Several days before the bike tour, I did some internet sleuth-work to plan out a schedule of Victoria brewery visits, and Phillips Brewing got the luck of the draw for first.  Fellow beer-biker Jonny took the Clipper from Seattle while I took the Coho from Port Angeles, and, after meeting for brunch at Shine Cafe and taking care of a few pre-ride details, we pedaled on over to their tasting room.  Super nice folks working at Phillips, and they told me about two brewpubs that my brief searching hadn’t found.  This weekend in Victoria would be busier than I thought.  In between the steady stream of customers coming in for growler fills, we managed to taste all the beer they had on tap.

The taproom at Phillips Brewing — Victoria, BC

Rob’s Picks
• Phoenix Gold Lager – Bready aroma. Bit of alcohol flavor, a touch sweet, and bright on the tongue. Great summer beer.
• Slipstream Cream Ale – Not too creamy, but smooth, and also kind of bright. Pretty similar to the Blue Buck but with a bit of creamy flavor.
• Hop Circle IPA – Big citrus aroma. Good citrusy hoppy flavor, but not too big. Underlying bitterness, and a little bit of maltiness to balance. Pretty drinkable.
• Longboat Chocolate Porter – Big chocolate aroma. Good dry chocolate flavors, and nicely thick on the tongue. Quite drinkable.

The Rest
• Blue Buck Pale Ale – Really smooth, not too aggressive. Kinda malty, with a bit of alcohol flavor. Sort of a bigger bodied lager. Their best selling beer and quite popular in Victoria.
• Raspberry Wheat – Raspberry aroma. Light raspberry flavor, nicely tart. Somewhat dry, but in a slightly watery way, oddly enough.

Some people like to mix the Raspberry Wheat and the Longboat Chocolate Porter, which in theory I can understand, but when I tried it there, it didn’t click for me. Ah well. Phillips also has plenty of logo glassware and shirts and whatnot for sale, and so of course I had to get a glass. Settled on a smaller one, though, and then biked by the hostel where I’d be staying the next night and stored it and the two Port Angeles logo glasses before we galloped off on the Goose.