The front of BNA faces the bustling Ellis Street, a centrepiece of Downtown Kelowna’s cultural district and home to many fantastic local businesses. The brewery can also be accessed around back though, via the increasingly charming Cannery Lane.
This is where you’ll find Sprout Bread Shop.
Owners Pete van Boekhout and Ava Murovec opened Sprout late last summer and it has quickly become a beloved local hub.
Pete is the baker, a craft he began to embrace during his time in Vancouver, before completing an apprenticeship in Australia. After returning to Vancouver and honing his skills for a few years, he was ready to make his own move.
He asked his future wife (he and Murovec married shortly after opening Sprout in 2018) if she wanted to be a part of his plan and the rest, as they say, is history.
Now most days you’ll find Pete shaping loaves in the back while Ava greets guests out front. “She’s more of a people person than I am,” says van Boekhout.
But they both have a love for sourdough; the vast majority of breads at Sprout are created using their house culture, not by using instant yeast. The Owner/Baker speaks fondly of the fermentation process and its benefits, including freeing gluten of its often bad reputation.
“Gluten can be great,” insists van Boekhout, “it just needs to be processed properly.”
The parallels between beer and bread are many, and Sprout even makes use of some BNA brews in their creations. Check Your Head stout contributes its deep, rich, dark flavours to Sprout’s Danish seeded rye.
“There’s a bit of malt syrup in the bread already,” van Boekhout explains, “so it just kind of complements that nicely.”
Beyond the literal pairing of the two businesses in a loaf of bread, there seems to be a mutual admiration for each other’s craft among the staff, and the patrons, at both locations.
BNA Brewing Owner Kyle Nixon beams “We’re prouder than peacocks to be neighbours...you’re really helping the whole culture in Kelowna. No pun intended.”
Established in 2015 in the heart of Downtown Kelowna’s Cultural District, BNA Brewing is an independent, locally-owned and operated craft micro-brewery. They brew all of their beer at 1250 Ellis St., and serve it in the attached Tasting Room and Eatery. The Tasting Room serves as a place to enjoy a tasting flight or sleeve, or to fill a growler. The Eatery is a full-service restaurant with an eclectic cuisine full of house-made elements and a bar that goes beyond beer, showcasing select Okanagan wines and carefully curated cocktails. BNA beer is available in most liquor stores in the city, as well as a few throughout the valley and on the coast.
“City Limits” will be an ongoing series giving you an insight into what BNA does best, as well as showcasing some of the movers and shakers they love around the city we all call home.
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