Photo credit: Dinner Series | Flickr

For craft beer lovers in Vancouver, there’s plenty of reason to celebrate.

No fewer than nine new and expanded craft breweries – complete with tasting rooms – are expected to open in the year ahead, according to a great article in the Vancouver Sun by Randy Shore.

They’re clamouring to meet a growing demand for craft beer in the province.  Currently, craft beer accounts for some 20 percent of the beer market.  If cities like Portland are any indication, however, that could easily grow to 40 percent and beyond as beer drinkers become more choosy with their suds.

Here’s a rundown of some the breweries you can expect popping up around town in 2013.  Fittingly, four of these breweries will be situated in the historic Brewery Creek neighbourhood of Lower Mount Pleasant (situated roughly along Main Street, between 1st Avenue and Broadway) – which should make for some great beer crawls.

Steamworks: The venerable brewpub on Water Street has been turning our quality steam-powered beer  (like their flavourful Signature Pale Ale) for 18 years.  Now they’re getting ready to move into a new 25,000-square-foot brewery in Burnaby, with a 2,000-square-foot tasting room.  Estimated opening date: July 1.  

Red Truck Brewery: Red Truck, whose brews are already popular in Vancouver, is expanding its production capacity with a facility on East 1st Avenue in Lower Mount Pleasant.  It will include the Red Truck Diner, a retro restaurant and pub.  Estimated opening date: Late 2013.  Continue reading:
9 New Craft Breweries to Open in Vancouver