Whistler Council has approved an application by Whistler Brewing Company to add a permanent, seasonal 15-person back patio at the brewery’s Function Junction location. The brewery operates a 18 space patio on the front, with space for 67 people in the interior lounge. This approval would add 15 more patio spaces at the back.
On April 3, Council also authorized a letter of support to the Liquor Licencing branch for the brewery. The seasonal 675 square feet patio will located on the north side between the Tap house and Millar Creek, Jennie Kwasnecha, the brewery’s general manager, told council.
“The patio would operate on weather permitting basis without propane heaters from approximately mid-May to mid-September. Once the patio season has concluded, the planter boxes, fencing and tables and chairs would be removed to allow for proper snow removal of the area,” she said.
The rear patio at the brewery has been in use since July 2020 under the Temporary Extended Program, which was authorized by Whistler during the COVID-19 pandemic. An applicant must be in “Good Standing” for RMOW to consider any application for permanent change to a liquor licence. For this review, Whistler Brewing was asked to provide a written list of any contraventions for the 12-month period before the application. There were no compliance issues identified, and the RCMP have determined the applicant to be in Good Standing, says a staff report to the council. The staff report also notes that noise is not expected to be an issue since there are few residents living close by. No changes are proposed to the service hours either.
“The Brewery’s current operating hours are 12 pm to 7 pm Monday to Thursday and 12 pm to 9 pm, Friday to Sunday and we do not anticipate any change to these hours. Our patrons are a mix of tourists and locals and we go to great lengths to ensure that alcohol consumption is moderated. We have been operational since 2009 and have never received any form of noise or other complaints from our neighbors,” Kwasnecha said.