Is it any surprise that Parallel 49 has won Vancouver’s favourite microbrewery?
Well, maybe it is. With the explosion of craft breweries in this city, there’s now a considerable selection of quality beers to choose from. It’s certainly something that Michael Tod, P49’s sales director and founding partner, is excited about. He says the success of his brewery isn’t about his brewery at all. It’s about the success of every other brewery too.
“It’s not us. It’s the industry as a whole,” Tod says. “If it weren’t for all the phenomenal breweries and tasting rooms that have opened up, I don’t think we would be as recognizable as we are.”
He’s being modest, of course. The crazed, bizarro beer labels and tap handles ensured Parallel 49 was immediately identifiable the minute they opened in 2012. Since then, P49 has had a profound impact on the beer industry – and, by extension, Vancouver culture as a whole by helping to establish the first authentic and homegrown cultural movements a long, long time.
Sure, there’s an element of “right place at the right time” with P49’s success and popularity, but they were also the “right people”, “the right branding” and, obviously, the “right flavour”.
The marketing: totally bonkers.
The tasting room: unpretentious and as fun-loving as any other drinking establishment within city limits.
And the beer: creative, approachable, delicious.
You probably already know this.
Tod says good beer is the only thing that matters in the end.
“We can do all the good, creative marketing we want,” Tod says. “If the brewers aren’t putting out good, consistent product, no one’s going to support it.”
It hasn’t been an issue yet. It’s why surpassed its six-year growth projections in Year 2. It’s why they’re on tap at basically every bar and restaurant in town. It’s why their tasting room is perennially crammed…but of course you already
know all this. It’s why you voted for them in the first place. Ain’t no surprise at all.
• 1950 Triumph St. | 604-558-2739 | Parallel49Brewing.com
