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Published: November 16th 2008
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Team 1 (Minus Laura)
From left to right: Harriet, April, Rashaad, Dave. Culinary Tourism
Destination: Swans Brewpub
Located in Beautiful Victoria, British Columbia
By: Laura, Dave, April, Rashaad, and Harriet
On October 30th, 2008 at around 6pm, we had the privilege of visiting Swans Brewpub (Swans) in Victoria, British Columbia for dinner. Swans is an established local favorite pub located in the heart of downtown Victoria. The pub is known for its in-house micro brewery from which numerous beers they have produce have one national awards. The pub is also filled with priceless artwork from the collection of the late Micheal C. Williams. Along with the brewpub,the Swans establishment features a boutique hotel and a bistro called 'Saffron'. The purpose of our visit was to experience the award winning beer and unique atmosphere of Swans Brewpub.
To see where Swans Brewpub is, we have provided a couple of Google maps at the top of the page.
As culinary tourists, we analyze our destinations in terms of the
Product, Place, Story, Delivery, and the
Take Home Aspects of the destination.
Product The main product of Swans Brewpub is their beer. They brew 9 different types of beer. We ordered a sampler of 6 different
Swans Beer Taster Nester
We ordered this 'Taster Nest' (C$10) to sample the variety of beers that the pub produces. The 6 different kinds we tried were: Artic Ale, Oatmeal Stout, Old Towne Bavarian Lager, Raspberry Ale, Amber Ale, and Riley's Scotch Ale.
The Raspberry Ale was the team favorite! types consisting of:
Arctic Ale, Oatmeal Stout, Old Towne Lager, Raspberry Ale, Amber Ale, and Riley's Scotch Ale. We liked the presentation of the beers, and the fact that they came with a personalized 'cheat sheet' as seen in the picture. Our group favorite was the Raspberry Ale. It had a unique flavor and went over well with the non beer drinkers. All of the other beers had their own unique flavor. We could definitely notice the care that went into brewing the beer. We found the beer to be well priced compared to other similar restaurants and pubs that we have been to.
The food is obviously another product of the brewpub. The quality was good and the prices were affordable. It was evident to us however, that the focus of the pub was on the beers that they brewed and the food was secondary.
Another product of Swans Brewpub was the unique artwork that is displayed all throughout the pub. It is mainly native artwork and it is literally everywhere: on the walls, on the ceiling, in the bathrooms, kitchen, entrance, and throughout the rest of the building in the Wild Saffron and in the hotel.
Not only was the artwork good for decoration; it really added to the atmosphere and feeling of the whole pub.
Along with the artwork, the nightly live music and the people who come and enjoy Swans are also products. The music is always up beat and there is always at least one person giving'er on the dance floor! We found the demographics accurately represented that of Victoria with the exception of a few 'out of towners'.
Place Swans Brewpub is not only known for its food and beer; it is also a historic heritage building with a unique background (we will talk about this in the 'Story' section). Swans is very central in downtown Victoria and features an on-site brewery, famous flowers on the patio, and a hotel and bistro restaurant.
Story The building was built in 1913 and was originally used as a granary and feed store. The front entrance of the pub used to be where trains would drive in and unload their cars. The pub has authentic pieces on display from the warehouse days such as a section of the train rail and the two iron wheels which were from the freight
elevators. In 1988 Micheal C. Williams bought the building and converted into its present day form. The Mr. Williams was keen on preserving the architecture while updating the building to a contemporary space. In fact, Swans has preserved its history by keeping grain on site (in the brewery).
The brewery is officially called 'Swans Buckerfields Brewery' and has produced numerous award winning batches of beer. The main focus of the pub is on its beers.
Upon Mr. Williams passing in November 2000, Swans and its artwork, among other things owned by Mr. Williams was donated to the University of Victoria as part of his legacy to the city.
Delivery The delivery of our experience was through being in the pub and experiencing it first hand. Or server was knowledgeable and provided us with interesting information about the history of the building and a little bit about the beer and brewery. To truely get a feel for the pub we had to drink their award winning beer and walk around to check out the unique artwork. Unfortunately, we were not able to take a tour of the brewery but the server informed us that there
Awards Wall
This was the wall of awards that Swans Brewpub has received for its food, beer, and atmosphere. are occasional tours upon request. As well,
Swans website is very informative for those who are looking for more information.
Take Home Swans has a private beer, wine, and spirits store attached where they offer bottles of their beer for sale, as well as the regular selection of alcohol one would expect at a liquor store. Along with the beer, we took home with us the experience we had enjoying the beer, food, and live music, the new found knowledge about the history of the building, and a warm, fuzzy feeling inside us all (from the beer, of course!).
Overall, we had a very enjoyable experience at Swans Brewpub and we highly recommend it to anyone living, working, or traveling in Victoria. For a full experience, book a room in the hotel and come down to the pub, and stumble back up to your room! Bottoms Up!
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superteam1
Culinary Review: Swans Brew Pub
Super!
Wow, this is an amazing, informative, superduper blogs guys! Well done!!