This article is available exclusively to subscribers like you.
When Lucky Lager closed in 1985, ending more than a century of brewing in Vancouver, the future looked bleak for local beer lovers. City leaders even went so far as to pass an ordinance prohibiting breweries downtown.
How times have changed.
Brewpubs, the micro-scale offspring of their industrial ancestors, have emerged as community gathering places and neighborhood economic engines, bolstering nearby businesses by drawing in potential customers outside of traditional hours.
