Cheers To Coast Mountain Brewery, Photo Credit: Coast Mountain Brewery
Function Junction is Whistler’s behind-the-scenes neighborhood, the workaday heart that supports the town’s tourist industry. Located south of Whistler’s Creekside district, this is where you’ll find the hardware store, the auto body shop and the lumberyard. But between the warehouse buildings, you’ll also discover a growing number of cool, local businesses.
When you’re skiing, snowboarding or outdoor-adventuring in this Canadian mountain town, here’s where to stop to see what’s new.
Camp Lifestyle
Imagine the love child of an interior designer’s weekend cottage and a hipster coffee house, and you can begin to envision Camp Lifestyle, which is part boutique and part café.
Billing itself as “a modern lifestyle store for the sustainable and curious camper,” it’s stocked with clothing, high-style housewares for your vacation home and a curated selection of gadgets for indoors and out that you’ll realize you can’t live without.
The café brews locally roasted 49th Parallel Coffee, serves teas from Whistler-based Namasthé Tea Company and offers an array of treats from local bakers.
We recommend that you take your coffee out back to the secluded garden patio.
Pretzels from 200 Degrees, Photo Credit: 200 Degrees
200 Degrees
200 degrees Fahrenheit is the internal temperature that bread needs to reach before it’s ready, and it’s also the name of a tiny bakery that opened in the village back in July.
Using whole grains and wild yeasts, the spot crafts a small assortment of freshly baked breads. Buy a whole loaf to take home or sample slices in sandwiches like duck confit, a classic Reuben or a vegetarian option with local produce.
You might find fresh pretzels and a variety of sweets, too.
Coast Mountain Brewing
Whistler’s newest craft brewery opened this summer in Function Junction. At Coast Mountain Brewing, the signature beer is the Surveyor IPA, but it’s also brewing a saison, a lager and a red ale to get all the bases covered.
Stop by the tasting room to give these brews a try, and see what’s pouring from the rotating taps as well. These limited-edition beers might include a sour ale or an ISA made from locally grown hops.
More Function Junction stops
Besides these newcomers, it’s also worth checking out other Function Junction denizens. Though it now has locations in Whistler Village (and in Vancouver), Purebread Bakery still operates its original bakeshop here.
The breads are excellent (try the Disfunction Ale loaf, made with spent grains from the local microbrewery), but it’s hard-to-resist pastries, such as the lemon-chèvre brownies, salted caramel bars and big-as-your-face meringues, will make you forget all about those healthy New Year’s resolutions.
There’s more beer around town, too. Visit Whistler Brewing Company, one of the region’s first craft breweries, for tours, tastings or pints in the Tap House.
