Shop Like Locals in the Okanagan to Find the Best Butcher

While vacationing in the Okanagan, finding a great butcher shop might not be top of mind. Yet if you are planning to prepare a few of your own meals while you are camping or renting a unit with a kitchen, you’ll want to put Black Sage Butcher on your list.

Tidy and tantalizing, Black Sage Butcher is welcoming from the moment you arrive at its threshold. It’s a bit like stepping back in time, the kind of place we speak of nostalgically so are delighted to find still exists today.

Oliver, itself, is like that: Set in a stunning valley with vineyards, orchards, and farmland climbing into the hills, it imparts a small-town charm.

Black Sage Butcher is celebrating its third year on Main Street after moving from its original Oliver location established in 2019. Owners husband-and-wife team of chef Matt Leyes and Ravina Johal took “pride in offering only the finest quality meats” from the beginning. The inviting shop draws those obsessed with fine quality food and its intriguing aromas tease those hungry for a great meal. Black Sage Butcher promises customers “Premium Meats, Uncompromised Quality…from hand-crafted cuts to sourcing from trusted suppliers, we ensure that every piece of meat we sell meets the highest standards of freshness, flavor, and ethical sourcing.”

The entire staff are eager to help you find exactly what you need for your culinary adventures.

Why Oliver?

Matt and Ravina’s relationship began in a butcher shop in the Lower Mainland where he worked, she shopped, and eventually they dated. Vacationing together in Oliver, they fell in love with the agricultural community and its stunning region. Ravina had worked in office jobs over 20 years in marketing/communications. While Matt had worked in kitchens and shops with long hours, low pay and little ability to move ahead amid the hectic city life of Vancouver. Given their determination, Matt’s practical skillset as a real butcher, Ravina’s marketing expertise, plus the fact Oliver had not had an independent butcher shop in some 20 years, it made sense for them to explore the potential of opening a butcher shop.

Word of the successful launch spread through the Okanagan Valley and customers travel from Kelowna, Osoyoos, the Similkameen and beyond to access Black Sage Butcher products. Flash forward as they established a local clientele, they decided to purchase their own building and spent a year renovating it before moving in. Coincidentally, the space once housed an Overwaitea food store and just next door was Don Coy’s Meat Shop. Some vestiges of the trade such as meat hooks remained, and later Don’s grandson gave them some old knives and items from his grandfather to display in the store, rounding out the charm of their renovations and honouring history.

Their all-BC meat including beef, bison, lamb, pork, chicken, and duck, free of hormones or antibiotics is sourced as locally as possible from Fraser Valley, Okanagan, Vancouver, and Peace Region small to medium farms. Matt had been vegan for about six years so was motivated to have the focus of letting no part of the animal that has been ethically raised go to waste.

Thus, chef’s skills are leveraged to create in-house products such as sausages, jerky, pates, rillettes, bone broths, and take-home meals. These house -made meals offer such tantalizing possibilities as Red Wine Beef Stew Provencal, Hungarian Beef Goulash, Turkey Pot Pie, Shepherd’s Pie, Tingo de Pollo, Lamb Tagine, Duck Confit, Carrot Ginger Soup, Grill-Ready Pork Ribs or Brisket, and more depending on the day and chef’s fancy.

We sampled deeply flavoured pate and rillette and will certainly be adding Black Sage Butcher selections to our charcuterie boards.

To complement their products, Black Sage Butcher carries a few favourite artisans produced items which are primarily from BC. You’ll find mustards, sauces, spreads, dressings, salts, spices, pastas, and other accompaniments.

As you peruse the store’s eye candy of gastronomic possibilities, don’t be afraid to ask for assistance. When no other supplier in the Penticton area could source quail for us to satisfy our craving for crispy Vietnamese-style quail, Black Sage Butcher came through for us.

BSB VIP Program

For exclusive weekly savings on in-person shopping and to stay up to date on latest events, special offers, and events, locals sign up for the Black Sage Butcher email list. Subscribers access exclusive offers sent directly to their inbox weekly and can enjoy savings of up to 50 per cent on featured items during the promotion period as well as go to the front of the line to try new products over non-members.

If you travel to the Okanagan regularly or have a long-term stay booked, consider signing up for the BSB VIP Program for the best offers.

Stock Up with Freezer Packs and Value Packs

If you have a large family or entertain a lot, you may want to consider freezer packs. Black Sage Butcher offers programs for whole animal and sides for beef, pork, and lamb.

Additionally, you can opt for the Value Packs — special curated packages of meat items at a flat rate. Ask in the store for more details on these and other deals.

Community Involvement

The fine folks at Black Sage Butcher are appreciative of the support they’ve had in the community as a business and as citizens. They feel it is important to give back to the customers and community that welcomed them. Through the years they have supported such organizations as Desert Sun Counselling, Senpaq’cin School, Oliver Firefighters, and Osoyoos Coyotes.

Black Sage Butcher has participated in culinary events when possible, and values working in collaboration with other businesses.

Butchery classes have been offered in the off-season. And you’ll find helpful information such as Steak Cut Features, How to Cook a Steak, and recipes in their emails and website.

Whether you are looking for the best ingredients to ramp up your barbeque or want to relax and savour their in-house creations, you’ve come to the right place.