Parallel 49 Brewing

My favorite brewery in town; Parallel 49 cranks out some great beer.
187 onah, cornhops, filthydirty and tuques of hazard imperial white IPA are all some of my favorite IPA’s brewed in the province.
Seeing that parallel 49 has some of the coolest art on the bottles, I was a little disappointed to see how lackluster there tasting room looked.
However with $ 3 sleeves of craft beer, I’ll just drink a couple extra until the walls look cool.

Stopped in on a Saturday and it was crowded. Everyone was just hanging and having a good time.
Its not a super big establishment– but that didnt stop people from just having fun.
The beers are pretty decent– $ 1 taster for any abv. Yess!
$ 4 for a flight of 4
** loved the Barley Wine. /​thumbsup
They have a whole bunch of snacks (chips, cheese twists, chips, etc) — My fiancée and I got the pepperoni stick (spicy) and it was spicy! pretty good though.
I’m definitely coming back to this spot in April.
Friendly staff, good beers. = Re-​visit!

Parallel 49 is a super popular tasting room — but neither the space or the beer quite do it for me.
Firstly the bar. The good and bad news is that the bar area is large. A large tasting room is very welcome in the Vancouver beer scene when you often find yourself waiting outside in the rain for a table to become available. The bad news, in this case, is that nothing has been done with the space to make it interesting, it’s like being in a large, functional, sushi restaurant (you know the ones, they’re like dinner halls). All space, no flavour.
As for the beer, personally, I’m not a huge fan. I really appreciate their drive to offer a large range of beers for all tastes, and their commitment to seasonal specials and experimental flavours. All of that is exactly what I look for in craft beer. Sadly I find most of their range uninspiring in terms of the depth of taste when compared to their neighbours: Nearby Powell Street, Bomber, Off The Rail, Storm, and Callister all have better tasting, more complex beers in my opinion.
For me this would be a destination if I’m with a large group of 4+. Anything else I’d hit up their neighbours first.

Love the beer but absolutely hated how your door man was power tripping today. I am disappointed to say the least at how I was treated at my favourite brewery.
Careful Parallel 49 don’t let your success go to your head!

This is my favourite local brewery. Unlike most other craft brewers who over hop their beers, they take it easy. The staff who fill the growlers and serve beers in-​house are very friendly and efficient. The weak point is that the tasting room is sort of sparse and sterile. I love that they take a photo of their beer menu every day and upload it to their website so that you know exactly what is available for growler fills and tasting.

This place is exactly what it says it is without pretending to be anything else: a place that brews some really great beer and where you can go grab a flight or a glass at a decent price. The taps rotate seasonally so it’s always exciting to find out what they have on hand, and the infusion can be a fun adventure.
I guess one could say the atmosphere is lacking a bit but for $ 3 glasses and $ 4 flights, do you really care? Besides, the staff there have a pretty eclectic taste in music so that’s cool.
The only downside is that they don’t serve food except for snacks like pretzels and dangerously delicious bacon cheese buns. Mmm… bacon. A lot of the time there is a food truck parked outside and you can bring your food in so that kinda makes up for not having a kitchen.
All in all, a great, friendly East Van brewery serving really good beer.

My overall favorite.period.
Best tasting room atmosphere (people having fun! not folks sittinq quietly being way too serious about it all). Best staff. Oh and best prices… were talking like half the price of other breweries (compare $ 4 for a paddle to $ 8.50 + at Brassneck or Callisters).
Beers are great too. maybe not the most creative in the city but not far behind.

Thanks to fabricator Dave for showing us the brewery. We came from Orange, CA and had heard good things about your beers. You definitely lived up to the hype. Right flavors, right price, nice people.
Keep up the good work and thanks

Thank you, P49 for retaining the standard and pricing that keeps me coming back. Don’t ever change. $ 4 flights, $ 3 glasses, more variety that you can drink in one sitting, and a pleasant room for sampling beers with friends on bikes. There are usually around 10 beers on tap, and an interesting infuser, which is loaded with rotating anomalies such as lemons, rosemary, plums, chilis and what have you.
Why are paying so much at all the other copycat tasting rooms?
Seriously.

Like many of the East Van craft breweries, Parallel 49 is set in an industrial area of East Van. Everyone we ran into in that area of Triumph were only there to hit the tasting room/​retail area/​growler fill station. Nice to have the food truck out front each time we stopped by as like many craft breweries, the food options are very limited.
The Parallel 49 beers are very popular in and around the Lower Mainland with many establishments carrying one or two of their products. Gypsy Tears (Ruby Ale) is a very popular beer (understandable as it is a very drinkable beer) but I am more of a fan of the Filthy Dirty IPA (7.2% and 76 IBU). The staff are pleasant and knowledgeable and each experience at Parallel 49 has been positive… it is worth the drive.

Holy Crap– cheapest flights ever.
Super good beer.
But the room smells like yeast from the brewery and this brand of beer is so well-​circulated that you don’t actually have to come here to drink it. I’m also not crazy into a lot of the unique brews they do. I do like their nitro pours though– nice and smooth.
Not fancy like any of the other breweries. And that’s ok.
Very blue-​collar feel.
Not like… chic-​hipster-​throwback blue collar. But actually like, working class bar.
I’d come back for a growler fill.

Great prices and great beer! Bacon cheesy bread was pretty great too. I’d recommend making this a stop on your brewery tour. The seasonal fruity beers are awesome, the classics are as expected. Lots of seating room, good for small or large groups

good beers and great personalities abound here; the tasting room is always full.
Grab a sandwich from the truck outside, too!

Controlled, well-​planned growth is good. Exponential, not so well planned growth is like cancer.
Before the union attempt by P49 staff made headlines I stopped coming here altogether. They kept pumping out zany new brews but quality kept dropping. Some on the internets have predicted P49 may follow the path of Granville Island. Quality has definitely dropped as they focus on filling every possible shelf.
I’ve given away my P49 growlers. Props though that they continue to support the majority of the Elite events.

Anyone been to UBC’s Arts County Fair?
Picture being there… about 5 hours in. De La Soul or Mathew Good or the Tea Party is about to go on.
You’re in the middle of the crowd. It was a long year. People have been rippin’ shiat up in celebration of the end of school. Dancing and drinking and smoking everywhere and everything.
Now take a whif. The stale booze. The funky hot unventilated muggy sweaty smell of the mosh pit. The reek of cheap weed on clothes. People ignorantly pushing to get to the front.
THAT’S PARALLEL 49!!!
Good beer though.

4.5 really. -.5 for the line up.
Love this place. In our neighbourhood it’s our favourite spot for a few midweek afternoon drinks. Super chill place with great beers. And great people working there.

Parallel 49 knows what they’re doing. They’ve got solid beers, a great tasting room, a large bar and growler fill station, and a healthy stream of folks coming in and out, even at noon on a Thursday! I was seriously impressed to see the tasting room filling up, despite the location being so industrial. This is definitely an area that is SUPER up and coming, and I anticipate a ton of cool businesses taking P49’s lead very soon and opening other fabulous spots for locals to go.
I was here to meet with Jeff and Chris, P49 awesome ninjas (official title) and at Jeff’s recommendation I just had to try the Boddhisattva — a light sour beer that was just sour enough to give it a kick, but not so much that you couldn’t drink a whole glass.
The tasting room is simple, but totally works. There’s no fuss or frill here, just a few tables, a cooler with bottles of beer to buy, a long bar for tastings and growler fills, and a festive atmosphere with folks clearly excited to try something new and delicious. I adore the infuser they have — it’s truly a stroke of brilliance to have something slightly different each day and to be able to try a twist on their already excellent beers. Thursday’s treat was lager infused with citrus peel — it was subtle and incredibly complementary, instantly making me wish I was on a sunny patio!
It’s well worth the trip out here, and if you can get on one of their brewery tours I’d highly recommend it — there’s a lot to see and these guys really know their stuff!

Checked this out on a great recommendation from a friend. Had been meaning to come here for ages but the word «infuser» was what sold me. I heard stories of gummy bear and apple pie infused beers and I had to try it.
First off — the place was packed. so packed. Which is awesome! It was a revolving door of growler fills, sleeves, and just bottled purchases.
I had a mocha infused milk stout. Jordan had a Toques of Hazzard IPA. life was grand.
You could not go wrong at all with the pricing. We’re talking $ 4 for a tasting flight and $ 3 for a sleeve.
Go.
Now.
Do it!

I’m still recovering from how fantastic my afternoon at P49 was. Located in East Van, P49 is a bit of a drive from downtown, so we’ve put off visiting for quite some time thanks to laziness. However, we were headed even further east last weekend, and were thus presented with the perfect opportunity to check the place out!
Tucked away in an industrial part of town (with free street parking, yay!), you need to be coming here to find it. But once you’re on the street, it’s impossible to miss. There’s a steady stream of regulars stopping in to refill growlers and pick up six-​packs. At $ 10 a growler fill, it’s quite the steal. Their flights (4 x 4oz) are an absolute steal at $ 4 apiece, and sleeves are $ 3 each.
They have some great rotating options, with the nitro chocolate pumpkin porter being my favourite (’tis the season!). They also had a cinnamon and cranberry-​infused ale which was simultaneously intriguing, light, and refreshing. Oh, and their milk stout is delicious. If you like stouts, you need to find yourself some ASAP. Heck, I no longer need a reason to find my way here. The beer is stupendous value for money, and it truly does speak for itself.

If you drink, then you must come here. It’s got flights for about $ 4.00. This is the place to get drunk on the cheap. Sure, it’s not really a bar. It’s a tasting room. It’s a small space and usually so crowded that you cannot even get a seat. But the beer is cheap!
Downsides:
–Not much… it only has one washroom… and there’s not enough seating… but then, none of the other tasting rooms have enough either so… really, it’s just mostly upside if you like to drink.
To me, it’s not a bar, but a place to drink. It’s not a place to meet people (unless of course it’s to meet your friends) but a place to drink. It somewhat reminds me of the cambie, except newer. But it’s not a place to meet people… it’s literally a place just to get drunk really cheap in a clean establishment.