Swans Hotel (Buckerfield Brewing)

July 9, 2008
Went for lunch. Got the chowder and it had carrots in it which was weird but it was ok. Beer was pretty decent. Service was good.

September 10, 2007
Went there for Friday lunch and Saturday breakfast. Busy both days. Service a tad slow as it was all over Victoria. Lots of beers though not too adventerous. Food was good.

July 26, 2007
Stopped in to try a sampler after the lunch crowd. Good service, beers were fair. Menu looked fine but I didn’t eat there. In convenient location if you’re on foot from the Washington ferry (a little more easy to get to than Spinnakers).

July 4, 2007
Nice decor, we were served quickly and in a friendly manner. The beer is better (arguably) than Spinnakers, and the food is more affordable and still tastes good. We were forgotten for a while by the serving staff, but otherwise a pleasant experience.

June 29, 2007
Hit this at a busy time. Hard to find seats, hard to get service. Noisy. Venue was sort of over modernized restoration. Other than that the food was pretty good, and the ales were more than worth the effort. Shouldn’t miss this one.

March 6, 2007
Swan’s is Victoria’s second best Brewpub after Spinnakers. This was our Friday night haunt for over a dozen years. About the only bad thing that I can say about the place is the food has never been that great. The ambience is great, beer is good, staff all knew us by name and basically kept one end of the bar open for us. The art on the walls is for the most part cool... However there is one exception. The first Friday after one of our crew had his wisdom teeth done, a new piece appeared on the wall. It was a light box installation that wires holding in place a set of dentures as well as a set of dental x-rays. This offended us! Until we moved away we made a point of unplugging this horror. The offending peice is on the wall between the end of the bar and the kitchen door, on the way to the washrooms. Please do me a favour, if you pass by this thing, keep the tradition alive.. unplug it!

July 3, 2006
Seems that every time I go to Victoria I end up stopping at Swans. I really like their bar. Clean and airy, comfortable, friendly and bright. Nice glassed in atrium style patio around the front is great for people watching. The food is good, appetizers are great and they have a decent selection of styles on offer, with drink specials as well. I generally enjoy their beers , though I’ve never really tested their servers knowledge that much.

September 11, 2005 [ Updated October 31, 2005 ]
Bright, woody, and roomy, it maintains at least a little Victorian parlour feel to it along with distinctive Canadian accents, like a portrait of PET. The house beers I found a little underfermented. Staff were fine. A good place for sociable drinking. I’m amazed how crowded this place can be. Even on a Saturday afternoon it was jammed to the gills.

August 3, 2005
Big bar with 9 beer engines right out front - but only three of them were serving. They had ten beers when I visited, and a few of them were impressive: good IPA and porter. Next door is the Swans/Buckerfield bottle shop. This spot is easily walkable from almost every other beer-worthy spot in town.

May 30, 2005
Nice looking place with lots of native carvings decorating the walls. The glass-enclosed section of the bar is a nice place for a mid-afternoon pint as well. Whenever I’ve been here, I’ve had good service. Beers are pretty average, but the Scotch ale is worth checking out. Great location as well, you can walk from here to any of the other Ratebeer Victoria destinations in under 20 minutes. The attached hotel is pretty swank as well, with original art in every room.