Recently, Sarah and I went over to Vancouver to enjoy a day with the Mark Anthony Group testing out their portfolio. This included a tour of the new Turning Point Brewery, a 25 million dollar state of the art brewery that on top of having equipment that would make most brewers cry into their hops, can boast being one of the most sustainable breweries in North America.
A sustainable brewery was the brainchild of Mark Anthony Group owner Anthony Von Mandl. Von Mandl started his wine empire on the base of his flagship family owned winery, Mission Hill Estate in Kelowna. Adding some international brands snowballed into a world class portfolio that includes the production and ownership of the number one and two coolers in B.C., Palm Bay and Mikes Hard Lemonade respectively. The final piece to the puzzle was to garner a share in the craft beer market. Cue Turning Point Brewery. On a breezy plot of land in Delta B.C., Von Mandl built this modern building and erected a wind turbine on site which has since provided up to 20% of the brewery’s energy. Upon realizing that in order to have his beer bottles cleaned and sanitized he would have to send them all the way to Kelowna, Von Mandl purchased a cleaning machine at great expense to accomplish this feat on site, thereby saving the gas needed to make all of these trips to Kelowna and back.
The newly minted Turning Point Brewery began it work creating it’s flagship beer, Stanley Park Amber Ale. The beer is named after the long defunct brewery in its namesake park in Vancouver. The beer is a belgian style amber so it exhibits a light and mellow texture with slight nuttiness. Pair that with a clean smooth finish and you have a very easy-going sipper that works for almost any occasion. The beer took off in the lower mainland and on Vancouver Island due to the publics love for local craft brew, as well as the warm fuzzies you get knowing that it is a sustainable offering. Once the amber ale was established, they started putting together the Noble Pilsner. Utilizing Noble hops, they created a lighter bodied beer perfectly suited for spicy hot wings at the local pub (a well known pastime of beer connoisseurs). Together they form a delectable and contrasting one-two punch.
Stanley Park Amber Ale and Noble Pilsner are available in retail and restaurant venues around Victoria. You can also be a sustainable brew consumer in Vista 18 by ordering the Noble Pilsner on tap available right now.
