In 2014, ex-Vancouverites Mike and Melinda Coghill opened a brewery in their comfy but somewhat sleepy hometown of Port Moody. They named it after one of their rescue pets, a yellow lab named Chase.
Indeed, the brewery's logo was a silhouette of Chase, taken from a photograph.
"Yellow Dog" was an immediate smash hit, spurring others to follow along and ultimately inspiring the remarkable transformation of an old-timey industrial district into a craft brewery wonderland nicknamed Brewers Row.
Today, Yellow Dog is one of the most celebrated craft breweries in the province. And the Coghills are still in charge, even though they pulled up stakes a few years back and relocated their family to the town with which they fell in love – Penticton.
Luckily for Okanaganites, the Coghills didn't leave their sense of entrepreneurship behind. In 2018, they purchased a downtown property at the corner of Westminster and Winnipeg and commenced to building a brand new two-storey mega-brewery that would be known as Neighbourhood Brewing when it opened two years later.
But that wasn't enough of the "neighbourhood" for Mike and Melinda. In late 2023, when the owners of longtime Penticton brewery Bad Tattoo Brewing decided to pull out of the game, they jumped into action and bought the place.
Bad Tattoo was just a block from Neighbourhood, but that was a-okay to the Coghills. They believed mightily in the immediate area, a zone they'd helped turn, as they'd done in Port Moody, from old industrial to modern hospitality.
And now, after months of renovations to the Bad Tattoo building, the Penticton edition of Yellow Dog Brewing, the only Yellow Dog outside the original Port Moody location, is finally open.
In a word, it's casual. Enjoyably so.
Gone is the Bad Tattoo front patio that many will remember. It's been consumed by the revamped and enlarged interior space, which now offers seating for 150, including 15-plus seats around the U-shaped bar.
The décor – and in fact the architecture – is part mancave, part industrial. It's a big, open single-storey space with plenty of windows, crazy tall 24-foot-tall ceilings, and several banks of TVs strategically placed above the action.
Adjacent to the taproom, and indeed visible through some of those windows, is the actual brewery, a spacious and capable facility with 17 tanks in total. The largest is a whopping 10,000 litres.
Just outside that is the outdoor space, a 120-seat street-level patio called the "Dog Park" that not too surprisingly welcomes friendly canines of all varieties. Though closed right now, the Dog Park was in fact the only open-to-the-public part of the venue for the past several months.
That the Penticton Yellow Dog debut coincides with the ten-year anniversary of the original is coincidental.
"We started planning for the expansion of Yellow Dog early on," explained Melinda Coghill earlier this week.
"Our location in Port Moody is a great space and we were fortunate enough to have a solid following from day one. But we started thinking about growth and where we’d be by year ten, where we are today."
According to hubby and co-owner Mike, expansion was a tough slog.
"We went through multiple iterations on multiple sites, but none really worked out," he said. "And we had a few curve balls too, like the pandemic. But once we relocated our family here, our goal was to have production space here too.
"And we were super flattered and grateful that Bad Tattoo decided to talk to us first. They knew we'd take their legacy and turn it into something we could all be proud of."
But that still left us with questions. Like, why two breweries just a hundred-plus meters apart?
Turns out the Coghills are huge believers not just in Penticton, but in the new food and drink district that Neighbourhood helped create – a district that includes fresh community faves like Black Antler, Pizzeria Tratto and Wayne & Freda.
"We had no ties at all to Penticton before we moved here other than visiting it," said Mike. "But we fell in love with it. There's a small town feel yet it’s big enough to do things.
"And you're so close to all these outdoor activities. It's a good place to raise a family. We ski, we mountain bike, we boat. It's great."
For Melinda, the reception to Neighbourhood couldn't have gone any better.
"When we initially chose the place for it, none of this was here," she said. "So I think the placement of Neighbourhood has morphed this area. Downtown has kind of shifted over a block. Having Black Antler and Wayne & Freda and Tratto, it’s become a great little corner.
"And we've had a great experience. The community has welcomed us with open arms."
But, they stress, Yellow Dog offers a different experience than Neighbourhood.
For starters, there's that spacious, pet-friendly outdoor component, something Neighbourhood simply doesn’t have.
And then there's the food. While Neighbourood focuses primarily on Mexican fusion, Yellow Dog's full kitchen is a bit more conventional.
"Here we have a different kitchen team with different food," said Mike.
"When we were ideating, we felt something the town was missing was a good burger place and a place to watch games. Here we'll have burgers, some Asian noodles and a little pizza too."
But they’ll keep the doors open to menu alterations as the months go by.
"The things we come up with most of the time (for our venues) are things we ourselves really enjoy," said Melinda. "Like, we put Mexican fusion into Neighbourhood because we love Mexican food. So we'll keep experimenting with things we want to eat and try."
As for ambience, Mike Coghill says Yellow Dog has "more of a traditional pub-style feel."
"We put a lot of TVs in here so we can do sports and events and different things like that," he said. "There's more of a traditional pub-style feel to it while still being able to enjoy all the core beers Yellow Dog makes."
And that's a big line-up that includes offerings like Chase My Tail Pale Ale, High 5 Hazy IPA, Play Dead IPA and Squirrel Chaser Hazy Pale Ale.
"And there are more easy-drinking beers too," said Mike. "Like Rascal, which is a Japanese lager. We have Roll Over, which was actually a beer we've continued from Bad Tattoo. There's Pack Leader Pilsner, Retriever Golden Ale and more."
The boozy lineup extends beyond beer. Last year, the Coghills got into the distilling game when they opened "Yellow Dog Spirits" at District Wine Village just north of Oliver. And now Yellow Dog patrons get to partake of the product.
"We have a bit more bar service here than we have at Neighbourhood," said Mike. "We have stuff like vodka, gin, amber rum, coffee liqueurs and cinnamon liqueurs."
We asked why out of towners might want to make the trek to the newest Yellow Dog.
"Because it is Yellow Dog," said Melinda with a laugh. "I think we have a pretty strong following in BC, and people like to go to the place where things are made and not just drink it on tap at their local bar.
"And traveling to Port Moody is a hindrance to many. Now, from Kelowna, it’s just a quick 45-minute blast along a beautiful highway."
Moreover, added Mike, the two Yellow Dogs are each quite unique. Port Moody, for example, relies on food trucks rather than a full kitchen. And even though the original has its own Dog Park, red tape prevents the admittance of actual dogs.
"And we do make good beer," he said. "In year one or two, Yellow Dog won BC Brewery of the Year. And we’ve won a lot of awards since then. We'll always hang our hat on that – the quality and the consistency of the beers."
But Mike and Melinda didn’t buy and substantially modify Bad Tattoo just for the taproom.
"Everyone always asks what took so long to open Yellow Dog," said Mike, knowing full well he's now somewhat infamous for his protracted renovation sessions.
"But the first thing we did was renovate the back. Even though this was a fully functioning brewery previously, we still had to pull out all the equipment and implement our own processes.
"And going forward, there will be a significant amount of beer made here. In theory, we can actually make more beer here."
The quantity of beer coming from each Yellow Dog facility at any given time will depend on a variety of factors other than geographical demand.
"It'll change from month to month," said Mike. "For instance, sometimes it’s good for consistency sake to make one beer in a certain spot. But it does give us some real good options."
We asked if there's any concern that the closing of the Slackwater Brewing taproom in October is an indication that the Penticton brewery scene, which had grown mightily in the past few years prior to that closure, may be oversaturated.
The Coghills say no, with a small proviso.
"Knowing and being friends with them," said Mike, "there's a myriad of reasons why that happened. But I don’t think we’re worried that there's an oversaturation of breweries.
"There is, of course, a concern that your business will be successful. And there's always a concern about what the economy is doing. But we feel good that people have chosen to support us in the past and we think they'll continue to do so going forward."
And that left us with one last question. What’s the scoop on all those dog references?
Turns out it started with Chase, the yellow lab whose silhouette forms the basis of the Yellow Dog logo.
"Chase was our fur baby before we had a real child," said Melinda. "He was the inspiration behind the brewery. He's the logo and his name inspired Chase My Tail Pale Ale."
Chase passed way ten years ago. But the Coghill's – and particularly Melinda's – infatuation with pets and dogs goes beyond that.
"We've had five rescue dogs over the years, two of whom are still with us," she told us.
"And we've been a supporter of the BCSPCA from day one. In this location, that's very much front and centre. We showcase all our personal rescue dogs along one of the walls.
"It's very definitely a passion project for us. Partial sales from all our beers go to them."
But that's not all. Each year the brewery, in conjunction with the BCSPCA, runs a fundraising initiative where pet owners raise bucks to get their fave pet's face on the label of Yellow Dog's "Starborn" beer.
This year, the initiative helped raise $230,000-plus for the BCSPCA.
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The Penticton iteration of Yellow Dog is currently open from 11 AM to 10 PM seven days a week. The Coghills intend to hold to that schedule throughout Penticton's generally slow-ish winter, though they'll monitor the situation and adjust if needed.
"In the new year we'll launch happy hours and some other stuff," said Mike.
You'll find Yellow Dog Brewing at 169 Estabrook Ave. in downtown Penticton, just about 100 meters north of Neighbourhood Brewing. For more info, turn here.
