The Blind Sparrow on Denman (across the street from Kintaro Ramen) calls themselves “Vancouver’s first gastrotavern”. I fail to see the difference between “gastrotavern” and the more popular term “gastropub”. Let’s see if my visit during their happy hour cuts through the bs and answers the question, “Is this place good enough to return to?”
Everyone seen the promo video for Strathcona Beer Company yet? They’re really showing their love for skaters, motocross, bocce ball, weenie-roasting, working out on rooftops, and beer! This place finally opened on Friday, July 15 after a bit of controversy over opening up a brewery in a low-income neighborhood that struggles with addiction.
Four Winds Brewing is mentally far for me but not actually far time-wise. In good traffic, it takes less than 30 minutes! That’s about the same amount of time for me to drive to Kits. Four Winds started offering tacos in their tasting room about three weeks ago, and since I was on my “staycation”, we checked them out. I’m glad to say that they’re now not only a great beer destination but a great LUNCH destination too!
Read about my very first visit to Four Winds back in June 2014 here, and their one-year anniversary pop-up restaurant here. These guys are serious about their food!
Congratulations to daughtersofbeer for winning! They’ve been blogging about their beer adventures for more than five years! Check out their Tumblr if you’re interested 🙂
Time for another contest! This box contains 24 unique beers by Central City/Red Racer and Parallel 49 Brewing that you’re supposed to drink daily from Dec 1 to Dec 24, sorta like an adult advent calendar with delicious craft beer instead of crappy chocolates! This box contains 12 beers that are unique to this collection. Approximately $70 value that can be yours for doing next to nothing!
Start with December 1.
Drink your way to December 24!
All form data is encrypted and will be deleted once the contest is over. This contest is not in any way sponsored, supported by, or endorsed by Central City Brewing or Parallel 49. I paid retail for this box, now I’m giving it away. Simple as that.
Callister Brewing is now open! Their soft-opening was yesterday, but I guess this was their first full day being open to the public. It’s good that they’re open now, while there’s still some good summer weather to be had. I’m not sure if people would come out if it was the middle of a dreary Fall.
Four Winds surprised the hell out of everybody by announcing a pop-up to celebrate their 2nd anniversary, a mere 5 days beforehand. Just check out the Instagram reaction:
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Four Winds’ limited bottle releases have consistently sold out fast and furiously. If there was one BC brewery that inspires the madness of crowds, it would be Four Winds. (Driftwood would be up there too.) The guys are the nicest, and this down-to-earth quality was reflected in how we were treated last night. I had a great time and I didn’t want it to end.
Red Truck Beer and their Truck Stop Diner finally soft-opened last week in the historic “Brewery Creek” area. They’re located on 2nd Ave, about a 5 minute walk east of Main St. Lots of other beer places already exist in this neighborhood, including Brassneck, 33 Acres, Main Street Brewing, Steel Toad Brewpub, CRAFT Beer Market, Tap & Barrel, and Big Rock Urban Eatery. They haven’t announced their grand opening date yet, but they’ve already announced their Parking Lot Concert Series, which starts June 13. The concerts are sponsored by CFOX and JRfm, so that sorta gives you an idea of the kind of target marking this brewery is aiming for. Will they stand out in Vancouver’s increasingly saturated beer market? Have we reached “peak beer”? More importantly, would I come back here?
Heading towards the tail end of our trip. A couple of these places just sort of fell into place in our schedule and it was really rewarding to be able to fit some of these places in our visit, in particular Elysian and Smog City.
It was a day for family-type stuff and hanging back. We got some much-needed rest in our hotel room in the evening but still had some pretty good eats.