Why did we choose this event?
It all thanks to Mrs Andrea Terpenkas’s Food and Beverage Service Operations class, we, students, were assigned to write a food review blog. After a few dicussions, decided to visit Craft beer in North Vancouver became our destination, as we absolutely believed Benjamin Franklin was right :
“ In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is Freedom, in water there is bacteria”.
(Benjamin Franklin, n.d.)
Where and When ?
Vancouver’s North shore craft beer party is thrown at the beginning of the craft beer week. The party is used as a platform for the brewing companies to come out and taste what they have to offer. The craft beer week goes from October 4-11 with a variety of events held at different locations trying to bring people together and enjoy their unique craft beers.
What trends and theme ?
Undoubtfully, craft beer is the outstanding trend this event attached to, it was simply captured through the scents of hops and malts in the air and the scene of almost no one wandering around without a joyful face and a mug secured firmly to their hand.
How craft beer is made ?, beer is basically composed of four ingredients water, hops, barleys and yeasts, however thanks to the skillful hands of brewers, generous flavours of fruits and spices are artfully involved in, to bring out different beers called craft beers (What Are the Ingredients in Craft Beer?, n.d.).
Unsurprisingly, Craft beer successfully captivated most millennials generation whose ages are from 22 to 35, hold the greatest number of craft beer drinkers of 58 % (Design, 2016). As the matter of fact this age group tends to be intensely thirsty of creativity and inspiration and craft beer event is an ideal place they can satisfy these needs.
Craft beer could not be more amusing if we skipped the full mouthed bite of exceptional Taco from the Mexican cuisine food truck called Minty, or juicy Adobo chicken made excellently by a Spanish food truck named Shamelessly.
This event truly evoked the culture and tradition of a society based on the provision of local craft beers and international ethnic cuisines trends , which not only satisfied drink and food enthusiasm, but also, stirred up a sense of solidarity among community.
Let’ join our party
When we entered the door we were presented with tiny little beer mugs which would be the weapon to the coming beer tasting battle. To fill one mug with drink, we needed only one token, which costed two dollars.
One of our most favourites of the beer was the kettle candy sour, from Wind eye brewing company. When we first saw the name we were totally intrigued, as we were expecting it to be very sweet. However, the actual flavor was the soft sour with an underling sweet taste. We would definitely recommend this craft beer to anyone who loves acid drink.
Surprisingly there was a brewing company called Deep Cove, that was sampling fabulous cocktails. Caesar cocktail or a vodka soda that we tried belonged to one of their collections. It was served with a salted rim with a piece of lime tucked in, sweetness and pinkness from tomato juice and the bitterness from the vodka worked well together to create an unforgettable flavor . Would recommend to a tomato juice lover.
We then arrived the outside where delicious foods of food trucks we had died for. With only $7 , we got the Chicken Karaage Taco from Tacofino Mintytruck, made with various ingredients like avocado, radish, green onion, cilantro, black chilli mayo and crispy chicken. It had a very savory flavor that left us eager for more. The unpleasant thing we found about the taco lied in its size, kind of small so if you are super hungry we would recommend grabbing two or three for one portion. We changed our direction to a another food truck, which had a funny name, Shamelessly Filipino, they sold us their best Adobo fries. The fries were $14 and served with crispy fries, braised chicken, adobo, adobo gravy, garlic calamari aioli, garlic chips, tomato and green onion. Multiple layers at play here, there was the saltiness from the fries and the sourness that came from the sauce, not to mention the rich fat generated from marinated chicken meat. Overall the drinks and foods were very satisfying and important in creating such a fun experience.
Did atmosphere and service satisfy us ?
We took a long trip from Langley and Vancouver to the North. But when we saw it from the outside, we screamed inside “ How tedious it can be ?”, no eye catching decorations, all was a small sign in the short letters “TAP Barrel” and an opened door with a six pack in charge of the entrance tickets. Almost hundred people looking determined to get inside, encouraged us a lot in completing our journey.
We were handsomely struck with their huge contradiction, the more silent the outside was, the more vibrant inside got. The music of a stimulating live-show band instantly invited our curiosity to join the crowd and prepare for “getting drunk”!. The area was as large as the total area of 4 normal single houses, therefore we could recognize the ten different beers stalls in no time. There were still comfort space for tables and chairs in the middle so people could settle in for food and drink and music enjoyment. Food trucks were allocated outside, at the back of the building, intelligently left less food aromas inside.
Services played a crucial part in the building of a completely graceful atmosphere. They strictly followed the legal drinking age , only people over 19 years old allowed to attend, which made our experience seem safer. Each stall had specialized staffs, served the customer in a professional and entertaining manner and always strived to give the most comfort for their guests. They served quickly and didn’t make people wait too long for the drink. As many other events, the stage of getting tickets of this event was also a bit of dissatisfaction, people who had not obtained tickets online had to wait a lot long for the in-site tickets.
Don’t forget Sustainability and Cleanliness !
They knew how to reconcile environment concerns with the need for entertainments, one small mug for all drinks and big containers of different garbage were the great indicators of their efforts.
Conclution
We could not stop laughing and food and drink there are super good.
“Amazing” event !!
Best and funniest experience
Reference
Liqour sayings and quotes. (n.d). Retrieved fromhttp://www.wiseoldsayings.com/liquor-quotes/
Watermark, D. (2016). Understand the age and changing demographics of craft beer drinkers (then market properly). Retrieved fromhttps://www.craftbrewingbusiness.com/featured/understand-age-changing-demographics-craft-beer-drinkers-market-properly/
What Are the Ingredients in Craft Beer?. (n.d.). https://craftsense.co/craft-beverage/what-are-the-ingredients-in-craft-beer/
The Pipe Shop https://pipeshopvenue.com/gallery/
Linda, et al. “The Best Chicken Adobo Fries: Www.brunchnbites.com.” Simply Healthyish Recipes, 18 Apr. 2019 https://www.simplyhealthyish.com/chicken-adobo-fries/.