Phillips Brewing & Malting Co.

Matt Phillips, 27, started the brewery in 2001 in Esquimalt on credit-card debt after the banks refused him, and was its only employee until 2003. After a flood in 2004 it moved into an old lumber store in Victoria. Phillips added a distillery in 2014 and its own maltings for locally grown barley in 2015, and runs a tasting room and the Phillips Backyard music festivals. Blue Buck, an ale of 5%, is its long-running flagship. In 2024 it took over production of Vancouver Island Brewing’s beers, and in January 2026 the brands of Lighthouse Brewing, after both closed their breweries.