I live and drink in Kelowna and I love to support the city’s incredible brewery scene.
Despite that, Kelowna breweries and beer don’t show up in this column very often, and there is a good reason for that.
Through KelownaNow’s sister publications, we have readers all over British Columbia and I try to feature beers that will be widely available in liquor stores.
While I believe my city has some of the best breweries in the province, they mainly focus on the in-house experience and don’t really mass produce beers to ship across BC.
But a lot of focus is on Kelowna with the Memorial Cup right now and I saw some exciting news from Barn Owl Brewing, so I figured I’d make this weekend’s column one for the locals.
Who knows, some of our readers from outside of Kelowna may be visiting for the Memorial Cup and looking for a place to grab some great local beer! If so, this column is for you.
There are plenty of brewery options near Prospera Place, but if you want to adventure south into the Mission, you’ll find Barn Owl.
It’s a historic barn turned brewery that has become a staple in the neighbourhood and a beloved community gathering spot for locals.
As I alluded to above, you won’t really find their beers in liquor stores, minus maybe a few in Kelowna, but you can count on a great pint and even better vibes if you drop by for a visit.
On Friday, however, Barn Owl revealed that they had canned two of their most popular beers for the first time after repeated requests from their patrons.
That means you can now easily grab a four pack of Headturner Hazy IPA and Blueberry Beret Berlinerweisse to take home from the brewery.
Headturner is juicy and hazy with a collage of dry hops to produce a mild but sharp bitterness that hits just right. It comes in at 5.5% ABV and 60 IBU.
Blueberry Beret is a perfect summer beer, a sour with cloudy German roots that is packed with blueberries to give it a juicy, fruity finish. It comes in at 4.8% ABV and 10 IBU.
So for my Kelowna beer lovers, let this be your reminder to head to Barn Owl for a beer and grab a four-pack of one of these creations, or both, to take home.
For those visiting our wonderful city for the Memorial Cup, welcome! I highly suggest taking some time to go visit Barn Owl at 4629 Lakeshore Rd.
Josh Duncan is the NowMedia news director and a craft beer lover. Reach him at [email protected]. His beer column appears every Saturday afternoon in this space.
