52 /100 1186 HIGH ROAD Nice enough place, right off the rail trail @ Gordon & Clement. Kelowna's sorriest strip mall now has a brewery, coffee roaster and chocolatier, which is really cool to see. Well, the issue here is that the beer isn't all that good. The fermentation is not right, and given that there's about 10 other breweries in walking distance, I'm not all that sure I'm coming back soon. |
70 /100 Urban Liquor Store - Clement Ave. (Beer Store) 1191 GORDON DR As an out of provincer, this place was great. A whole fridge full of singles to choose from, and much better prices than Cask & Barrel for singles. I filled up a flat of ticks I hadn't had before. The selection isn't as large or as well curated as the latter obviously, but in my limited experience this place is probably second best in town. The singles rack changes a lot, whenever there are only a few sixes of a beer left he'll break them down into singles. Focus here is on a lot of B.C. stuff, but I grabbed a bunch of cans from breweries I'd never seen or heard of in Lower Mainland. Vancouver suburbs type places. Friendly service. Right around the corner from Railside Brewing. |
68 /100 1186 HIGH ROAD Nice patio by the railway a little east of the main brewery district. They had 12 taps on including a seltzer and cider when I was in. Mostly a few pedestrian styles, with a couple of hazies. Not sure how often they change beer styles, seems like they usually maintain at least six flagships on tap. Beer available in flights, and friendly service. The place has some character at least, which is more than many breweries in the area. Beers were average. Patio outfront and a ramen foodtruck, though it wasn't open when I visited.
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32 /100 BC Liquor Store - Kelowna Orchard Park (Beer Store) 109 1835 DILWORTH DR Barely anything of interest here, even for someone who only visits B.C. a couple of times per year. You can get cases of lager though, and some six packs of BC stuff. |
84 /100 1-3314 APPALOOSA ROAD The best brewery in Kelowna in terms of quality beer by a long shot. And the best place to get their stuff on tap--they mostly only sell bottles to beer stores etc. Super friendly service here, chatted for hours with the owners/brewer couple. Other clients were friendly and chatty as well--this place seems to draw a crowd of profs and grad students from UBC rather than undergrads. They had 12 beers on tap and a couple of wines. One guest cider. All their stuff is sour stuff, even the stout had bretta, but you should expect that given the name. Flights available. Their beer ranges from above average to a couple of real standouts that definitely make the B.C. craft beer scene more interested. And on top of all this, they have a coolship now, though they said they probably won't be pouring any spontaneously fermented beer for a year or so. The space itself is quite small, just a drywall bar without tons of decor other than a fireplace in the corner. I had the turkey panini, which was decent. |
68 /100 4629 LAKESHORE RD #102 Great barn-like decor in this place. The upstairs looked super cabin-like cozy, though I had a sleeping baby with me and didn't want to go upstairs. Service was decent, and flights are available here. One of the prettier looking places in Kelowna, but unfortunately the beer quality leaves a little to be desired. Average at best, and certainly avoid their sours. No real food other than pretzels. |
82 /100 1-3314 APPALOOSA ROAD After spending much of COVID as a pick-up spot for online bottle orders (in a not so convenient industrial park), Wild Ambition has a taproom now! It's glorious just to walk in and have 10-12 of these beers at your fingertips. The taproom seems like it will fit all seasons, they're doing some basic food, and most important it is no longer a struggle to hunt down Wild Ambition beers. Given that they are the best brewery in the Okanagan and an easy top 5 in BC, this is fantastic. |
38 /100 Urban Liquor Store - Clement Ave. (Beer Store) 1191 GORDON DR Yawnable beer slash liquor store I stumbled upon only due to my decision to walk (good decision) after too many beers further into town. Still, selection was okay and revealed a few hidden gems. This place is by no means a priority but might be useful in some contexts. |
20 /100 Wine and Beyond - Kelowna (Beer Store) 500-2339 HIGHWAY 97N The "Beyond" part of this store is back out in the lot where you parked. Yes, it had a gauche walk-in cooler and a few ciders from the orchards within spitting distance, but otherwise, the best descriptor is that common phrase, "macro swill". I bought a single can here of aforesaid, mostly out of spite. The parking lot is a nightmare. |
66 /100 3975 JUNE SPRINGS RD A small gift shop and tasting room out in the upper reaches of Kelowna's orchards. They have tastings available, reasonably priced, which includes their five most common meads (with some choices) and also offer two extra for $1 each. Plenty of honey products in the shop. Service was friendly, meads were pleasant but nothing spectacular. An okay stop if you're doing the rounds in Kelowna's orchards one afternoon. |
60 /100 975 ACADEMY WAY #121 Definitely catering to the university crowd, being situated in the middle of one. Looks like any student bar from anyone's memory, and that's not a bad thing. Beers were mediocre, again probably good enough for their target market, and quite cheap compared to everyone else in the city. However it's quite a trek to get here, I wouldn't call it a priority by any stretch. You won't remember the beers but you'll remember the trek to get here.
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38 /100 890 CLEMENT AVE Nice interior and modest patio with a big mezzanine for private gatherings, of which there was one when I visited. Good long bar with a large screen playing episodes of The Office (hence the name?). Beers in general sucked - like there is a serious lack of knowledge here of the basics, and it's led to some real disappointments that I struggled to drink. Not only that but flights were rather expensive, so you can't even rely on this place for a cheap buzz. Perhaps they can learn and turn it around, but until then, there's no reason to come here. |
44 /100 880 CLEMENT AVE #207 Seems to be a standard brewery setup straight from the B.C. playbook. Concrete walls and spartan interior with a modest patio, some kind of dog theme but it's really not too overt. 13 beers on tap, which is way too many as they are mostly below average, none are executed especially well. In a crowded neighbourhood this place is not one to prioritize. |
72 /100 3477 LAKESHORE RD This place kind of looks like a cowork location with food and beer. Right off the beach, and they are renovating their patio so it has more shade--I can imagine that being a plus in the hot summers here. Beer was mostly good, putting this place among the better breweries in Kelowna (though this isn't exactly a huge achievement). Flights available. I had a ahi tuna slash pork bellow sammy that was excellent. |
74 /100 2555 GALE ROAD Fun place near the airport. Stopped here for lunch after getting my COVID-19 test for a flight the next day. Cider is more interesting than many places as they've barrel aged a bunch of them and added other fruits. They even had a couple of guest beers on tap, all available in flights with ciders. Pizza was pretty good. Location has a great view over the valley. Service friendly enough. |
44 /100 948 MCCURDY RD Kind of like McDonald's answer to a brewpub in feel and probably in beer quality for the most part. Character-free booths and personality free tables. This really just feels like it exists as a place where bowlers sit for a beer while waiting for a lane--there seems to be no effort to make this place cozy or enjoyable. The best beers they do are the basic lagers, the other stuff is a little rough. Flights available. I would skip this one unless you're bored on the way to the airport and have hit everything else of interest. A lot of breweries in Kelowna have low quality beer, but many of them at least have cool breweries or locations. Not so much this place. |
72 /100 975 ACADEMY WAY #121 Beautiful hilltop place with a great view near the UBC campus. Inside is homey, with a few couches and arm chairs and some more ordinary tables. Nice deck area overlooking the valley. They do flights of four here. Mostly their beers on tap with a couple of guest breweries and cideries. Beer is average at best, unfortunately, since the location is really nice. |
62 /100 Wine and Beyond - Kelowna (Beer Store) 500-2339 HIGHWAY 97N A month before I leave Kelowna, they open this place right near me. I go past it on my evening walk. So it's an Alberta chain, so of course their first foray into BC is in Kelowna, which is honourary Wild Rose Country anyway. When they first opened, the selection wasn't much really. Just the easy to obtain stuff, and a couple of random turds clearly acquired at auction.
A couple of weeks later they are working to increase the beer list. It's not even close to Cask & Barrel yet, but it's good to see that opening day wasn't their peak. If they can convince the BC government to let them have a beer tasting bar / growler station, I'm all in on that. But otherwise, still only better for me that C&B or even Urban by way of being a place I can walk to. |
66 /100 890 CLEMENT AVE They've been open a couple of months and are one of the most reliable breweries in town. Lots of new beer, and usually of quite good quality. I visit often. The kitchen is quietly solid, or at least they have one cook who's good shit...I've been let down once or twice but usually it's quite good so I think it's really one person kicking ass back there. Anyway, solid beer, lots of tap turnover, I think it's one of the best breweries in Kelowna. |
72 /100 Dunnenzie's Mission (Restaurant) 4638 LAKESHORE RD It is an honour to drink pints of Flagship under this tree.
OK, so Dunnenzie's is a family feedbag pizza place, the sort of establishment you'd bring your kid's soccer team to celebrate the end of the season. If you like kids, or have them, this place is for you. It's way out of the way, but kitty corner to Barn Owl, so you might end up down here anyway.
But here's the thing. The backyard here is under the umbrella of a 185-year-old London Plane tree. There is no finer tree in the Okanagan. It's massive - the backyard seats about a million people and they are all under its canopy.
They don't seem to have any mainstream beer on tap, just craft, so while the selection is fairly small, at least you get turnover, and the Flagship IPA was fresh on my recent visit.
If you're coming down to tick at Barn Owl during the warmer months, you should probably chill under this tree with a pint, too. It's a heck of a spot.
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56 /100 CRAFT Beer Market - Kelowna (Restaurant) 257 BERNARD AVE It's about the same as every other Craft Beer Market (a Yard House ripoff). By far the most taps in Kelowna but on my recent visit there were only 2 new ticks, and they weren't that exciting. I know they've had more than 2 ticks at various points in the past, but it's never more than five. If you're in downtown Kelowna, better off just to head over to Curious or up to the North End where all the breweries are. |
52 /100 Mission Tap House (Restaurant) 3110 LAKESHORE RD Old school BC pub, feels like trying to be everything for everybody (back in the day there were strict limits on the number of pubs so they all took this approach). In the end, it's not a specialist at anything, including beer, but compared with its peers in Kelowna it does have a solid selection of craft. I think they say 27 taps but it didn't feel like it - there was hardly anything interesting on the list. I had a Cannery Blackberry Porter, which is pretty old school Okanagan. I ordered a Tree Hophead, trying to lean into the old school thing, but it was the Hazy variant. That wasn't so bad, though. Still, it's not a place a beer geek needs to visit in Kelowna. |
60 /100 Armstrong Regional Co-Op Liquor (Beer Store) 1973 HARVEY AVE Formerly Urban Liquor, and I was concerned after it changed hands. However, a recent visit showed that it maintains the same selection of beer, and they have ordered craft beer to replace SKUs. At this point, the beer program looks similar to what Urban had, and so the store is still a good place to shop in the city of Kelowna. |
62 /100 Flip Flops & Hops (Bar) #300 - 1974 KANE ROAD Little neighbourhood spot in Glenmore, so not really near anything else in town. In a strip mall and has a coffee shop vibe to it. There's 10 taps. Some stuff is brand new and hard to find up here. But they also have local stuff but not necessarily the better local brewers. I like the place, though, and if I lived in Glenmore I'd be there all the time. |
76 /100 727 BAILLIE AVE Not sure what to say about the beers these guys do. Lithuanian farm beers and barrel aged lagers… so ya they try a little hard to be unique. Not exactly a place you’d go to get a beer brewed to style. That being said most of the beers I had were pretty decent. Interesting looking place. Service ok. Probably among the better breweries in the district, but again, that’s unfortunately not saying a lot. |
58 /100 890 CLEMENT AVE Strange themed place between Welton and Unleashed. Beer here is probably the roughest of those three as well. Strange smattering of styles here when I visited. They only had a couple available. Friendly service, flights available. Some patio seats. Smaller than Unleashed next door. |
66 /100 880 CLEMENT AVE #207 Small place right next door to The Office and Welton. It has only been open a few weeks. They only have a couple of beers when I was in, a few basic styles. Beer was average at best. Flights available. Friendly place though with lots of space. |
74 /100 760 VAUGHAN AVE Nice open place with a trendy feel. Cool decor and nice patio seating. Beer is average, which puts it above most places in the brewery district of Kelowna unfortunately. Flights available, service pretty good. Prices average. |
58 /100 1851 KIRSCHNER RD #102 Cool looking, tall ceiling place beside a Montreal smoked meat and poutine place a little off the main brewery strip of Kelowna. 20 beers on tap, available in flights of four. Mostly IPAs and fruit sours, with a few lager-type beers as well when I was in. Service was pretty spotty, but this is COVID time. We got grumpy comments twice from bartenders because we stood up to look at the beer menu instead of sitting down in chairs. Beer was just OK, with nothing really that notable and a few definite duds. Prices ok. Probably best thing about this is the smoked meat place next door. |
54 /100 975 ACADEMY WAY #121 Pretty cool location, perched atop UBC-O with a patio view looking down to the airfields (or it would if I could see through this apocalyptic smoke). Odd place -- the interior feels like it's a run-down old timer's pub that hasn't been attended to in a couple decades. The aforementioned patio is beautiful though. 6 beers on tap with flights of 4 available for $10 plus tax. Beer quality isn't very good, with a couple decent ones, and the rest needing some serious work. Don't come here for the beer, but for the nice patio; if that doesn't entice you, skip this place. |
66 /100 2555 GALE ROAD Further east of the downtown on a decent plot of land right off the highway, this is a fun little cidery. They had 7 ciders on tap, with flights of 4 available for $14.50 plus tax -- that's way too expensive for ciders like this. The ciders were well-made, but not complex or elegant -- mostly adjunct-laden, with low-to-medium residual sweetness (the standard BC cider quality). Fun place to chill on a hot day. |
70 /100 1033 RICHTER ST Within a block from Jackknife, Red Bird, and Kettle River, this is a cute little neighbourhood place amidst a slew of downtown breweries. 8 or so taps, with flights of 4 available for $11 plus tax. Nothing overly fancy on tap, but they had their beers dialed in pretty well. Very friendly service and a nice interior environment. Worth a look when doing all the breweries in this area. |
66 /100 760 VAUGHAN AVE Nice setup, with lots of indoor and patio seating, including a sizeable section that is pet-friendly. Fairly small taplist of 7-8 beers, with flights of 4 available for $11. I was moderately happy with 3 of 4 beers on my flight, which is a good hit rate for Kelowna. Good service at the counter, then they bring out the beers to your table. Worth a visit when in town. |
56 /100 890 CLEMENT AVE I visited on opening day, and they were pretty busy. It's literally next door to Welton Arms Pub and a block or so away from Rustic Reel, so this area is getting even more dense with breweries. Small, cozy interior, with additional patio seating. They had 5 beers on tap with flights of 4 available. A couple of the beers were decent and well dialed in, but others had issues. I'm sure they'll work out some kinks over time, and I'll be happy to revisit then. As of now, an okay spot that could have potential. |
52 /100 Urban Liquor Store - Clement Ave. (Beer Store) 1191 GORDON DR The Gordon & Clement store isn't as good as the Guisachan store, but that still makes it the second-best craft beer store in Kelowna proper. It's also handy for the brewery district. It's no replacement for Cask & Barrel, but you should find a few different things here. |
48 /100 Metro Liquor - Train Station (Beer Store) 1175 ELLIS STREET It's an okay store, decent craft selection. It was weird to see it ranked above Urban Liquor, though, because Urban destroys this place on selection. |
50 /100 948 MCCURDY RD Totally renovated for late 2020, and so here's what we've got. A bright sterile interior. Not super pubby. The bowling alley is through a separate entrance and I don't know if they have the house beers there anymore. Beer list is fairly large (10ish house taps), food is sysco whatever type of stuff. They have a couple of guest taps. Service is fine. It's an odd environment just because it's not cozy and you don't really know if you're having a pub or restaurant experience (or neither). Although the table spacing is covid-style so that can also have an impact on vibe. |
58 /100 Urban Liquor Store - Guisachan Village (Beer Store) 106-2395 GORDON DR, KELOWNA Here's the thing. They have a lot of stuff, and I like that. But most of it is in 4-packs or 6-packs. It's really not ticker friendly at all. If it's something you really like and intend to consume in quantity, rock on. But if you want to tick, they can't help you much. I mean, look, if your car breaks down out front and you're really thirsty, you should pop in. But other than some Nomad ticks, not much going on and you're better off walking to Copper to get your tick on. |
36 /100 BC Liquor Store - Kelowna Mission Park (Beer Store) 35 3155 LAKESHORE RD I'm assuming this is the signature one. I come here for rum, not beer. But as beer goes, it's basically a mid-range LDB, like Cambie & 8th level. They do carry a few random interesting things, and they have a decent spec list of locals, but not as good as the Orchard Park LDB or any of the better private stores. I don't hate the place; I just don't buy beer here. |
18 /100 Liquor Depot @ Dilworth (Beer Store) 223-2339 HIGHWAY 97 NORTH Sweet Jesus, this is on Ratebeer? And civilized people have been here? What a waste of time. This store has jack. You will walk out empty-handed, so what's the point? |
64 /100 2555 GALE ROAD Visited mid-summer. A rather large-ish place a modest drive further north than Kelowna's airport, turn a few corners and right near the highway. Inside is a good setup of tables, flights are available as well as bottles for take-away. Inside the building is something of a farmer's market, though you couldn't exit that way when I visited which was odd. Some food offerings available. Ciders are hit and miss but I'm glad I visited. Hard to say if this is a necessary stop if in the area, but worthwhile if you have the time. |
52 /100 BC Liquor Store - Kelowna Orchard Park (Beer Store) 109 1835 DILWORTH DR It's a BCL, so yeah. As far as beer geeks are concerned, they seem to have some of single bottles, including local and localish stuff. Not so much on the single cans, which is a big whiff in 2020 when that's how most beer is packaged. Did find a random new Jelly King here, though. But still, it's geared around spirits and wine, beer is kind of an afterthought, no matter how many people use this as their main stockup. |
54 /100 975 ACADEMY WAY #121 Up on the hill at the university, KBC is a student pub, with cheap ass wings and everything. But they also have a brewery, and with COVID I don't think there's too many students right now. Certainly not on my visit. The beers aren't student priced, and the quality was variable. So I didn't like that much. But the view is pretty solid - I swear the Okanagan is one of the most beautiful places you'll ever see, but this is the only one out of 25-ish breweries that actually has a view. Well, that'll get me back in the door. |
64 /100 1851 KIRSCHNER RD #102 Tucked in a random strip mall, away from most of the other breweries, so it was awkward to fit this one in. They had a massive amount of house beers, like 16-18, so I focused on the 8 I wanted to try the most. They were okay - no big hits but also no big misses. A great place for tickers but otherwise not worth going out of your way. |
62 /100 1-2287 WARD ROAD Quite a nice big tasting room up on a hill south of Kelowna. Several taster flights available though they did seem expensive. A fridge and gift shop offer plenty of takeaway options. Service was just okay. A decent stop if you have a car and can get out of central Kelowna, though their ciders are more on the simplistic side they will appeal in that fashion. |
64 /100 948 MCCURDY RD Yup, a craft beer bar inside a bowling alley. Quite big and clean, quick service, only 3 beers on tap when I visited but the server said that once renovations are done they should have 10 on tap. Some crowlers available for take-away, so I took away. When they're done it should be fun, at least as fun as drunken bowling. Beers are forgettable but that's no excuse to forget your score. |
76 /100 4629 LAKESHORE RD #102 My first visit was during covid, so thought I'd re-rate. The barn is really attractive, most of the seating is upstairs but there's also an outside area. I like it. Long beer list, and there's some well-made beers on that list. Definitely a solid stop in Kelowna, even though it's one of the most out of the way locations. |
66 /100 760 VAUGHAN AVE Bright, open place. They've got a decent kitchen with some more unusual dishes, so I like that. On my first visit they only had three house beers and this time was more like 8, so that's a big step up. They were mostly average. It is what it is. A good stop, and of course part of the North End brewery district. |
76 /100 727 BAILLIE AVE One of the more characterful breweries in Kelowna, so I like going there to drink. I think the first couple of times they played some good stoner rock so I had flashbacks to Holy Mountain and Structures, but since then it's been more on the screamo mainstream side of metal, which is not my thing. I get not wanting to play unapproachable tech death or harsh black metal too much, but at least give me some Sleep or something.
That's a petty thing, btw, and I like drinking here more than any other brewery in Kelowna. The pizza is the best in town, even including places that don't have good beer, and this is especially true on Sunday Square day. They literally put lao gan ma on some of their pies (for those who don't know, LGM is the world's greatest condiment). They experiment a ton with the beer. Not at a high level of execution but most other breweries in town are low concept/mid execution. I'll take high concept / mid execution any day of the week.
If you just have a day to hit up the North End brewery district, this is a must stop.
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68 /100 3477 LAKESHORE RD Across from the park/beach, so good location. They had 8 beers on tap and a good sized patio. Visited in mid-afternoon and nobody was really eating. I found the beers were all mid-range, which is good for the Lager, not good for the IPA and Stout. But it also means that they were all clean, if unexciting and you can drink whatever you feel like. |
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