Skimmerhorn Inn

Creston - BC's little Milwaukee

by glicko

Kokanee -- more of this liquid has passed through my system than I'd really like to admit. Kokanee isn't so much a beer in BC as a right of passage. This was probably the first beer you swiped from your dad as a young teen (guilty!) Your first bush party, it was there. Your 19th birthday, it was on tap. There's a case in your parents' fridge. You remember "Brew," the lovable beer-fetching mutt from the ads in the '80s. Every region has it's big local beer -- Genessee in upstate New York, Olympia or Rainier on Washington, Lone Star in Texas, Moosehead or Alex Keith's in Nova Scotia -- Kokanee is BC's big beer.

Creston itself, besides breweries, is the largest town in a fertile valley upstream of Kootenay lake. Locally famous for its fruit stands and reclusive polygamist Mormon outlaws, Creston is quite a nice town. The downtown is cozy, the surroundings are peaceful, and the produce is excellent. No Kootenay roadtrip is without a stop in Creston. It's situated at the foot of Kootenay Pass at the junction of BC highways 3, 3A and 22.