- Story and photography by Don Denton

Brewer Dan Van Netten likes to 鈥渒eep it unpredictable,鈥� and the ever-changing beer list at confirms that. Howl, a nano-brewery (in laymen鈥檚 terms, 鈥渧ery small鈥�), may not produce a lot of beer in a year but what it makes is inventive.

The brewery, located on Mills Road in North Saanich, next door to the Fickle Fig and just across the street from Victoria International Airport, has been brewing since June of 2018. Dan and partner and co-owner Alayna Briemon have been very happy with the location and the fact their Fickle Fig neighbours agree the two businesses bring in a slightly different clientele鈥攁ll of whom benefit from having a brewery next door to a farmer鈥檚 market, bistro and bakery.

The brewery is tiny with just enough room at the back to hold the brewing equipment. Customers coming in to fill up a growler step through the door and are immediately at the counter. Outside, though, there is a large patio with plenty of room to sit and enjoy a drink.

Dan, a longtime bartender at 鈥擵ictoria鈥檚 first micro-brewery鈥攃omes by his interest in brewing naturally. His father made wine and brewed beer in their Ruskin, BC (near Mission) home, enlisting young Dan鈥檚 help in the process. Dan鈥檚 father made use of everyday foodstuffs as a way to prevent waste. Originally from the Netherlands, Dan鈥檚 dad also helped spark an interest in European brews.

Dan鈥檚 years at Spinnakers also showed him the importance of supporting local growers for supplies and to respect the ideology of farm to table.

Brewing smaller batches of beer, only 280 litres at a time, allows Dan to experiment, giving him 鈥渓ots of room to play,鈥� as he says. He can change his plans on a moment鈥檚 notice; for example, if a local resident brings in a small harvest of hops or fruit from a tree they can鈥檛 utilize, he can change up what he鈥檚 doing and incorporate the new product into the current brew. He also works with , which harvests unwanted fruit, buying local fruit from them. This ability to pivot plays to Dan鈥檚 joy in keeping it unpredictable. A friend jokingly suggested he use鈥渋nconsistency is our motto鈥� for the brewery.

This means that the brewery, for the most part, does not have a signature beer, although Howl does have a Vienna lager that Dan brews most often.

To discover Dan鈥檚 other passion, ask him about historical beer鈥攖hose beers brewed centuries ago and forgotten except in historical texts. He researches ancient brewing techniques using old books, the internet and various historians around the world, especially one friend in Germany. Dan says that 鈥渋t鈥檚 good to bring back forgotten styles. Even if they don鈥檛 work out, it鈥檚 an educational experience.鈥�

His most interesting historical-beer discovery was Purl, an English beer from the 1700s. Its ingredients include wormwood, horseradish and black pepper, resulting in a very bitter brew鈥攁 tonic for workers of the time who often had poor access to potable drinking water. Purl is mentioned, he says, in The Merry Wives of Windsor by Shakespeare and Charles Dickens鈥檚 The Old Curiosity Shop. Dan laughs, noting that Purl was his most unpopular beer ever, although he liked it himself, since it was so different.

Dan has also created a Virginia Spruce Ale, incorporating sarsaparilla, ginger and spruce tips, an 1800s drink that he found in a copy of the Virginia Good Housekeeping Cookbook. An even older recipe utilizing spruce tips came from Quebec in the 1700s, and featured molasses as well as the spruce. Spruce tips were introduced to European settlers by Indigenous residents, and used to help stave off scurvy.

So what can a visitor to Howl this coming year look for on the menu?

Dan has a Horner bier planned. This is an 1800s-era oat beer that was a favourite of the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who said, 鈥淚n the heat of the summer it鈥檚 for me.鈥� The oat beer has a tart taste. In Dan鈥檚 other oat beer, a Kottbusser, he adds molasses to the mix. He also plans to brew up a banana beer from Rwanda.

The test for anyone writing about beer is in the tasting, of course, and so I tried three of Howl Brewing鈥檚 recent offerings:

Sarsaparilla Ale. The name takes me back to childhood westerns, where a white-hatted cowboy would slide up to the bar and ask for a Sarsaparilla. Sarsaparilla is one of the ingredients used to flavour root beer, and Dan uses the roots and bark of the plant for his brewing process. He describes it as a 鈥渇un鈥� beer with notes of root beer and vanilla.

The beer is surprisingly dark in colour but isn鈥檛 heavy; it would be perfect on a hot summer day.

Chaga Spruce Tip Ale. Spruce trips, sourced by forager Ben Patarin at Forest For Dinner in Qualicum, and Sasquatch wild hops (which only grow in BC) are a big part of the brew. But the unique ingredient is chaga, a mushroom that sprouts in the northern boreal forest on birch trees, creating a complete forest-to-table brew. chaga was originally used for medicinal purposes by Indigenous tribes and the mushroom gives the beer its amber hue. Dan says to expect just a mild lager taste.

I鈥檓 a touch cautious with unknown ingredients in my beer and so was uncertain about the chaga flavour. I鈥檝e had spruce-tip beer in the past and it tended to overpower the brew. Not the case here, though. I actually found it hard to pick out the spruce tip flavour, and enjoyed the overall lightly earthy (in a very good way) taste.

Jule酶l, a Norwegian winter solstice beer. This brew, fuelled by Dan鈥檚 historical interests, was a Viking-era beer. He says it was traditionally brewed in hollowed-out logs; the mash was heated with hot stones and the liquid was filtered through juniper branches. It was also brewed by women only. Dan鈥檚 version is made by lining the mash tun with juniper branches. He describes it as one of Howl鈥檚 stronger beers, with an earthiness and gin-like characteristics from the juniper. No hops are used for Jule酶l, making it a darker beer, perfect for a warm day.

I鈥檓 a fan of dark beers and this certainly looked dark. Dark beers are often heavy, but this was light and fresh. I had to search for the hint of juniper but, overall, this was my favourite of my brief sampling of Howl products.

Howl Brewing is the region鈥檚 most unique brewery, and its small size gives it the ability to produce a constantly changing array of brews, all with a story behind them. Check them out at1780 Mills Road, North Saanich or online at .

Can鈥檛 make it to the brewery? The has Howl on tap or ask at your local liquor store.

If you are interested in finding other products from Howl Brewing鈥檚 spruce-tip supplier, Forest For Dinner, closer to home, check at the , the or online at .

This story originally appeared in PEARL magazine.