Off The Rail Brewing

I literally NEVER leave Unilocal reviews, but the passion and friendliness that the bartenders Rachel and Andrew showed me while I visited the taproom were second to none. I was visiting BC from the states and they both immediately began asking questions about my trip and had an engaging conversation about beer with me, all the while professionally attending to the floods of people that kept coming in while I was there. I wish my stay in Van was a but longer so I could have revisited. I felt like a regular and never really wanted to leave. Oh, and the beer was phenomenal. Great atmosphere full of people who are passionate about what they do. If I ever make it back to Vancouver, rest assured this will be my first stop. Shout out to Rachel and Andrew’s boss — I think a hefty raise (perhaps a bigger growler allowance) is on order! Thanks again guys!

We have a lot of breweries in this city making a lot of great beer. And Off the Rail is no exception to that trend. The one exception, they aren’t completely saturated with Northwest Pale Ales. I love me a good bitter IPA and they have a great one with the Hopinionated, but unlike many of the rest of the breweries they understand that not everyone likes 6 out of the 8 taps to be be hoppy ales. Well done folks, keep up the great beer.

Loved this brewery. Great, relaxed vibe, and more importantly — tasty beer! We will definitely be back next time we are in BC

Another weekend, another great Vancouver brewery to discover. This time it was Off the Rail, which we happened upon when using Unilocal’s awesome «Near my location» feature! And it also happened to be their first anniversary celebration so we enjoyed free snacks and even won a door prize of their Nut Brown Ale to enjoy at home. The space is small, almost like visiting somebody’s upstairs loft apartment (stair-​climbing required — I did not see an elevator), with sparse furnishings and a hipster vibe and crowd. The beer was decent, and it’s always good to see the newer Canadian breweries branching out into darker selections. The great thing about this spot is they are in an area where several breweries are within walking distance of each other. Now if only YVR would get UBER so it was even easier to get around!

Amazing beers beautifully crafted. This is my favourite Vancouver brewery. Always a good amount of beers on tap. Warm welcoming tasting room staffed by the loveliest people.

Popped in here for a couple glasses with a friend the other day. Was the middle of the afternoon on a weekday (I lost my job… hence the afternoon beers!) & fairly quiet. I’ve been here a few times before but never reviewed it. This time I tried 2: the cream ale and English mild. Both did NOT disapoint. I like the vibe in here. It’s bright and airy thanks to the big windows. It’s stark and woody but hey, seems to be the tap room décor as of late. Was quiet enough to hold a conversation which is nice… bathrooms super clean (huge plus). I’m a fan. Oh but acoustics in here are bad; if it’s packed or a brewery tour is on, it’s loud!

I tried 6 taster sizes from here, the citra was my fave and the hopinionated ipa was a close second. Other than those two, everything else was bland and passable. The décor is a bit sparse and overly typical of breweries nowadays. Can no one bust out of the formula? Exposed wood, industrial lighting, minimalist white chairs. Don’t think I will be back, unless they up their brews!

A weak brewery with a good space and great staff. All of their beers fell short of the mark. Their IPAs had no flavor and their lager and Pilsner were a touch slinky. Combine that with an overly warm tap room makes this a poor experience

I book marked this place after I saw it on the front page of Unilocal on Feb 24^th. I wanted to take the guy I am dating here for steak and _​_​_​_​you know day (March 14^th = The Man’s V-​day), however, thought about taking him for a few beers first.
I am ashamed that it took me this long to get here, however, glad that the man and I did. Super friendly staff, clean place and lots of selection.
The only downfall is that they don’t serve the samplers on a cheese board, therefore, you have to do some serious juggling to get it to your seat.
Limited seating as expected, however, easy to convince someone to share for us.
They had some snacks, not a lot. Cheese twists, pretzels and some pepperoni sticks.

Visited Off The Rail in the early afternoon, the availably of parking on the street was a nice change.
The beer was decent, the small batch beers were particularly worth trying. Overall, for the Vancouver craft beer market, the beer would be towards the higher quality side of things.
Service could have been better. The person manning the taps, though clearly enjoying their interactions with the neighbourhoods characters, just didn’t seem to be that stoked about the beer. Maybe it was just an off day.
One of the things I enjoy most about visiting microbreweries is how absolutely stoked the staff can be to be doing what they are doing. The passion and zeal of the staff at places like Four Winds, Powell, Storm and Brassneck make me want to go to those breweries. At least on the day we visited a little something seemed to be lacking at Off The Rail.
Maybe it was just that day. We’ll have to go back and try again as the beer is definitely promising.

Craft beer continues to boom in the City of Vancouver and its surrounding areas. Nestled very conveniently just across the street from the excellent Bomber Brewing on Adanac Street, Off the Rail is the latest craft brewery to open in the East Vancouver (Hastings adjacent) neighbourhood of Grandview-​Woodland.
Off the Rail is so new, in fact, they are still awaiting their full tasting lounge license and are only able to serve the limited amount of a single 12oz. glass or two 5oz. tasters (growler fills are good to go though) until being fully licensed.
OTR comes from brewers Steven Forsythe and Trigger Segal (both formerly of the Railway Club) featuring homegrown hops from Forsythe’s family land in Mission.
For starters, the Lancaster Cream Ale deliciously smooth, splendid tasting, and just the right amount of creamy. I thoroughly enjoyed this seasonal ale and all its rich flavours. The seasonal smoked porter (above) had a bold, strong smokiness and rich flavour to it.
As for the standards, the Raybuck Red Ale had a nice, mild punch to it with a crisp aftertaste and overall flavour. It definitely had a healthy bite to it. I filled my growler with the Derailer Pale Ale and it was a fairly solid, standard all-​around drinking pale ale.
OTR is promising and should only grow, thrive, and evolve its beverages in the eastside beer neighbourhood.
I’ll be back. One beer at a time.

Across the street from Bomber Brewing this is a must try brewery. Owner run small batch excellence in all the recipes I tried here.

A good brewery with a great little tap room that’s bright and airy.
Like the better East Van breweries they have a good selection of beers with rotating taps for the frequent visitor.
The tap room is up on the second floor meaning this is a rare beast — a tap room with a view!
At the time of writing this they only had a license to sell two tasters at a time, but that’ll change soon enough.
They also have some excellent meat sticks, which is a brewery must in my humble meat opinion.

This brewery popped out of nowhere for me (it’s getting hard to keep track in this Portland-​esque beer scene) but as soon as I heard about it, I jumped on my bike and headed down the Adanac bike route. They have yet to put up bike racks but so far, their beers are very promising.
When I visited, they didn’t have their full licence yet but we were able to taste a few beers between us. My fave was the Lancaster cream ale — so smooth yet memorable enough not to be boring. The red ale was nice and caramel-​y and also went down easy. The pale ale was the safest of the bunch but still solid.
I am very excited to try the rest of their seasonals. Love the space, design and the merch but unfortunately my shelf is overflowing with growlers. Maybe they can sell coasters or something else fun.

From my blog post:
In the ever growing Vancouver Craft Beer scene when you think things have calmed down it just means a new brewery has opened up. This time it is Off The Rail Brewing Co off of Adanac Street.
Located on the same street as Bomber Brewing and only blocks away from Strange Fellows Brewing this is looking to be just one more big hotspot in East Vancouver. Walking into the brewery you will find a nice decent sized tasting round that currently only has a tasting room license but the lounge license is in the works. The brewery opened quietly on Sunday February 15^th, 2015 but made the opening known on social media on Tuesday. When I arrived they had 8 different beer on tap which is a pretty awesome launch list and included 3 English IPA’s (maybe they are not English IPA’s but the bitterness is low).
Luckily when I stopped by I was able to talk to Steve Forsyth the Owner and Brewer and get a tour of the brewery. I am guessing they will probably offer tours to the public in the future but at this point the brewery is usually closed to the public. They did just open so I am sure they need to figure out what their staffing situation will need to be. The brewhouse itself is a 20 Hectolitre system witch is actually a pretty good sized system. The gain is held on a Mezzanine and from that height the grain is milled and sent to the brewhouse. I forget how many bright tanks they have but they will be used for their Lagers and Pilsners. They plan to always have a few high quality Lagers and Pilsners on tap to fill a hole that our local brewing scene has.
Take a break in the next few days and stop in the the brewery and see what your think of the latest addition to Vancouver scene. Both Steve and Trigger are very friendly people and you will be sure to enjoy your time there.

Another craft beer place in the neighbourhood. Beautiful.
Parking is available in front of the building, as well as the surrounding streets.
The place is only a couple of weeks old as of the time of writing, so they didn’t have their full lounge license yet. As a result, there is a 12oz maximum serving volume per person, and no growler refills. I chatted with the guy behind the counter and he mentioned those were in the works.
As the building is brand spanking new, it smells a bit like a construction site, with notes of freshly cut timber. Brings some street cred to the place. The main room is quite bare, with a couple of bench-​style tables and bar seating. There is also a secondary overflow room, where one can stare at a hot water tank and some beer vats while lounging on the bench.
I tried their Bohemian Lager as well as their Derailer Pale Ale, along with a couple of other samples. Everything is quite good. What stands out is that this place doesn’t go crazy on the hops like some other brewers, which is a nice change. There are many more beers available, but not everything was available yet. Guess they’re still working out the kinks.
I’ll definitely be back in the future to sample more of their brews. So far so good.

Based on Mark H’s recommendation, here I am Friday late afternoon. Coming up the stairs I am not sure if I am in the right place, was there a sign? Tasting room is located on the 2^nd floor and it is nice and bright on a sunny afternoon. They have some interesting list but the owners tell me due to heightened interest recently they ran out of a few! They don’t have a full license yet so I was limited to one 12 oz or two 5 oz… Now you are teasing me… My choice was the Hopinionated IPA and I was very happy with it. I liked that it is 5% so not too strong and though it has its little kick, thr hoppiness is not overwhelming hence why I could have had another glass if I were allowed! I didn’t try their food items but while having my beer I saw a stream of people coming in happily getting their growler filled or asking questions. I anticipate this place getting packed once fully licensed. I am already worried if I can find a few chairs to sit in the future.

This train don’t need no tracks. It’s cruising on a different path of beer making.
Frequenting neighbour Bomber Brewing, I was happy to find out these guys are finally open for business.
Though it blends in very well, the building is actually brand new. It used to be home to an old manor-​type house. Walk up a few steps and head left to the tasting lounge and bar. There’s also a smaller section to the right.
The owner, Steve, is an interesting guy to chat with. He used to own the Railway Club downtown as well as a hop farm in Mission. Hence the name. His brewmaster was actually sitting beside us enjoying his creations.
For just launching they have an impressive list totalling 13 beers, though they ran out of some and only had 7 available.
What sets these guys apart is they focus on making lighter versions both alcohol wise and weight so you can safely enjoy a few rather than being limited to just 1 or 2. For instance they have IPAs that are only 5%. Their cream ale is also lighter than most. Also most of the hops they use I haven’t seen anywhere else.
We left with getting growler fills of the Hopinionated IPA and Raybuck Red Ale.
Definitely my new favourite local brewery.

Only been open less than a week and so far so good! They only had about half the menu available. Usually im all about the stouts and the porters but there was none available so I went for a random ipa– usually the last thing I would get, but this was really good! They have a great little lounge and the location is right on adanac which means you can just fill up a growler on your bike ride home! Great brewery, will be back!

Brand new, just opened last week. They’re still in the process of obtaining a lounge license so they’re still a bit restricted on what they can offer in terms of drinks. Half the menu was out of stock when I was there, but what is on tap is still pretty good. The items that are not available just sound so tantalizing though. I think once they get their rhythm going, this will be a welcome addition to the craft beer scene in Yeast Vancouver.