UPDATE 3/30/21: Due to new public health orders the Shipyards Brewery District has made the decision to postpone the craft beer crawl.
Are you looking to have a very Hoppy Easter?
The Shipyards Brewery District has organized a Craft Beer Crawl for the Easter long weekend, April 2 to 5, that ends with an egg-cellent addition to your home bar.
The aim of the Easter crawl is to hop along to at least five breweries in the district and collect a sticker every time you buy a local craft beer. Once you have five stickers, you can take your card to any of the breweries to get a free Shipyards Brewery District beer glass.
Greg Holmes, executive director of Lower Lonsdale Business Improvement Association, said the Easter crawl was just a fun way to help support the Shipyards' breweries, while big events couldn't occur.
“The breweries will be operating just as they always do and have for several weeks now, and it’s just combining that with a bit more fun,” he said. “Visitors will get a little gift of a beautiful beer glass engraved with The Shipyards Brewery District and The Shipyards District when they visit five breweries. ... It should be fun.”
If you’re not familiar, there’s plenty of breweries to choose from including House of Funk Brewing Co., Beere Brewing Co., Green Leaf Brewing Co., North Point Brewing Co., Streetcar Brewing Co, and La Cerveceria Astilleros.
Holmes said the brewery area is continuing to grow, perhaps even surpassing Port Moody’s brewery district, and has managed the challenges of the pandemic well.
“They have adapted well; we all know that the City of North Vancouver reacted very quickly in terms of the expanded patios and winterization of those patios, and now that the good weather has started to return, everybody's quite optimistic.”
He encouraged beer lovers to “come on down” and see what the Shipyards has to offer while respecting provincial health officer restrictions and sticking to family and household bubbles.
“If you haven't experienced The Shipyards District lately, come check us out because it is changing every day and every week,” Holmes said.
“Come on out, support the breweries and celebrate the return of spring.”
And, if you don’t know which brewery to start your Easter crawl at, Holmes’ tip is to head to Street Car Brewing Co.
“I'm quite partial to Street Car Brewing, you know, it's the smallest and it's kind of tucked away there in the lane, but it's just so quaint and it gets such a devoted audience there that you feel like you're in an episode of Cheers,” he said. “Every time I go through the door, I hear a bunch of people call my name or I'm calling their names. So yeah, Streetcar brewery is my favorite for sure.”
Visitors can also collect a sticker by buying a local beer at other eateries in the area, including Joey’s Shipyards, Seaside Provisions, Tap & Barrel Shipyards, The Gull Bar and Kitchen, and Farina a Legna.
All destinations on the Easter Crawl have a COVID-19 safety plan in place, and groups larger than six are not allowed.
