Image: Beer from ale trail participant Smuggler's Trail. / Provided / BC Ale Trail / Smuggler's Trail

By Alyssa Conti

ALE TRAIL

Local craft brewers crack open 2025 Langley Ale Trail

Feb 1, 2025 | 8:27 AM

LANGLEY — Local boozesmiths are inviting people to take a trip down the yellow beer road for this year’s Langley Ale Trail.

Starting today (Feb. 1), visitors can visit all nine local breweries to taste some brewskis, collect stamps and have the chance to win a prize package.

“[The ale trail]’s just a fun, interactive time to visit breweries in the Langley area,” said Lance Verhoeff, owner of the Trading Post Brewery. “It also helps to generate more business in a really slow time of the year.”

More than 600 stamps were collected during the event’s 2023 campaign. This year, BC Ale Trail project lead Monica Frost is expecting more– thanks to the introduction of both paper and mobile passports.

“Our goal is to draw visitors into Langley from neighbouring communities, as well as inspire Langley residents to get out and support local businesses,” said Frost.

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According to a statement from Tim LaHay with The Barley Merchant and Tourism Langley, there has been an increase in guests who are completing the Ale Trail in a day or over a weekend.

“More exposure means more foot traffic, more sales, and a stronger local economy,” LaHay added.

Image: Lance Verhoeff owns the Trading Post Brewery / Provided / BC Ale Trail / Trading Post

Data from the Craft Brewers Guild say local breweries make up more than a third of all beer sales in British Columbia, generating about $350 million in revenue and employing nearly 4,500 people across the province.

In Langley, brewers have also formed a tight-knit community.

“We have this kind of unofficial group called the Langley Loop,” said Verhoeff. “A bunch of us get together, try to figure out how to run this thing together [and] how to promote each other.”

Anyone who isn’t a big beer fan can also visit a participating cidery and one distillery.

The Langley Ale Trail runs from February 1st to March 9th, 2025.