Why would over 200 people patiently line up outside the Vancouver Aquarium on a near freezing winter's night? To taste chowder. That's why. And not just any chowder but 14, truly unique, BC recipes. And all OceanWise at that. Thursday night's 2019 Chowder Chowdown, as usual, was an unqualified success. Fourteen leading restaurants, resorts and [...]
UPDATED February 21, 2018 Coming up fast is this year's not to be missed Parksville Uncorked—the 10th Annual—March 8th-11th. The 2018 edition features Untapped at the Beach Club Resort and Swirl at Tigh-Na-Mara, as well as a couple of superb winemakers dinners: Dirty Laundry Vineyard at Tigh-Na-Mara and Orofino Winery at the Beach Club Resort. The festival wraps [...]
El Peloton de la Muerte returns for this year's competition... Vancouver’s premium liquor culture continues to surge and grow in popularity. The biggest to date so far, the fourth annual Vancouver International Tequila Expo (VITE) pours into the Hyatt Regency Hotel on Saturday, May 30. The event is highlighted by a hotly contested [...]
A close look at gin ... Leave it to forage to come up with a unique gin tasting option... The ever inventive and regionally driven Vancouver restaurant has unveiled a flight of three one-ounce drops to celebrate BC's burgeoning craft distillery culture. Each gin is paired with a taste from Chef Chris Whitaker's adventuresome kitchen. [...]
ChocolaTas: Looking as good as they taste UPDATED, Sept 9th, 2015 CHOCOLATAS OWNER WIM TAS NAMED TOP ARTISANAL CHOCOLATIER There is plenty of gold for ChocolaTas THE NEWS Master Chocolatier Wim Tas, with his wife and business partner Veve, are positively beaming GOLD. Named Top Artisanal Chocolatier and Most Gifted Chocolatierat the recent International [...]
Shea Hogan's Mezcal based Death Squad Sour (Shameful Tiki Room) Mezcal can be mildly mesmerizing. Over the years I've learned to treat certain spirits—from single malt Whisky to Absinthe and more— with a degree of respect. Maybe it was only a matter of time before Mezcal was added to the list—a fact reconfirmed at last [...]
"Mr. Mezcal" Eric Lorenz and an array of Mezcal Updated, April 9, 2014. This year's Vancouver International Tequila Expo runs May 26-31. Full details here: Much more to come soon... When we first met Eric Lorenz a few of years ago, Tequila was something you made margaritas with and, well, who had even heard [...]
A ground-breaking collaboration: Marc du Soleil, made by Long Table Distillery, TP photo The Hired Belly has attended more than few winemaker dinners. But some remain etched in my memory. The very first was when Howard Soon (now Peller Estates’ chief winemaker, then Calona Vineyards’) dropped by the original Raintree, in [...]
Craft distilling blossoms: Odd Society's smart Powell St. tasting bar Sitting at Odd Society’s long black bar, it’s not hard to be impressed—even if a little surprised—that this polished operation has popped up at 1725 Powell Street (604-716-6745). Of course, it’s not quite that simple. Lost in the hubbub surrounding the close of [...]
The Broker's Brothers Martin & Andy Dawson... If the hat fits ... Andy Dawson is sitting at the bar in Gerrard at Sutton Place. Between measured sips of her Moét, the woman at the other end is staring at him intently. More precisely (no offence to the eminently handsome Mr. Dawson), she’s actually [...]
