Lighthouse brewery, tasting room to close this month, Phillips swallows brands

After 27 years, it’s the end of the flight for the Esquimalt brewery—but it’s not quite the last call for its beer.

On Monday night, Lighthouse Brewing announced it was shutting down, and on Tuesday morning, cross-town Phillips announced it is buying the Lighthouse lineup of local craft beer.

“There are many external factors that contributed to this decision, including economic and market conditions, unsustainable overheads, increased cost of materials and services,” Ben Thomas, Lighthouse Brewing co-owner and general manager, said in a video released on social media.

“Right across the board, this overall saturation of the beer market and changes in consumer drinking habits, the impacts on the business and on me personally, over this time have been significant,” he said.

Thomas said the Lighthouse tasting room will be open until the end of the month—there’s a big thank-you party on Saturday—and it will hand off its stable of suds to Phillips, effective Sunday.

“By selling its brands and IP to Phillips here in Victoria, Lighthouse is ensuring its much-loved legacy portfolio of high-quality beers, including Shipwreck IPA, Race Rocks Amber Ale, and Company Lager, will continue to have a home and remain locally made in Victoria,” the Phillips Brewing & Malting Co. said in a release.

“Phillips will immediately begin to do all the brewing, packaging, marketing, and selling of the Lighthouse brands moving forward.”

Trend is one of a glass not halfway full

After a remarkable surge in the number of craft breweries in Canada, the industry has been on a downward trajectory.

CBC reports the number of breweries in Canada dropped by 2.9% in 2025 and 3.4% the previous year.

The story quotes Statistics Canada data, which suggest the craft industry hit its zenith in sales around 2010 but has been slowing since.

Beer Canada, the national trade association representing the country’s brewing industry, is on record saying the industry is overtaxed and that people aren’t going to bars and restaurants as often these days.

Consumers are consuming less

Results of an Angus Reid survey released in November found that three-quarters of Canadians have reduced discretionary spending, with 56% saying they’re cutting back on going to restaurants.

Studies released in the last couple of years also indicate that young and new Canadians are more likely to drink less or abstain from alcohol, compared with the booze-friendlier generations they are following.

In the fall of 2024, Vancouver Island Brewing closed its main brewery and taproom on Government—outsourcing its production and packaging to Phillips—and laid off more than a dozen staff due to high operating costs.

That same year, Swan’s Pub near the Blue Bridge shut its on-site brewing operations (the pub remains open and happening), and the Millstream Beverage Company, a brewpub in Langford, was shuttered after its lease was terminated.

Goodbye, after almost 3 decades

At Lighthouse, Thomas thanked his staff, colleagues, customers, and pub partners.

“Being part of the craft beer community in Victoria and BC overall has been amazing,” he said.

“When we started in 1998, there were only about 20 breweries in BC. Now there are local breweries in every corner of the province, and it's been awesome being a part of that collective.”

Thomas said Lighthouse had 25 employees post-pandemic, downsized to about 10 at the end of 2023 and was down to five, including himself.

His outgoing message: the beer industry needs support now more than ever.

“So, please go out and support your local brewery.”