Local Winter Flavours
Winter in the Thompson Okanagan brings shorter days, cooler temperatures, and amazing local food and beverage festivals, events, and markets.
Post-ski meal at Sun Peaks Resort by Destination BC/Reuben Krabbe
With its snow-capped mountain landscapes and cozy valley vibes the Thompson Okanagan invites you to enjoy the season and the local flavours of the region. Winter brings shorter days, cooler temperatures, and amazing local food and beverage festivals, events, and markets.
The region is home to the second-largest wine-producing area in Canada. Following the fall harvest, the wineries, cideries, breweries, and local food producers are ready for you to taste their incredible offerings.
Festivals, events, and markets are a great way to experience several different food and beverage options at once, and there is a variety to attend this winter season.
Food
Apex Mountain Resort, Hoodoo Adventure Company, Maple Leaf Spirits, and Lake Breeze Winery are pairing up to create the ultimate winter adventure and dining experience. After a two-hour guided snowshoe along the beautiful snowy trails at Apex, snuggle up and enjoy a delicious farmstead-to-table dinner while sipping beverages by the fire. This event is happening on January 24, 2024.
Dine Around the Thompson Okanagan features BC VQA wines, BC Beer and Spirits, and delicious food from restaurants in and around Kelowna. This 17-day event offers three-course dining menus from over 50 local restaurants at price points starting at $25-$65 per person. With so many options, there is something for everyone! Dine Around the Thompson Okanagan is happening from January 17 to February 2, 2024.
The Vernon Winter Carnival has been an annual celebration of the season since 1961, with the historical event estimated to have started in the late 1800s. The carnival combines winter activities with delicious food and beverages. With 10 days of entertainment, art, and food and beverage events the Vernon Winter Carnival is an amazing way to celebrate the wonders of winter while enjoying the region’s local flavours. The events start on February 2, 2024.
Beverages
WINTER SIPS - South is happening on January 20, 2024, at the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre. This event kicks off the Okanagan Winter Wine Festival and features BC VQA wine tasting from regional producers, small bites, and live entertainment. The following weekend, head up to Kelowna’s food and music hub - The Revelry, for WINTER SIPS - North, on January 27, 2024. There is no better way to spend a cool Thompson Okanagan afternoon than sipping on BC wines paired with entertainment and great food.
The Okanagan Winter Wine Festival continues down further south at District Wine Village with Winterfest at the District. On January 20 and 21 head to Oliver with your TASTE Passport, to explore the district and enjoy and explore BC wines from the southern part of the region.
If you’re looking to pair up your tasting experience this season with a bit of adventure, look no further than Apex Mountain Resort in Penticton. There is a wine-tasting adventure and a brewery adventure both happening this winter up at The Gunbarrel Saloon. On February 3 join in some après-ski wine tasting with paired appetizers from The Gunbarrel Saloon during the Vertical & Vintages event. If your after-adventure beverage choice is a local craft beer, join them on March 2 for Brewski, featuring samples from over 20 breweries.
Farmers Markets
One of the best ways to celebrate and enjoy the flavours of the region is by supporting local and attending farmers’ markets. The Thompson Okanagan has several farmers’ markets that feature produce, baking, and other local goods. Some of these markets offer an indoor, winter version, so you can enjoy the local flavours of the Thompson Okanagan even in the winter.
About the author
Nadia is a proud former Thompson Okanagan tourist who now lives in beautiful Kelowna, BC. She hopes to tell the stories of the region’s beauty and hidden treasures while rediscovering the destination she spent enjoying on family vacations.
Building a community one brew at a time
A Kelowna-based brewery is hitting all the points with its commitment to community - not to mention first-class brews.
Illustration by Lisa Ranney
It’s not very often that a business is validated by a stranger who has no input or buy-in to your plan, but for Susi Foerg, an ah-ha moment helped coalesce everything she envisioned for her dream.
Four years ago, Foerg was on a weekend trip to the Sunshine coast when she stopped by Persephone Brewing Company for a pint. Persephone Brewing Company is well known by craft beer lovers for their well-developed brews, but what struck Foerg was the balance between beer and community. You see, the microbrewery does far more than just brew beer—it’s also a self-sustaining 11-acre farm with a focus on community agriculture. Foerg was inspired—so inspired in fact, she started to ruminate on how she could replicate the good work being down in Gibsons right here in Kelowna.
With a background in finance and banking, Foerg had a deep understanding and respect for the requirements of developing a sound business model. But she also knew that one of the intrinsic values of a business owner is understanding customer needs.
“I had always enjoyed working with clients, listening to their challenges and helping them find solutions to their banking needs,” she says. Applying that customer service-driven approach, Foerg developed a business plan for a farmhouse brewery in Kelowna that would focus on community, environment and employees as business priorities.
However, as in life, business plans sometimes must change. The Provincial Agricultural Land Commission, also known as the Agricultural Land Reserve or ALR, exists in British Columbia to assure the preservation of agricultural land. Requirements for building a farmhouse brewery in Kelowna on existing agricultural land meant very stringent regulations would need to be met, including the production of 50 per cent of the grain that was needed for the brewery would have to be grown on the land.
“That meant I’d need to grow about 20 acres of grain,” says Foerg ruefully, which was not a financial option. So, as entrepreneurs need to be nimble, she started thinking about ways to fine-tune the values of Persephone Brewing—which were non-negotiable for her own vision—and develop a brewery that incorporated those ideals.
“I tweaked my business plan and decided I need to do some research to make sure I had developed the plan appropriately,” says Foerg. In order to take the leap, she decided to rent out a suite in her house and go to Vancouver for several months and work at a brewery there to develop a deeper knowledge and skill set. But how to find a reliable tenant? (and here’s the ah-ha moment …)
“I decided to post my suite on my private social networks rather than publicly,” says Foerg. Meanwhile, a local woman who had recently escaped an abusive relationship was about to lose her short-term emergency housing and faced homelessness. Through a series of conversations, Foerg was able to provide safe housing and assure herself that her home would be cared for while she perused her dream, while providing the woman a safe and anonymous place to rebuild her life. Foerg’s decision to change her career and build a business that would focus on community, impacted a stranger in a deeply meaningful way.
“That’s when I knew I was on the right path,” says Foerg.
Taking what she learned from her time researching community-based social enterprise, as well as her time at Electric Bicycle Brewing in Vancouver, Foerg returned to Kelowna ready to hit the ground running.
Four years later, Rustic Reel Brewing is open for business, featuring local products and leading the charge on building relationships with supporting the local community, the environment and employees.
“As a business owner with 23 employees, it’s my responsibility to learn from experiences and provide a job that works around people's lives—the brewery is my life, not my employees’,” she explains.
“I want any employee to understand that I know that this professional relationship has to work so that people are happy,” she continues. With that in mind, Foerg has actively implemented supports for employees including extended health care benefits from the local Chamber of Commerce, as well as a dedicated time to embrace a work-life balance as a team, including group hikes and get-togethers.
“It’s important to me that we integrate staff reflection into our work, and I make sure I include self-reflection as part of my professional development,” says Foerg. “I need to be present and aware, and assure that all employees, no matter their role, feel validated and—even when time pressures mean I have to prioritize something else ahead of their needs—that they’re not unimportant to me.
“It’s easy to feel like you’ve failed every day but being a business owner means everything is a learning process with constant development and evaluation.”
With the brewery humming and the employees well cared for, it’s time to look at the community aspect of the brewery – and what a community it is. “The number-one priority for me in my personal life is animal welfare and cruelty,” says Foerg. “I never use products at home that were tested on animals, so why would I allow them to be used in my business?” The answer is a resounding no, which means nothing in the building is tested on animals. Ever.
The airy building seats 100 inside and 60 on the dog-friendly patio. The design of the brewery is not nautical, but meant to showcase the owner’s love of fishing, as well as the organic interplay of a rustic club house. The tables, the flight boxes and the wall paneling are all re-purposed by pallets and constructed by Foerg. “I sanded and planked all those,” she laughs. The design and the building is communal and family friendly, as well as welcoming to the canine members of the family. In fact, sadly, Walter, the Bernese Mountain dog featured on the design for the brewery created by local designer Lisa Ranney, passed away at the age of 11 shortly before the brewery opened, although his memory and influence lives on.
Susi and Walter, her loyal companion and the best brewery dog.
“I love to fish and this place was meant to be female friendly, so I wanted to incorporate design and colours that embody those ideas,” says Foerg. The brewery also features the Tackle Box, a market space that developed because, “we wanted to have a place where local market items could be showcased,” says Foerg.
“We feature a variety of different local products, including Taste of the Okanagan, which is a mother-daughter team whose products we use on our menu.” Other local menu items include pates, meats and cheeses from supplies across the Okanagan and lower mainland, as well as local grains. During the brewery production cycle, once the grains are spent, the environmental aspect of Foerg’s business plan comes into play. “We have two local farmers who pick up our spent grains for animal feed, but we produce breads, muffins, pretzels and other baked goods in house, including vegan and gluten-free options.
“We continue to grow and continue to focus on local suppliers,” says Foerg. “What we have on our menu and what we want to explain about the origins and sources of our product is important.”
At the end of the day, bring community together has been and is a priority for Foerg. “When you can see the impact of your work, that’s when you know you’re doing the right thing.”
About Cait Wills
Born in Vernon and raised around the world, Cait Wills is a passionate advocate for the Thompson Okanagan region. As Storyteller Specialist for the Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association, Cait is eager to showcase people, places and things in the region. If you have a suggestion on something you would like to know more about, please drop her a line at media@totabc.com.
Craft Breweries to Visit in the Thompson Okanagan
Local businesses, local practices and local ingredients mean better beer.
Local businesses, local practices, local ingredients - better beer
A few years ago, my family and I lived in Victoria. Along with the beach and bustling downtown, some of my favourite places to visit were the many breweries in town. Lots of options, lots of flavours. When we decided to move back home I was a little worried I would miss the many tastes I had gotten used to sampling.
Well, as it turns out, the Thompson Okanagan craft beer scene is thriving. Small, dedicated craft brewers have popped up, from the Similkameen to the Shuswap (Secwepemc).
While the Thompson Okanagan region is well-known as wine country, the Ale Trails have become a huge hit, big enough for a craft enthusiast like myself to no longer miss the flavours of the coast!
Breweries in the Thompson Okanagan
No matter where you are in the Thompson Okanagan, from Firehall Brewery in Oliver, to Barley Station Brew Pub in Salmon Arm, or as far north as Three Ranges Brewing Co. in Valemount, you’re never far from a sip of local craft beer.
Central Okanagan
The big guys are still kicking and making great beer, like Kelowna Beer Institute, Cannery Brewing and Okanagan Spring.
The smaller guys in the craft beer scene have exploded in the past five years, with new joints like BNA Brewing Co. and Red Bird Brewing in Kelowna, Red Collar Brewing Co. and Bright Eye Brewing in Kamloops (Tk'emlups) and Marten Brewing Company in Vernon (Nintle-Moos-Chin) opening up to the public. All great places to grab a cold beer and a good conversation.
One of the fastest growing craft markets is found in Penticton (Sn'pink'tn) - home to Cannery Brewing, Bad Tattoo Brewing Company, Highway 97 Brewery and The Tin Whistle Brewing Company as well as the Barley Mill Brew Pub.
All of this tradition and growth recently crowned Penticton as the #2 Beer Town in Canada (just behind Vancouver) and they sure deserve it. Whether you grab a Naramata Nut Brown from Cannery or an award-winning Los Muertos Cerveza Negra and pizza from Bad Tattoo, any trip to Penticton should include a stop at one (or a couple) of these awesome spots!
Local Beer, Local Ingredients
As with anything, buying beer from local companies - especially those that use local ingredients like the amazing Crannóg Ales in Sorrento - means less impact on the environment and better, fresher beer.
Beer Festivities
Penticton also holds the highly reviewed Fest of Ale every spring and Oktoberbest in the fall.
Kelowna (Kilawna) is home to the Great Okanagan Beer Festival in May. Each September, find favourites, new and old, at Hopscotch: The Festival of Whisky, Beer & Spirits in Kelowna.
In October, Kamloops hosts the Bavarian Oktoberfest.
Beer on Tap at Local Restaurants
On top of all of the breweries, most local restaurants have adopted these newcomers and keep their brews on tap for thirsty patrons. A few places like Mission Tap House in Kelowna and Hop N Hog in Clearwater have great rotating taps, as well as Kelowna’s new Craft Beer Market - home to over 100 beers on tap.
Here are some of my favourite Thompson Okanagan beers for you to watch for:
Thornless Blackberry Porter - Cannery Brewing
Earl Pale Ale - BNA Brewing Co.
Back Hand of God Stout - Crannóg Ales
Thompson Okanagan Ale Trail Trip Planning
Check out the BC Ale Trails website to plan your next trip to the Thompson Okanagan Ale Trails.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Matt Ferguson is a BC born and raised photographer, currently living in Kelowna. When his camera isn't strapped to him, you can usually find him at the beach with his family, skipping rocks or if it's cold enough, strapping on some skates and hitting a frozen pond.
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