One of Island’s pioneering craft breweries shuts down this week

It’s a swan song for the brewing side of Swans. After nearly 36 years its machines will stop on Aug. 31, while the liquor store and pub remain open with a wider range of other local craft beer once the last of the in-house brew runs out in mid-October.

The decision was driven by an increasingly crowded craft beer market, operator Mike Boyle told Tasting Victoria, and pub customers’ desire to sample more of that market. 

“In 1989 Swans really stood out from the crowd,” he said, “It was a very unique offering. Fast forward to today and there are a ton of craft brewers in town, on the Island, in the province, all making this product.” 

That’s the thing about being a trailblazer: once the trail becomes a wide and busy road, the trailblazer becomes just another commuter on it. 

One of our oldest craft breweries

The corner building by the bridge was originally built in 1913 as a granary warehouse. Developer Michael Williams built and launched the brewpub in 1989 when he owned the building, and later passed it to UVic in his will. The university still owns the building (which also contains Swans hotel) but not the brewpub itself.

In 1989, Swans was one of the first craft breweries in Victoria—and in Canada—and was at the vanguard of what has since become a massive craft beer industry. One of the forerunners of that movement was microbiologist Frank Appleton, who in the early 1980s co-launched the Trolleys Pub microbrewery in Horseshoe Bay—often credited as BC’s first modern craft brewery. 

In 1989, several years after Spinnakers and Vancouver Island Brewing put Greater Victoria on the early craft-beer map, Appleton started up the Swans Brewpub / Buckerfields Brewery and hired brewmaster Sean Hoyne. Hoyne went on to become one of BC’s most prominent brewers, later launching Canoe in 1997 and then his eponymous brewery in Rock Bay in 2011. Swans went on to win Brewpub of the Year at Canadian Brewing Awards in 2006.

The pub is the priority

Boyle said he is mindful of the legacy of Swans, but felt the best way to preserve that legacy was to adapt the business to the contemporary market. He also feels that the pub itself, as a long-time gathering place, is much more central to the legacy than the brewery.

The Swans brewing equipment is tucked away in backrooms, Boyle pointed out, so the patrons didn’t glimpse it as they often do at other microbreweries. 

“People were more often shocked than not to find out we were brewing the beers on site.”

Those pubgoers, especially at large events, want variety more than they want an on-site brewery they can’t actually see on site, he believes—and “without our guests, there isn’t a business.”

What’s next?

Boyle said there will be no staff cuts due to the closure. Swans brewing was run by one brewmaster, and he’ll shift over to handling the liquor store. Giving customers access to an expert of his calibre is one way for Swans to regain some of the distinctiveness and hands-on touch that being a craft brewery no longer granted. 

“It’s unique to have someone with so much skill in the process of making beer to be able to help you front-and-centre in the liquor store.”

The pub will continue to make its own barrel-aged cocktails and hopes to rent out its equipment and space to another brewery. There are no plans to clear the equipment out and rent the space for a different use, Boyle said. 

In 2022, Capital Daily had a limited-edition  beer brewed at Swans: the Writer's Block Pilsner. We also brought readers at a members event on a tour of the brewing process itself. Other Swans collaborations included the UVic Vikes Lager.

Vancouver Island Brewing also folding brewery; will sign deal with Phillips

One of the very few local breweries even older than Swans also recently announced its impending closure. On Wednesday, 40-year-old VI Brewing posted online that as of Nov. 1 it will fold its brewing operations on upper Government and contract nearby competitor Phillips to brew and package its main line of beers. 

“It was important for us to find a craft brewery whose operators also have deep, local roots and whose commitment to excellence and quality matches our own,” VI said in its announcement. 

The brewery, which began on the peninsula and moved downtown a decade later, cited a 35% increase in rent by its landlord that made its large north-downtown space unaffordable. General manager Thom Riley also cited the pandemic, supply chains, inflation, and rising taxes. 

VI Brewing's Islander lager had a first-place finish at the BC Beer Awards last fall.

VI will also close its taproom (as of Sept. 14) and, unlike Swans, will cut staff—eliminating its entire operations team. It will keep about 10% of its current space on Government, including a brewing area for small batches and to prototype new beers.