After 27 years of Russell Brewing opening its doors to the public, they finally have a taproom! Russell Brewing was part of the original 10 breweries that opened in the 1990’s, paving the way for other businesses to follow. Now onto its fourth owner, the suds have increased in many ways, including releasing 40 beers prior to the pandemic.

“We have to be more innovative than we have even been” said Jimmy Darbyshire, Marketing Director of Russell Brewing.

“Now with our tasting room, this allows us the opportunity to use our test batch system to do some tasting room exclusives,” Darbyshire said. “That way, we can try a whole bunch of beers that we haven’t been able to do previously, get those out to the public, and have them give us live feedback.”

“They embody what craft beer is. They work long days. We start brewing at 4:30 am and we don’t finish till 6 or 7 pm. Everything they talk about is beer. They are always learning, studying, and looking for the next new and creative thing,” said Darbyshire.

The staff at Russell Brewing Company in the new tasting room.

So why was Russell Brewing so late to opening a tasting room? According to the article written by Brian Smith for the BC Ale Trail: back in the day, breweries only had a manufacturing license. When Russell Brewing opened in 1995, they weren’t able to have a tasting room. Kegs of beer were simply sent out to pubs and restaurants throughout the province, while bottles (and later cans) were sold through the government and private liquor store chains. Since then the model has changed and most breweries focus on having tasting rooms and/or food service so they can get people to come to the brewery for an experience.

“We are the very last brewery in B.C. to have a tasting room, in typical Russell fashion,” Darbyshire joked. “We are the last at the party, but turns out the timing is great!”

The taproom has a warming kitchen that serves four flavours of tacos and basic snacks. Along with that are 14 beer taps, one cider tap, and two beer slushies.

Photos courtesy of Brian K. Smith