It is 1789 kilometers from my house to Whitehorse. Google
maps says that is 20 hours and 24 minutes of driving. Long empty stretches of
road where it is nothing but you and the fireweed. Deserted lodges and gas
stations. Miles and miles where all you see are trees and mountains and the odd
bear or bison herd. Not much that could pass for a “town” and when there is a
settlement, it is pretty basic. Gas stations where you can’t pay at the pump.
High prices. Canned goods, if you can find any food at all.
But then you get to Whitehorse, a beautiful little city
along the jade green Yukon River. A place full of fit people who drive energy
efficient vehicles and small SUVs with kayaks on the roof. A place where you
hear French spoken at the local coffee shop alongside the German of the
tourists and the less frequent indigenous languages. It has a sophisticated
vibe that seems surprising in the middle of the wilderness. It also has a bit of a foodie culture in
summer with numerous food trucks as well as gourmet coffee, chocolate and
cheese.
But let’s talk about the beer.
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| Woodcutter's Blanket |
Whitehorse’s first craft brewery, featuring “beer worth
freezing for”, was started by “two guys on a canoe trip” according to their
website. Most of its beers move more towards the mass production end of things
with a taste to match. You can find their products across the country with some
iconic names like Lead Dog, Ice Fog, Chilkoot and Midnight Sun. Their
mainstream beers are reliable but not exciting. It’s what they have on tap that
is worth the stop. They have the newly “mandatory” northern spruce tip beer and
an elderflower gose. Our favourite, if you are in the need of a light, low
alcohol summer beer, is the lemon lavender radler, weighing in at 3.5 ABV.
Refreshing and new.
Their brewery in Whitehorse is trendy with big windows and
lots on offer. When we stopped by on a Friday afternoon, the locals were coming
by in droves to pick up their weekend supply. Yukon Brewing is also home to the
award winning Two Brewers distillery that makes whiskey and gin.
Winterlong is a true craft brewery in every sense of the
word. A bit industrial, a bit artsy, and full of plaid shirted young guys with beards, Winterlong focuses on the quality of the beer. Set up in an industrial park, it
has some outdoor seating and a small but well curated menu of snacks including
the most reasonably priced charcuterie board in Canada with a great selection
of meats, local jam, and cheese featuring the hard to find products of the
recently opened Klondike Creamery out of Dawson City. Cheese that can be yours if you want to spend several hours or possibly days seeking them out and you have a spare sack of cash to spare. (Yeah, guilty as charged.) Winterlong sells bottled beer and serves both their regular and seasonal
taps-all worth trying. Weekend Warrior, Sweater Weather and Truckstop Poetry
are a few of the beers on offer. Our favourite was Reckless Abandon, an
imperial/double with some tropical fruit aromas. High alcohol content so buy a bottle and take
it home or at least as far as your campsite. Also well received by us was the
Terror, a barrel aged Russian Imperial Stout. They are about to roll out some
Cask Ale, which should be a treat for the already well treated people of
Whitehorse.
The name evokes a fairy tale- containing both the magic and the eerie quality of the lonely northern woods. And since most of the fairy tales Canadians know come from northern Europe, it was just a matter of time before a northern Canadian brewery set about emulating another northern European export- the small batch farmhouse style beer. Deep Dark Wood are those guys. Their beers are so good their taproom is never open
- their beer sells out as soon as they bottle it. I guess when you only brew one barrel at a time, that's going to happen. But we got lucky at the Yukon Liquor Store
and Territorial Agent in Haines Junction. They had just received a small
order which the guy claimed would be gone by day’s end- so we bought a couple. Yes,
they were that good. The spruce tip saison was refreshing. But if you don't care for the pungent taste of spruce needles, it probably wouldn't be for you.
Far more palatable was the exceptional beer called Paris, Yukon- a "biere de garde" or "beer for keeping". It's a farmhouse ale, just jam packed with flavour. They also brew up a kviek made with traditional Norwegian farmhouse yeast and a bunch of other stuff every few weeks, all with cool names like Pixie Hibiscus and Blood Moon. All on the same theme- deep, dark and foresty -with a touch of northern madness. They are the Mikkeller of the north. And if you don't know Mikkeller, do you know beer?
We’ll be seeking them out on our next northern expedition.
Here we have the epitome of the Whitehorse vibe. It’s
northern and eclectic and kinda classy. Above the door, two brightly coloured bison sculptures. Underneath, a modern minimalist patio. Inside a chic cocktail bar with appeals to a rustic Klondike past.
A series of gold foil ravens under trendy lighting. A portrait of a nude woodcutter sprawled out alongside an elegantly lit bar. Woodcutters
serves both cocktails and their own fresh beer, brewed, so they say, for the
“colourful five percent”. Whatever that means. They were good though. Very good. Both their IPA and their stout were stellar. Although I kind of wished I had tried the cocktail called "Death in Midwinter" which involved some green chartreuse and champagne. Foodwise, we opted for the
marinated Arctic char tartare appetizer that did not disappoint.
Just go here. Don’t
delay.
Ok, this is not a brewery but it has to be included. Not
just for the name but for the ambiance. It’s a modern take on an old Klondike
saloon. It serves food and cocktails and northern beers. Dark with a long busy bar where some middle aged geezer from
Saskatchewan regaled us with a story about trying to find a folk
festival on a farm outside Fort St John. It was a good story. The kind of story that everyone who has travelled a northern road can tell. Especially if they ended up in a bar with a willing listener.
It is a warm and welcoming place, a bit rough around the edges. But you go in and you don’t want to come out. Kind of like the Yukon itself.
Did I miss anything? If so, drop me a line and I will do some more investigating!
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