SO much more fun than I had expected, and that's only because I wasn't sure what to expect from a…read morevan tour. Every other beer tour we've done (and we've done a ton) was walking, so adding a van into the mix - being trapped with a dozen other strangers for the course of three hours - was slightly daunting. We're social (I am, at least), but I never like feeling forced into it.
I know that makes me sound terrible, but it's the truth.
At any rate, any fears we might have shared about the van were quickly swept away by our awesome guide Dave, and the people on the tour. I won't lie and say we were swapping phone numbers and e-mail addresses by the end of the night, but I will tell you that we shared some crazy good stories and a ton of laughs along the way!
The meeting point was at Waterfront Station, and it was easy enough to find Dave at the appointed time. He got us checked in right away, chatted with us a bit, then let us wander while we waited for everybody to show up. Once we were all there, he gathered us into a group and walked us up the block to get to the van. We were full up, but he managed to reign in the chatter and get us comfortable before we hit our first stop.
Our tour that night consisted of Main Street Brewery, Postmark Brewery and Steel Toad Brewery.
The longest tour was at the first stop, Main Street. We did the obligatory behind-the-scenes walk, where the rig is displayed and explained, the brew-making process is detailed, and containers of hops and barley are passed around for sniffing and consuming.
By the time we were led back to the front of the brewery for our tasting, I was excited. I really wanted to try Vancouver beer! Dave had done such a great job talking up the craft brew scene, and here we were, about to try our first Vancouver craft beers.
I was, sadly, underwhelmed. I didn't really like any of the beers in the flight (which consisted of a Pilsner, Saison, IPA and Brown), which left me feeling deflated. I was surprised that I wasn't blown away by the saison or the brown, but neither of them were my favorite.
Moving along, Dave got us bundled back into the van and headed towards Postmark, which had a really fun, loud vibe to the place. We got another (shorter) tour of the workings at Postmark before heading to our table for our flight there (a winter wheat, a raspberry lambic, their stout and their IPA).
The beer here was much better than at Main Street, at least. I really enjoyed the stout and the winter wheat. The lambic was actually much more tame than I expected it to be, but the IPA about took my head off. It wasn't as strong as the IPAs in San Diego, but after the others in the flight, it was too much for me.
Before we knew it, Dave was giving us the 5 minute warning, and then hustling us back into the van for the trip to the final stop of the night. Had we had the time during our brief trip to Vancouver, we definitely would've gone back to Postmark on our own.
Steel Toad was the only place at which we did not get a flight. I'm actually quite saddened by that, though Dave did put it up for a vote. Anybody who wanted a flight could've gotten one, but I was feeling pressured and went along with everyone else, who got a pint of one beer only.
I got their Oatmeal stout, and it was very good. Dark and rich, not too overpowering or thick. It really was a good beer on which to end the night.
Dave, through this all, was engaging and friendly, answering questions, providing trivia, giving his opinions on Vancouver's beer scene, and making us feel comfortable. He was great at corralling the group and keeping us on time, and providing little bits of trivia about the areas we visited and drove through (he even pointed out some landmarks from the "Deadpool" movie!)
The night ended with a smaller group of us piling into the van and heading back to our meeting point (half of the group decided to stick around Steel Toad).
My lasting impression of the night is that a) Dave has the patience of a saint, if he has to deal with a van full of drunkards on a nightly basis; 2) Dave could collect anecdotes from his tours and compile them into a book; and iii) I'd recommend this tour to any beer lover visiting Vancouver.
