The story of Phillips Beer is not one to be told to any person bent on doing things the traditional way. It is a tale that begins with an outlandish idea, a passionate brewer and a stream of refusal.

   After several years of slugging it out in the brewing community for Grizzly Paw, Wild Horse, Whistler and Spinnakers, Matt Phillips (the patriarch of Phillips Beer) decided he would like to make beer of his own. He dreamt of setting up an artisanal brewery dedicated to making unique beers. He wanted to start small, to make beer that tasted good using top quality ingredients and then take it from there. He collected all his ideas and experience into a business plan and then took to touring various financial institutions looking for a loan, each of which steadfastly refused to give up the cash.

   In a traditional tale, the story would end here. Phillips Beer would have never been and no one would have ever tasted the award-winning brews to come. Fortunately for fans of Phillips, this not a traditional tale.

   On his way out of the banks, Matt looked for other options. He collected every credit card application available, which he then brought home, filled in and filed all on the same day. The result was a collection of credit cards ranging from $2,000 to $12,000, and the beginning of business in the most untraditional way. It was with these cards Matt purchased some small brewing equipment and then signed a lease for a dark, modest warehouse above a metal shop that would become his home and workplace for the next two years.

   It was, as some might say, not the ideal situation. Matt worked alone in those days, rolling up his bedding each morning and setting up timers on halogen lamps to imitate the sunrise. The apartment/warehouse/brewery had no facilities––there was nowhere to take a shower, and so a dedicated Matt went to the gym every single day during his time at the brewery/apartment. Somehow though, in between the darkness of a warehouse and the distress of showering in public, Matt managed to create his first offerings. In August of 2001, Phillips Beer rolled out the soon-to-be loved classics: the Raspberry Wheat Ale, India Pale Ale and Espresso Stout. Matt was on his way. Sort of.

   Starting a business is never easy. Doing it alone without support from the banks and using a 1985 Subaru station-wagon as a delivery vehicle is doubly hard. Creativity combined with a renegade disregard for typical methods is essential.

   Matt spent the years immediately following the launch of the brewery walking a thin line between success and bankruptcy. He built his own bottler, the Instigator, and developed a sleepless routine of renting trucks to transport his beer to the mainland on the last ferry, staying up all night hand labeling bottles, dropping them off in the morning and then returning for another full day of work. He found clever ways to save money, like driving rented trucks down to Portland to nudge his way between the monster delivery vehicles waiting in line to collect bottles. He worked hard and he worked long and what kept him going only he knows (maybe it was all the great beer), but in just over a year Matt was already brewing another offering, the Draught Dodger Maple Cream Ale.

   2003 saw some fateful moments: a stockpile of stubby bottles was discovered––which led to the creation of the much loved Phoenix Gold––and Matt’s Subaru, fed up with having cases of beer smash through its windows on sharp corners, decided to die. It was replaced with a more ‘business appropriate’ 1965 Chevy. It was a milk-truck-looking van painted with house paint and fitted for camping, but Matt saw potential written all over it. With some hard work, he managed to sand off the house paint, replaced it with blue spray paint, and then repeatedly filled it to brim with beer, which he trucked around BC—without the doors on—all summer.

   By February of 2004, the demand for Phillips beer had grown to the point of needing help, so Matt hired his first two employees, Mr. and Mr. Bell (no relation). Together with the Bell Boys, Matt continued making beer in his dark brewery/apartment above the metal shop. That is, he did until he returned home one night to find that one of the tanks had ruptured, spilling 1,900 litres of Phoenix Gold across his floor and into the shop below. He was promptly encouraged thereafter to find a different location for his endeavor, so in June of 2004, with his lease up and no one offering a second term, Matt moved into the William Street brewery.

   During the first months at the new brewery, the team at Phillips made some changes. They crafted three new offerings: the Longboat Double Chocolate Porter, the Amnesiac Double IPA and the Black Toque India Dark Ale; and by December of 2004, Phillips was sending out traditional sized six-packs of India Pale Ale and Draught Dodger.

   Soon into 2005, it became obvious that the demand was too much for the brewery’s machinery. Long hours, extremely hard work and slow production time meant Phillips either needed to get some faster equipment or face a revolt from the staff. Bigger tanks were built and in the spring of 2005, Matt bought a Pirzer bottling machine. The new bottler outpaced the Instigator by roughly 1,000 percent––production increased from six (sometimes eight) bottles a minute to 100 bottles a minute!