Two Boozy Vancouver Events to Check Out This Month

April 5, 2018

4 min read

A person pouring white wine from a green bottle with a red cap into a wine glass held by another person.

With spring here, it’s time to end the lazy hibernation and start taking advantage of the many events happening in Vancouver. And if there’s some celebratory imbibing involved at these events, it makes spring that much cheerier.

This month, there’s a great line-up of food and drink related happenings that will be showcasing the best of what local producers have to offer. Two of them centre on sampling the goods from Vancouver and BC distilleries and wineries, and are definitely worth putting on your calendar.

Wine for Waves

Person pouring red wine from a bottle into a glass held by another person at a social event.

On April 13, 2018, at the Four Seasons Hotel Vancouver (791 West Georgia Street), Ocean Wise (the sustainable seafood program) and the Naramata Bench Wineries Association will be holding their annual Wine for Waves. The always popular event promises to be a lavish and delicious affair, with twenty-five wineries from the Okanagan’s Naramata Bench in attendance offering guests samples from their spring wine releases. Participating wineries include the following: Kettle Valley Winery, Poplar Grove Winery, D’Angelo Estate Winery, and Van Westen Vineyards.

Small toasted bread slices topped with cream cheese, oysters, pickled red onions, and dill on a wooden board.

And, of course, with wine, good bites are sure to be accompanying them. There will be thirteen seafood-focused small plates to try, coming from a wide range of top Vancouver and Naramata restaurants and establishments, such as Hart House Restaurant (albacore tuna tataki with smoked avocado, marinated cucumber, lotus root chip, spicy mayo, and shiso), Nomad (Berezan Pacific shrimp ceviche), and YEW seafood + bar (Dungeness crab, strawberry, and lime).

Two chefs in white uniforms and aprons plating food in a restaurant kitchen.

The night will also entail bidding on silent auction items (eg Naramata wine packages and experiences), as well as browsing the Everything Wine pop-up store, so that you can enjoy what you taste at the event at home.

All proceeds go toward the Ocean Wise seafood program.

Tickets are $110 (plus GST) and are available on-line.

BC Distilled

Several bottles of honey shine liquor lined up on a wooden counter with blurred background.

The long awaited return of the BC Distilled festival is nearly here! The largest artisan and micro-distillery festival in Canada will be happening April 14, 2018 (6pm to 9pm for the Main Tasting, 2pm to 4:30pm for the VIP/Trade Tasting), at the Croatian Cultural Centre (3520 Commercial Drive).

Person wearing a hat and glasses holding a bottle up excitedly in front of a sign that reads Okanagan Spirits Craft Distillery, with two people blurred in the foreground.

This fifth annual event brings together a plethora of BC artisan spirits to sample. There are far too many to list (40 of them!), but they include: Bohemian Spirits Ltd., Long Table Distillery, Merridale Cidery & Distillery, Odd Society Spirits, Salt Spring Shine Craft Distillery, Sons of Vancouver Distillery, the Woods Spirit Company, and Wayward Distillation House. By the end of the event, you’ll have a much greater appreciation for the booming and diverse craft distillery industry in this province.

Bottles of Stonington Spirits displayed on wooden slabs with green leaves on a white tablecloth in an indoor setting.

You can also expect lovely canapés from high profile restaurants like Forage, Juniper Kitchen & Bar, Whiskey Six BBQ, and H2 Rotisserie & Bar. Benton Brothers Fine Cheese and A Bread Affair will also be in attendance during the VIP/Trade Tasting. And, if you want to fuel up before the event (to balance out all that imbibing), Mom’s Grilled Cheese and Tacofino will have their food trucks outside the event until 6:30pm.

For sipping later at home, you can visit the Legacy Liquor pop-up store.

And don’t forget to cuddle with the puppies from Pacific Assistance Dog Society (PADs), the charity partner for the festival.