My boyfriend and I love craft beer. I know, I know, these days everyone loves craft beer, but we LOVEEEEE craft beer. Back in November 2019, as soon as we’d booked flights to Abbotsford, British Columbia to visit Holden’s cousin, Liam, he texted Liam telling him we wanted to visit all the craft breweries in town while we were there. And that is exactly what we did. We spent four days in Abbotsford, during which we were able to visit four breweries!
We walked from Liam’s apartment to Field House on our second night in Abbotsford, having spent an inaugural night at Townhall the prior evening. This place was my favourite, based off of the atmosphere. Twinkly string lights, wooden interior, cute beer glasses… Right up my alley. It was rainy, so we didn’t sit outside, but the patio was massive and equally as adorable as the interior, with more string lights, and a massive lawn out front that patrons are welcome to spread out and sit on during the warmer months. I tried a cider (sometimes I just really crave cider over beer), which was crisp and refreshing, but their beer selection was huge and varied – absolutely something for everyone here! Both Holden and I bought mini growlers to take home as souvenirs.
Location: 2281 W Railway Street, Abbotsford, British Columbia V2S 2E3
Price: $$$
On our third day in Abbotsford, Holden, Liam, Liam’s roommate and I visited the other three breweries. We started off mid-afternoon at Ravens. A simple, sparsely-furnished interior undersold Ravens’ amazing beers. Their bar is set up to fill growlers quickly and easily, and they offer a small but diverse variety of brews. Our favourites were the sour/Gose beers of course, which were becoming more and more popular at the time, and are still my preference this spring. Ravens’ merch was adorable, and I would’ve loved to have picked some up if I hadn’t been running out of money!
Location: 2485 Townline Road, Abbotsford, British Columbia V2T 6L6
Price: $$
Next, we headed to Trading Post Brewing. Trading Post is a brewery based out of nearby Langley, BC, but they’ve opened a (very) small handful of taphouse-slash-eateries in other locations, including Abbotsford. Less of a brewery and more of an upscale explorer-themed restaurant, we were able to sit on their enclosed patio on some comfy couches, completely with cozy striped Hudson’s Bay-style blankets. The beer was excellent, but the smell of the delicious, locally-sourced meals that passed by us was almost unbearable. We were excited to go home for dinner.
Location: 3058 Gladwin Road, Abbotsford, British Columbia V2T 0H5
Price: $$$
Our final stop was Old Abbey Ales. Despite looking a little sketchy from the outside, this warehouse-style brewery was cheerful, brightly lit and welcoming. Fun chalk art covered the walls, mismatched chairs and tables dotted the large space and a pool table called our name. At Field House and Ravens, we had just gotten a pint each, but at Trading Post and Old Abbey Ales we got flights (4 x 5 oz. mini-glasses that a lot of breweries offer), allowing us to sample more of the beers! Old Abbey Ales had a massive variety of options, and it was hard to narrow it down to just 4 types to try. They use local hops and ingredients, and the flavour of every beer I sipped was incredible.
Location: #1A – 30321 Fraser Highway, Abbotsford, British Columbia V4X 1T3
Price: $$
Missed Connections: We thought we had visited all of the breweries in Abbotsford, but from what I’ve discovered while doing a little research for this post, there appears to be a fifth brewery that either we didn’t know about, or is brand new since we’ve been there. It’s called Loudmouth Brewing Company, and describes itself as “Abbotsford’s one and only Mom & Pop microbrewery” – this causes me to try and picture my own mom and dad starting a brewery together, which I can’t. Loudmouth is located at #140 – 2582 Mt. Lehman Road, Abbotsford, BC V4X 2N3. Hopefully we’ll get a chance to check it out next time. (There could also be more we don’t know about that we missed, so if you’re aware of of any other craft breweries in Abbotsford, please drop me a note!)
Naturally, we had to have one last local beer at the airport bar on our way back to Calgary…
Cheers!
*Note: My price ratings follow no rhyme or reason, other than basing it off of an average of other breweries, with $ being unreasonably cheap and $$$$ being unreasonably expensive for what it is.
*Note 2: I typically include the hours of operation of each business when composing this kind of post, however with the current COVID-19 situation everyone’s hours are a little different than usual, while others are temporarily closed altogether. I suggest checking individual breweries’ websites for their current hours and pick-up/delivery/dine-in options for the time being, and once things have gone back to “normal”, I’ll come back and update this post with the regular hours. Websites are linked in the name of each brewery above for your reference.
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