A couple of key happenings underscore just how much Vancouver’s premium liquor culture continues to surge and grow in popularity.
The biggest to date, 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 cocktail competition featuring the cream of the crop of bartenders and mixologists from around the Lower Mainland.
However, the days prior (Vancouver Agave Week) are packed with all kinds of temptations for the avid sipper, including the Downtown Food & Agave Safari, and seminars such as Tequila 101 and Mezcal 101, which explore the history, geography, and culture.
If you’ve never been, this is quite a remarkable event as it showcases only the best in premium tequila. But that covers a surprisingly wide range of superlative sips. Proceeds from the Grand Tasting benefit the B.C. Hospitality Foundation.
Co-founder Eric Lorenz says the process of educating Vancouver consumers about the pleasures of Tequila and Mezcal has been immensely rewarding.
What’s more, this year they are focusing on fuelling passion through education, he says, adding they are looking forward to working with the hospitality foundation to create two new scholarships that will engage trade professionals and increase local excitement for agave spirits. Find more info and tickets at vantequilaexpo.com. See you there!
• • •
Closer to home, Forage Restaurant (foragevancouver.com) has come up with a unique tasting that celebrates the booming world of B.C. craft distilling, specifically gin.
Forage has unveiled a flight of three one-ounce tastes, each paired with a small bite. Vancouver’s Odd Society, Okanagan Spirits (Vernon, Kelowna) and Wayward Distillation of Courtenay are the gins being poured.
They’re matched respectively with a gently briny-sweet Read Island oyster, pork scrunchions and Sweet Cicely; and a small but delicious taste of Sweet Cicely ice cream.
The flight of three one-ounce pours and accompanying bites is offered for $25. And even if you can’t make it into Forage, chances are you can taste these remarkable gins (after 9 a.m.) at some of the more prominent farmers markets around the province this summer.
• • •
The major news in the world of B.C. wine this week is that Mission Hill’s pioneering John Simes is handing the chief winemaker’s reins to Darryl Brooker, who joined the group when Mission Hill acquired Cedar Creek in 2014.
When Simes landed in B.C. 23 years ago it was regarded as a major coup to attract a prominent Kiwi winemaker of his stature to the then still very small and unknown Okanagan Valley.
The former Montana winemaker quickly went on to more than prove his worth by winning the coveted Avery’s Trophy for the Best Chardonnay in the World at the 1994 London International Wine and Spirits competition with his very first vintage, Mission Hill Grand Reserve Chardonnay 1992.
Now, two decades and many more medals later, Simes says he wants to focus fully on the von Mandl Family vineyards, which he describes as “the last frontier in allowing our wines to become amongst the most sought after in the world.”
• • •
Belly’s Best
Bench 1775 Glow 2014
From a bumper crop of excellent B.C. rosés currently being released comes this juicy, red berry-toned and well-balanced fruity drop that’s a shoo-in for grilled chicken or just plain patio sippin’ ($23, 91 points).
Tim Pawsey writes about wine for numerous publications and online as the Hired Belly at hiredbelly.com. Contact: [email protected].
