Each month, as part of this 366-day BC craft beer extravaganza that I will be sharing with you throughout 2016, I will highlight a specific style or theme of beers for a whole week of articles. For the opening month of this project, I wanted to look at some of the flagship and original offerings from breweries around the province.

Whistler Brewing has been around for over 25 years, established in 1989. For a time, the beers weren’t even produced in Whistler, but that changed for good in 2009 when the company opened a new facility. Located in the Function Junction area of the resort destination, Mrs. Sip and I visited the brewery a few years back and had a fantastic time.

One of the funnier getting sick from drinking stories I’ve witnessed came from that visit, as one of our fellow travelers fell in love with today’s feature beer a little too much, resulting in a not-so-happy ending to the evening for him.

Speaking of that beer, the Black Tusk Ale recipe has existed since the brewery first launched all those years ago. The dark, English-style mild ale is slightly bitter with flavours you’d expect from darker brews, such as chocolate and coffee.

The name of the beer is derived from a Whistler tourist attraction, the core of an extinct volcano that makes up the mountainous town. The brewery describes the experience of drinking their beers as “More flavor. More Character. More to Experience.” That statement pans out with this product.

We still haven’t had a chance to attend the Whistler Beer Festival (a Whistler Brewing initiative, which takes over the village every September), as we’ve been out of town the last couple years around that time, but it’s among the top of our list for festivals to experience.

For more BC Beer Baron articles, please visit our main page…