Last year, B.C.’s Phillips Brewing Co. doubled its staff. Next month, the Victoria microbrewery—a gold medallist at the Canadian Brewing Awards—will double capacity, says its amiable master brewer, Matt Phillips. The Nova Scotia native launched the brewhouse, one of seven Victoria beer-makers, eight years ago, juggling credit cards after banks took a pass on his business plan. Last year was among his best yet. “All the brewers I talk to have had a really good year,” says the 35-year-old, who is hoping to begin exporting to the U.S. In a recession-gripped economy, few other businesses can boast of such success.

In B.C. alone this year, a string of new microbreweries opened their doors, among them Driftwood Brewery and Surgenor Brewing on Vancouver Island, and Triple Island and Plan B Brewing Co. in northern B.C.—all pricing their products higher than mass-market beers. True, beer has long proved more recession-resistant than other industries. But last year, Canada’s overall beer industry, which has been flat since 2002, slipped into decline. Even heavyweights Molson and Labatt saw sales dip by three per cent. In the U.S., beer sales dropped a whopping 14 per cent in the final quarter of 2008. Indie “craft” beer-makers like Phillips, however, are bucking the trend. Despite a higher price point, and without marketing or advertising, they’re seeing double-digit growth. Indeed, they represent the industry’s fastest-growing segment—and they are striking fear into the mass-market brewers who dominate Canada’s $8-billion beer industry. Continue…