John Ohler is a longtime BC Craft Beer and Hospitality industry veteran who continues the legacy of Canadian beer pioneer John Mitchell through programs such as scholarships and awards.
Ohler has officially been involved in the craft beer industry since 1996, when he was hired to help open Howe Sound Brewing in Squamish. However, his introduction to craft beer and brewing dates back to 1982 when he was just 15 years old, with Horseshoe Bay as his stomping grounds during the summer months. A young John Ohler used to stand in the doorway of the now-legendary Horseshoe Bay Brewery and watch John Mitchell make beer at Canada’s first craft brewery. He loved the sweet smell of the malt and the wonderful aroma of hops and dreamed that he would work there one day.
As fate would have it, John Mitchell was brought in by the owners of the brand new Howe Sound Brewing to act as Head Brewer and consultant, and by-then hospitality worker John Ohler was hired to help open the brewery. Ohler led the brewery during its transition from a local brewpub to a regional craft beer production facility with international distribution. After Howe Sound, Ohler started a consulting company and was involved in opening three other well-known Lower Mainland craft breweries.
John Mitchell and John became very close friends during their time at Howe Sound Brewing, and it was there that Ohler launched the famous John Mitchell Series of beers. Before John Mitchell’s passing in 2019, Ohler was formally entrusted to act as Steward of Mitchell’s craft beer legacy. John is now the founder and director of the John Mitchell Legacy Endowed Scholarship at Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU)’s Brewing School in Langley. He has also of established the John Mitchell Lifetime Achievement Award in order to recognize BC’s craft beer community leaders for brewing excellence and other contributions. John will be presenting the John Mitchell Awards at this year’s BC Craft Brewers Conference.
