Beer, Wine & Spirits in Vancouver

Years ago, Derrick and Donna Smith began brewing a quartet of ales together, the steaming vats of barley filling their small facility with steam. They quickly gained the attention of beer drinkers and critics and expanded into a 10,000-square-foot space. There, they invite you to check out new craft brews such as Classic Nut Brown Ale, Bold Belgian Pale Ale, and Seasonal Citrus Wit. Rotating seasonal suds fill the recognizable frog-emblazoned bottles with beers whose flavors vary with the season. Derrick and Donna offer clients a peek inside their operation with tours and tastings.

Metropolitan Bartending School tutors spirit-savvy students with unique classes that explore the nuances of modern mixology and culinary cocktail creations. Soak up inspiring knowledge during the bar-chef course, quenching thirsty brains with the skills needed to recreate classic cups or invent new nicknames for crushes in Esperanto (a $125 value). The session explores the history of intoxicants while helping eager pupils master the art of mixing and presenting creative, clever quaffs garnished or infused with such ingredients as seasonal produce and Skittles.

At WineMaster, patrons can participate in a fun hands-on spirits-making process without converting their backyard pools into grape-fermentation tanks. After selecting a malbec, merlot, sauvignon blanc, or Gewurztraminer style, participants will use a winemaking kit to easily prepare their batch. The vino vanguards will watch and protect your batch for two months of fermentation, after which time you'll return to bring your own banter-stimulating grape blood into the world during a fun, 20-minute bottling and labeling session. The entire process yields about 30 bottles of wine, which should be enough to get a circus-elephant drunk or keep a closet full of hostess gifts for future dinner parties. Additionally, visitors can take advantage of state-of-the-art winemaking equipment and a friendly and knowledgeable staff, ensuring batches won’t accidentally transform into fruit juice or a magical truth serum that turns dinner parties into awkwardly confrontational events.

Haely and Juhan Lindau had seemingly unrelated degrees in commerce and molecular biology. But they soon realized how complementary their backgrounds actually were to a career in winemaking and beer brewing. Armed with business and libation-crafting knowledge, the duo flung open the doors of Broadway Brewing and Winemaking in 1992, becoming the first on-premises winemaking shop in Vancouver. At the DIY winery, the owners and their knowledgeable staff guide students of all interests and skill levels through the process of making their own libations, assisting them in selecting the right supplies for home-brewing endeavours before giving them advice on what to do if beer starts drinking itself.

The Awesome 80s Prom whisks would-be-seniors back to 1989 to relive the decade of excess in all its stonewashed glory at the Wannaget High Senior Prom. Taffeta-clad guests will get to moonwalk and pop 'n' lock alongside the captain of the football team, the geek, the head cheerleader, the rebel, and other teenage archetypes, before casting their vote for prom king and queen at the end of the dance. A prom-court election held every night will bestow one lucky dancer with the coveted title, so competitive guests will want to don their best studded glove and skinny tie before bathing in a bucket of blue eye shadow and donning a Frankie Says Relax T-shirt sewn together from Members Only jackets and Rubik's cubes.

At Purple Castle Brewing's 4,300-square foot brew house, aspiring vintners create their own delicious red and white wines during brewing, bottling, labeling, and corking sessions. Amid rustic wooden barrels and shiny metal vats, seasoned wine experts teach visitors how to ferment, bottle, mature, and kennel-train a batch of fine wine. Patrons crush flavor-filled grapes such as an off-dry German gewtraminer or a rich Australian shiraz, crafting their own labels to slap on their handmade potables. Each 23-litre batch fills up to 30 750 mL bottles and lasts for up to two years, supplying amateur winesmiths with a good start to a collection or plenty of thoughtful gift ideas for any occasion.

Though it’s the newest winery in Richmond, LuLu Island Winery boasts a deeper history. The buisness gets its name from its location on Richmond Island, which was formerly known as "LuLu Island." According to local legend, LuLu was the name of the mistress of the man who first established the land, and the scandal eventually compelled the community to change the name. Today, the winery produces award-winning red and white wines, fruit wines, and ice wines on this historic spot.

LuLu’s resident winemaker has more than 30 years of experience crafting fine wines. Using grapes from the nearby Okanagan Valley, he churns out vintages such as the 2007 Riesling Chardonnay white ice wine, which snagged a gold medal at the All Canadian Wine Championships in 2011. LuLu’s Cabernet Franc, a peppery medium-bodied red wine, won a bronze medal at the International Wine Awards the same year. But it’s the sweet fruit wines, flavored with cranberry, blueberry, and passionfruit, that keep the locals and the humminbirds coming back.