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SOURCE: B.C. LIQUOR DISTRIBUTION BRANCH, INDEPENDENT RESEARCH BCBUSINESS.CA JUNE 2014 BCBusiness 35 BCBUSINESS.CA JUNE 2014 BCBusiness 35 Central City has an option on an adjacent two-acre property that could accommo- date further expansion. While Central City has enjoyed fairy- tale growth so far, Frost knows there are no guarantees in the beer business. "Is it going to work? Well, we're in the middle of it, so I don't know," he says. Meanwhile, a handful of other mid- sized breweries are building similar destination brewery/restaurants in Greater Vancouver: Red Truck Beer, Big Rock Brewery and Steamworks Brew- ing Co. Ltd. are scrambling to complete brewery/lounge/retail complexes (see sidebar). Is there any limit to the beer mania sweeping the province? Will the Central Cities and Phillipses, or even upstarts like Bomber, one day supplant the mul- tinationals to dominate the local, or even the national beer markets? It's possible, but we're likely nearing the limits of the rocket-ship growth trajectory for micro- breweries, says industry consultant Joel Hueston, whose career includes heading marketing for Molson Coors, and whose company's current clients include Mol- son, Whistler Brewing and Vancouver Island Brewing. "It's possible that some of the big players could get swallowed up.... It's possible that the next generation of beer drinkers, because their parents included craft beers in their circle of brands, will have half their beer consumption be craft beer and it reaches a point where the craft beer category is larger than the mainstream category," says Hueston. "But I'll be dust before that happens." ■ Hot List: The Biggest Independent B.C. Breweries BReWeRY CiTY B.C. sALes, 2013 B.C. sALes, 2009 sALes GROWTH, 2009-13 Paci c Western Brewing Co. Prince George $37,038,122 $15,277,871 142% (Paci c, Cariboo brands) Phillips Brewing Co. Victoria $14,527,143 $3,769,485 385% Turning Point Brewery Delta $14,030,000 N/A N/A (dba Stanley Park Brewery, Hell's Gate Brewing) Northam Brewery LP Kamloops $12,412,210 $7,266,525 71% (dba Whistler Brewing Co., Bowen Island Brewing) Vancouver Island Brewing Co. Victoria $8,663,020 $6,347,424 36% Fireweed Brewing Corp. Kelowna $5,391,621 $2,573,770 109% (dba Tree Brewing Co.) Lighthouse Brewing Co. Inc. Esquimalt $5,156,097 $3,739,635 38% Russell Breweries Inc. Surrey $4,162,692 $2,847,641 46% Driftwood Brewing Co. Inc. Victoria $4,049,056 $165,870 2,341% Central City Brewing Co. Surrey $2,717,936 $467,035 482% Nelson Brewing Co. Nelson $2,444,327 $1,817,878 33% Howe Sound Brewing Co. Ltd. Squamish $2,371,393 $595,269 298% Dead Frog Brewery Aldergrove $1,893,880 N/A N/A Mt. Begbie Brewing Co. Ltd. Revelstoke $1,701,101 $768,424 121% Fernie Brewing Co. Fernie $1,468,056 $520,667 182% Parallel 49 Brewing Co. Ltd. Vancouver $1,452,960 N/A N/A Cannery Brewing Co. Penticton $1,391,236 $681,137 104% R&B Brewing Inc. Vancouver $1,218,933 $1,015,840 20% Hoyne Brewing Co. Ltd. Victoria $1,204,082 N/A N/A Townsite Brewing Inc. Powell River $561,253 N/A N/A Tuff City Brewery Ltd. To no $532,850 N/A N/A (dba To no Brewing Co.) Gulf Islands Brewery Ltd. Salt Spring Island $494,823 $192,093 158% Tin Whistle Brewing Co. Penticton $449,938 $295,934 52% Spinnakers Brew Pub Inc. Victoria $386,987 $91,052 325% Crannog Ales Ltd. Sorrento $367,742 $182,857 101% While Central City Brewing has enjoyed fairy-tale growth so far, Darryl Frost knows there are no guarantees in the beer business. "Is it going to work? Well, we're in the middle of it, so I don't know," he says p28-35-Beer_june.indd 35 2014-05-01 1:29 PM