The second brewery that my friend and I visited in Penticton, BC, instead of heading straight to the Skaha crags and climbing was Cannery Brewing, where we did the sampling thing and then bought more camp site and/or souvenir beer. I should be used to it by now, but it still surprises me, going from Washington to British Columbia, that production breweries north of the border can’t sell sampler flights or pints – they can fill growlers, sell bottles/cans to go, and give out free samples (about an ounce each), but that’s it. That’s why all my BC production brewery pictures are of their tap handles rather than some artfully posed (more or less) beer glass/taster tray. One thing I learned at Cannery is that it’s good to do the free samples with friends who have very specific tastes – most of the samples won’t be to their liking, and they can then surreptitiously pour the rest of their samples into yours. Just make sure one of those friends is the designated driver. Recently, I heard from some Canadians I met in a bar that breweries can apply for a lounge license or some such, and they can then sell pints and taster flights. So far, though, I have yet to visit a production brewery in BC that has done that.

Tasting room taps at Cannery Brewing — Penticton, BC

Rob’s Picks
• Pink Mountainhops Maibock – 6.5% – One of four Canadian breweries, in collaboration with the CBC, to create a beer inspired by a Canadian band, in this case the Pink Mountaintops. Piney, citrus aroma. Crisp, light, slightly creamy. Light citrus and piney hop flavors, light maltiness, to a nice lingering finish.
• Anarchist Amber – 5.5% – Named after nearby Anarchist Mountain near the Canada-U.S. border that was popular with bootleggers back in the day. Light and bubbly. Bit of biscuit and caramel maltiness and some spicy hop flavor.
• Squire Scotch Ale – 6% – Smoky aroma with a bit of banana/clove. Smoky caramel flavor mix, with a touch of banana/clove, and somewhat dry. Pretty interesting.
• Naramata Nut Brown – 5.5% – A light, subtle brown. Some caramel, some malty sweetness, somewhat dry, and fairly bubbly. Quite drinkable.
• Maple Stout – 5.5% – Little bit of maple aroma. Fairly thick on the tongue, with strong maple flavor that goes well with the stout.
• Cannery IPA – 6% – Citrus, floral aroma and flavors. Good underlying biscuit and caramel malt character, as well as decent bitterness.
• Wildfire IPA  – 6% – Limited release to benefit local firefighters. Not sure why they call it an IPA because it’s really a CDA. Anyway, sharp citrus/grapefruit aroma and flavors. Nice dark toastiness, with some caramel, too.

The Rest
• Lakeboat Lager – 5% – Named after the SS Sicamous stern wheeler beached on the south shore of Lake Okanagan. Strong banana/clove aroma. Crisp, light, and bitter, with a bit of banana/clove flavor on the finish.
• Apricot Wheat – Light banana/clove aroma. Light banana/clove flavor to apricot finish, with decent breadiness. Slight egginess.
• Paddles Up Pale – 5% – Light and bready with a touch of caramel on the finish.
• Blackberry Porter – Blackberry aroma. Pretty strong blackberry flavor, with subtle coffee notes that build up.

After the two brewery visits and setting up camp, we finally checked out the crags (first time at Skaha for both of us), and it looked awesome. Ran into some climbing friends from Seattle, as well. I’m not sure which is smaller, the climbing community or the beer geek community, but I’m glad I can bridge the two (although not at the same time…).