Bayview Brewing turned three in April, and they’re inviting the whole town to celebrate at Transfer Beach on Saturday, May 24. The all-ages bash runs from noon to 8 p.m. with live music, local food trucks, backyard games and plenty of Bayview’s award-winning beer.
Alongside the party, Bayview is celebrating with some exciting new offerings.
Their special birthday beer is a version of their popular Sundown brew, this time a Blackberry Lemonade Sour.
Bayview also recently launched its first canned product: their best-selling Famous Ladysmith Blonde. With help from Longwood Brewery in Nanaimo who’ve been mentors from the start, the beer is now available in cans at select Island liquor stores. The label, designed by Ladysmith artist Scott Gingerysty, features a cheeky Easter egg to discover.
This is peak Bayview; creating something fun and a bit silly, underlined by quality and a sense of community.
“When you open a business, you always want to be successful, hope to be, but there's no guarantee,” said co-owner Rod Alsop. “I think we had some writing on the wall knowing Jonny's food.”
Alsop and co-owner Jonny Ludtke met while teaching at Ladysmith Secondary School; Alsop taught music while Ludtke taught culinary arts. Their connection was immediate.
“We became fast friends and started playing some music together, just jamming in a band together,” said Alsop.
It’s that “friends jamming in the garage” vibe that started it all and still powers the brewery today.
The 60-seat restaurant is almost always packed with both locals and visitors due to their positive reputation and word of mouth.
“That’s the best advertising, for sure,” said Ludtke, who estimates that approximately 25 per cent of their daily customers come from out of town.
The brewing company has been busier than ever this year with all signs indicating an incredibly busy summer.
“I think that is a really short-term, immediate impact from people not travelling to the States to do things,” Ludtke said, adding that the brewery already feels “summer busy”.
They’re ready for it. They’ve been brewing with intention and skill since long before they opened.
Ludtke and Alfred Elviss, Bayview's head brewer, began making beer together years ago, even entering a homebrewing competition in Nanaimo. They each won their category, with Elviss’s beer taking top honours overall.
They now brew about six batches per month and offer 12 beers on tap, and the awards keep coming. Their Cowichan Valley Common earned gold at both the Canada Beer Cup and the BC Beer Awards in 2024.
While their beer is enough to entice customers, it’s matched by their food. From nachos and warm pretzels with Bayview’s own beer cheese to bao buns with lemongrass chicken and beer-braised pulled pork, it’s elevated pub fare with heart.
Their plant-based menu items are thoughtful, creative dishes, made with as much love as the carnivorous offerings. The banh mi with char siu tofu and the vegan shawarma bowl deserve as many awards as their beer.
Then there’s the staff.
Bayview now employs 24 people, many of whom are past students of Alsop and Ludtke. The team is known for its warm service, tight-knit culture and remarkable retention rate.
At the 2024 Spirit of Ladysmith Awards, Bayview team member Sarah Abdulkafi won the Outstanding Customer Service Award while Bayview took home the People’s Choice Award. Sponsors of the event, the team also brewed a special beer just for the occasion.
Their community spirit is on full display year-round and the Bayview team continually shows up with humour and heart.
At the recent Outrageous Evening fundraiser, Alsop and Ludtke lip-synced to ABBA’s Money, Money, Money while tossing fake bills into the crowd. At Old Town Bakery’s Cinnamon Bun Challenge, Bayview staff took first place by devouring a giant cinnamon bun the fastest, while Alsop, competing on behalf of Oceanview United Church, earned a yellow card for trying to offload half of their bun onto another team’s plate.
The Bayview team is an integral part of the Ladysmith community, and that’s reflected in how they’ve chosen to celebrate three years in business — with a giant community party.
There will be Bayview brews available (for those over the age of 19) including the debut of a special new surprise brew. The team wouldn’t share what the new brew is, but Ludtke offered a cryptic clue, calling it a “celebratory beer.”
“It’s a certain style of beer that has characteristics of another beverage that you would celebrate things with,” he teased.
It wouldn't be a Bayview party without bands. The musical lineup includes Bayview’s unofficial house band, Decadence, six-piece cover band Offcutz, the debut of Cover Girls, and the Arrowsmith Big Band (featuring Alsop) playing swing, jazz and big band hits.
Ludtke and his staff won’t be cooking but there will be some of Ladysmith’s favourite food trucks like Ya Ya Thai Food (including vegetarian and gluten-free options), Unleashed Dogs, Smitty’s Smokin’ Pig, and Mizu Ice Cream.
There will be summer games like cornhole, bocce and more.
But there will not be dogs because that would be breaking Ladysmith bylaws. So please leave your furry friends at home for this one.
Three years in, Bayview Brewing still feels like a group of friends jamming in the garage. Now the garage has beer, great food and the whole town is invited. So head down to Transfer Beach on Saturday, May 24 to celebrate Bayview’s particular brand of great beer, food and friendship.
