified as food, the company's Okanagan
production facility needs to comply with the
more onerous food safety requirements. But
the rewards have been more plentiful: not
only does a who's-who of Vancouver's top
restaurants now stock the wine (Maenam,
Elisa, Published on Main, to name a few), the
brand is also a hit at traditional wine stores
like Marquis and Liberty. And one of the
most encouraging placements is the number
of fellow wineries—like French Door and
Monte Creek—that actually offer Glimmer
as an option for their patrons.
It's been a heady journey for a team of
non wine pros, but, luckily, they're clear-
headed enough to meet the challenge.
Domestic
(B.C.-brewed)
$769 million
Domestic
(rest of Canada)
$170.6 million
Import
$92.3 million
$1.032 billion in B.C.
beer sales through
liquor stores, 2024-25:
Though microbrews represented just 13.3% of beer sales through liquor
stores and 20.5% of bar and restaurant beer sales last year, 4,270
British Columbians worked in craft breweries and brewpubs as of 2023.
0
50000
100000
150000
200000
250000
300000
0
50000
100000
150000
200000
250000
300000
B.C. Liquor
Distribution Branch
beer sales
(000s of litres):
2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24
284,224
270,542
269,811
267,083
252,955
