Island Collaborations
Whether marrying tea with gin, coffee with liqueur or beer with bread, Vancouver Island artisans are strengthening their respective brands through joint collaborations and delivering unique flavours to the market.
Surrounded by the sea, Islanders have a unique perspective when it comes to collaboration. Prone to sharing their bounty, working together to enhance their creativity and showing off one another’s ingenuity, they are naturals when it comes to partnership. The Island fosters co-operation rather than competition, coupled with a spirit of willingness to combine talents and have fun creating new products. At Beach Fire Brewing and Nosh House in Campbell River, owner and head chef Laura Gosnell loves working with Stonehouse Teas, her neighbour directly across the street. “We visit each other for beer and tea, celebrate together on Canada Day projects and offer their tea as a menu item in the brewery,” she says. So it was natural to use Stonehouse’s Campbell River signature blend tea in one of Beach Fire’s blonde ales. Up to eight times a year the blonde ales are produced in small batches, part of the brewery’s weekly small-batch-release program. Gosnell did a large batch release of her Flower Power Sour, a beer infused with lavender, hibiscus and rose petals also from Stonehouse Teas. “We share a lot of the same clientele with Stonehouse, so this allows us to cross-promote each other and create goodwill in the community,” she reflects. “We’re all working towards the same goal: trying to bring quality products to market.”
Beach Fire collaborates with other Island small businesses as well. Daves’ Bakery in Campbell River supplies the brewery with pretzels and takes spent grains and yeast from the brewing process to make its Beach Fire bread. Kitchen scraps from Beach Fire go to York Road Farms to feed the chickens, and once a year the farmer delivers his honey harvest which is used to make honey ale. “These collaborations definitely make us stronger,” Gosnell says. “The personal relationships we build with others in our community create a really nice way to work.”
In Victoria, Portofino Bakery collaborates with Phillips Brewing & Malting Company to create its popular Phillips Maltygrain bread. A staple for three years, the bakery produces 1,800 loaves per week, all of it using a spent grain byproduct donated by Phillips.
“The idea of joining forces with another local company was super exciting for us, as well as using something that was a traditional byproduct of beer,” said Bridget Hennessy, sales manager at Portofino. “I think there’s a real excitement on the Island for local products, and for supporting local companies, something that’s really important to people.”
Jason MacIsaac, master distiller at Sheringham Distillery, agrees. He uses Westholme Tea in his 2019 Kazuki gin, Dakini Tidal Wilds’ winged kelp in his Seaside Gin (released in 2015) and coffee from The Stick in the Mud Coffee House in Sooke for his coffee liqueur. Right now, he’s working with a local blackberry forager to produce a small-batch blackberry liqueur.
Coming from a culinary background with 23 years of professional cooking experience, MacIsaac well knew the importance of working closely with farmers and producers, and has maintained that philosophy since he transitioned to distilling. “Using products available in our area makes a lot of sense to me and it also reflects the terroir,” he reflected.
“It’s exciting and fun to work with other Islanders. It inspires creativity, because they’re passionate about what they do, and we get to share each other’s stories. And our buyers like quality producers, and they feel good spending their money on those products and supporting local. It’s also exciting for them to see their favourite producers collaborating.”
