At first glance, 12 Kings pub in Mount Pleasant’s Biltmore Hotel seems every bit the quintessential sports bar. The basketball court-sized space has all the goodies: big screen TVs, karaoke, billiards and foosball. But scan the beer menu, with its selection of local craft brews, and it’s clear this ain’t your average pub. That’s because it’s owned by three of Vancouver’s most passionate craft beer-drinkers: Adam Chatburn, former president of the Campaign for Real Ale (Vancouver’s craft beer association) and brothers Armin and Mony Sodhi, both long-standing members of the organization.
While Armin and Mony bring their business acumen to the venture, Adam is a cellarman by trade who spent the first part of his career practising traditional methods of brewing back home in Blackburn, England. When the Biltmore space, which for years had been home to diverse bars, became available, the trio jumped on it. “I’ve been waiting for this place to come up so I could turn it into a pub that I would go and drink in,” says Adam.
