Comox Valley Sipping Tour
Wineries, breweries, distilleries and cideries: the Comox Valley features all the locally made libations you could ask for. Using Island and B.C.-grown ingredients, these businesses specialize in creating wine, beer, spirits and ciders that reflect our unique West Coast terroir. Pull up a chair, order a drink, and hear about the passion and inspiration that goes into crafting every sip.
① New Tradition Brewing Company
Patti Savard and Tim Jolley, the owners of New Tradition Brewing Company, aim to do exactly what the name of their business heralds: create new traditions around craft beer. Patti Savard’s family has been brewing and distilling for generations (which involved using “creative” methods that may have skirted the law during the prohibition). The aim at New Tradition is to take the generational knowledge and passion for the brew and create a new tradition of beer within the family and the greater community by adding newly available hops and other ingredients—all within a cozy atmosphere filled with handmade furniture and the scent of delicious Aussie meat pies.
② Land & Sea Brewing Company
With its bright, airy and modern décor, it’s no small surprise that Land & Sea Brewing Company entices their guests to turn into regular customers. Of course, the crisp beer they create onsite and the delicious food made in their open kitchen doesn’t hurt either. Land & Sea has built a community hub where friends and family gather over a pint and a meal to both make memories and reminisce on them. Their large outdoor patio is a popular local haunt, and in the few years they’ve been open, they have firmly situated themselves as a craft brewery with big ideas and big taste.
③ 40 Knots Winery
One of Vancouver Island’s largest wineries, 40 Knots Winery sets an industry standard with their sustainable farming and biodynamic, plant-based practices. The result of their environmentally forward stewardship of the land is wines that are distinctly reflective of the terroir they’re created from. They grow noble varieties like Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Gris and Gamay, and common hybrids such as Auxerrois, Sieg and Schönberger. Bring your family (including your four-legged members!) and take a stroll around their 24 acres before enjoying a guided tasting or a flight of red or white.
④ Beaufort Vineyard & Estate Winery
As the first Vancouver Island Winery to receive official organic certification, Beaufort Vineyard & Estate Winery takes their commitment to sustainable and regenerative farming practices seriously. They craft wine in small batches to ensure the unique flavours of the island’s cool climate are expressed as fully as possible. On their 12 acres, they grow 10 different varieties, with nearly all the vineyard tasks completed by hand—pruning, tucking, shoot thinning, leaf removal, building organic matter, bolstering soil biodiversity and harvesting. This proximity to the land allows them to keep a close on their berries and create their delicious vintage wines.
⑤ Coastal Black Estate Winery
Coastal Black Estate Winery has built a reputation for their unique fruit wines, meads and ciders. The award-winning estate is tucked at the base of Mount Washington just outside the Comox Valley, where four generations live and work together to produce their high-quality products. They aren’t limited to just wine and cider, either—they also produce fresh market fruit, raw honey, custom milled lumber and hand-made wooden artwork pieces. And they often hold community events that bring people together from the Comox Valley—in both the sunshine and the snow.
⑥ Shelter Point Distillery
The 380 acres of Shelter Point Distillery provide the farm with fertile barley fields, a large underground aquifer and crisp, seaside air. All of these components are perfectly combined with skilled craftspeople, traditional Scottish distilling methods and a modern facility to create their premium quality spirits. Their whisky ages just a few hundred yards from the ocean, which provides a unique flavour that is distinctly West Coast. Visitors are welcome to stop by and experience an up-close and personal view into the uniquely situated farm to better understand the process and the final product.
⑦ Raven’s Moon
Unique cider flavours like Plum Jerkum, Hopped Apple Plum Cider and Apple Tayberry Cider are just a few of the delightful libation experiences offered from Raven’s Moon Craft Cider. They’re always experimenting with organic Vancouver Island fruit to create their ciders, wines and jams. All the fruit and botanicals they use are grown in B.C. without the use of pesticides, and they pride themselves on keeping their environmental impact small.
⑧ Gladstone Brewing Co.
Gladstone Brewing Co. embodies all the components you look for in a community hub: great beer, great atmosphere, great people. From their humble beginnings in a garage to the bustling and popular centre they’ve become, Gladstone Brewing has always valued creativity and integrity in their business, from the beer to the service. The unique garage style décor reminds them of their roots, creating a comfortable vibe that draws guests in again and again—as do the pints of Belgian ales, European lagers, Pacific Northwest-style India pale ales, and their experimental small batches.
⑨ Ace Brewing Company
How many breweries do you know of that have small planes hanging from the ceiling? Ace Brewing Company is named so after the Ace Fighter Pilots in WW1 and WW11 who fought for the military community of CFB Comox, and the brewery’s aviation-forward décor reflects the name. The microbrewery prioritizes using local ingredients to create their signature lagers and unique, innovative varieties. Their recent awards from the Canadian Brewing Awards are a testament to their hard work and creativity.
⑩ Wayward Distillery
The spirits you’ll find at Wayward Distillery are distinctive not just because they are delicious, but because they are created with a honey base. Wayward has led the industry in their innovative creation of honey-based spirits all while championing the bees. They work with an apiary in the Peace Region of B.C. who care about the health and long-term sustainability of pollination and bees, and because of Wayward’s honey spirit popularity, the apiary has grown from 300 hives to 1700. As a result, Wayward is a net-positive food producer, so drinking their products not only tastes good, but feels good, too.
⑪ Cumberland Brewing Co.
Cumberland Brewing Co. keeps things simple: good beer, good food and good company. They’ve created a welcoming community hub where the neighbourhood gathers to enjoy company over a pint of local beer and a plate of tasty food. In fact, they keep it even simpler by saying, if you want to enjoy their beer, you’ll have to pay them a visit, because their beer is available only onsite. It’s a great opportunity to slow down, meet up with old friends, and have inspiring conversations on the large but cozy patio, no matter the season.
Use the + and - symbols to zoom in on the map, and click on any of the individual locations for further details and business images.