Hoyne Brewing Company founder Sean Hoyne with an award winning Svec Chef Half-Dark Lager
VICTORIA – Hoyne Brewing Company has won numerous awards for its beers since opening in 2011, but there is one that stands above them all: Being the people’s choice.
“The one that resonates with us the most is that for the 5th year in a row, we have won the Times Colonist Reader’s Choice Award for best brewery in Victoria,” says Sean Hoyne, who founded the brewery in 2011 with his wife, Chantal O’Brien. “It’s voted on by actual readers, rather than judges, and that was really important for us, because we like it when we hear from everyday beer drinkers.”
Hoyne recently captured more awards: Their Dark Matter has won a Gold Medal in the BC Beer Awards, and Best of Show in the BC Beer Awards. Their Czech Half-Dark Lager, Svec, won a gold medal at the same awards.
“We also won a gold medal at the Canadian Brewing Awards for Finnegan’s Irish Stout” he adds.
Hoyne Brewing has also been creating new products, including their Lager Mixed Pack called In Good Time, featuring 8 tall cans, two each of 4 different varieties: Hoyne Pilsner, Svec, Por Favor (Mexican cerveza) and Che Bello, an Italian pilsner.
Hoyne Brewing’s new In Good Time Lager Mixed Pack
Sean points out it is called In Good Time “because lagers, if you are going to make them properly, take a prolonged amount of time to age them. We like to give them two months to condition, and we believe that makes all the difference.”
“We have always looked to great European beers for inspiration, we share their respect for tradition and integrity in the brewing process. We are one of the few craft breweries who are focusing on lagers. We love ales, but we feel that fine lagers are tremendously under-represented in the craft brewery world.”
Hoyne Brewing has long been known as a brewery that makes fine lagers.
“In the new mixed pack is an Italian pilsner, Che Bello. We use malted barley and hops from Europe, but mostly what makes it unique are the techniques that have been perfected in Italy, using a small charge of dry hops in the last part of fermentation.”
“It is light in body, clear and crisp. It is truly a beautiful beer. Che Bello means ‘how beautiful’.”
Along with all of this, Hoyne Brewing is also expanding their premises.
The new Italian pilsner, Che Bello
“We are putting in a new German made bre-whouse that is specifically designed for us to get even better at making lagers, and we’re adding new fermentation tanks as well,” he notes.” We have always had great admiration for old world beers. The history and traditions for these styles have lasted for many decades, if not centuries. So, we are paying homage to them, but we are also putting our own twist on them. While we look to European breweries for inspiration, we then make the beers our own.”
Hoyne brought in a sophisticated Italian made canning line during the Covid pandemic, adding to their bottles and draught for pubs and restaurants.
“We still love our on-premise partners out there, and thankfully they’re back up and running and doing well and we’re selling lots of draught to them, but we have a new line of packaged beer for customers as well,” he notes.
” Starting a brewery was always a dream of mine,” he recalls. “I have been in the industry since 1989, and I built and operated several breweries around town but always wanted to start my own. We finally took the plunge in 2011 and have not looked back. We are now up to 50 employees. We have built an amazing team here at Hoyne, one we could not be prouder of. It is great to be surrounded by fantastic people!”
