On Friday I went down to Vancouver to go for dinner with the boys & Courtney. I hadn't left Dom "alone" (aka not with me) at all for bedtime yet, and I knew I would have to leave him for a long time on Saturday, so I wanted to give it a test run. I figured he'd be fine. I was more worried about me... worrying, missing, checking in constantly, etc. I didn't want to do that during the stagette. I had to rip off the bandaid! Needless to say, Dave & Dom did perfectly! He took a bottle and went down to bed with no problems at all. YAY! I couldn't stay out long though because I didn't bring my pump and it had been a while... gets uncomfortable.
I met Jeff & Adam at Jeff's place and then we took an Evo (my first time) down to Mahoney & Sons on False Creek to meet Scott & Courtney for dinner. Evo is SO handy! You use an app to check where the nearest car is, and then it gives you a code to get into the car, and then charges your credit card per minute you use the car! It is so much cheaper than a cab.
Dinner was delicious! Adam and I shared the Papaya salad and Bangers & Mash. After dinner it was back to Adam's house for a game and then I came home.
Selfies to send to Mom!
We hit up Faculty Brewing Co. first. Dave, our tour guide, gave us the low-down on how beer is made as we toured the facility. Don't ask me to recall those details though... I learned a few things:
- There are only TWO types of beer. Lagers & Ales.
- Lagers & Ale differ in the way the yeast filters through. Bottom to top, or top to bottom.
- Lagers take longer than ales to brew. I remember because as one girl pointed out... "Ale is shorter than Lager, and Lager sounds like Longer" Haha!
We were all given beer tasting journals with proper terminology, a map of the big breweries, and a section for taking notes. Handy dandy!
Happy Bride!
From here we went to Main Street Brewing and got toured around there as well. This is where we learned:
- Limes are put in Corona to mask the crappy flavour. It has crappy flavour because it's stored in a clear bottle which doesn't block any UV rays. This can often give beer a sort of skunky flavour. Clever, Corona... very clever.
- There is absolutely no difference in quality of beer stored in bottles vs. cans. Actually... cans may be even better. There is a major push towards consumers purchasing cans instead of bottles right now; particularly for Craft beers.
- Microbreweries don't have their own canning machines, but there are 4 mobile canning machines that come out to breweries and they can can 2000L in an hour. (Don't quote me on that number...)
- The giant vats they use wouldn't fit into the building (which is a heritage building), so they had to get special permission to cut skylights into the ceiling and used a crane to lower them in with 1/2 inch on either side to spare!
The I Do Crew!
Found a Sherman!
Just missing Marta, who is in Penticton for a Triathlon.
The tour guide told us he had a competition with another guide as to who could get the best selfie. He is actually in front of us in this picture taking a selfie of Aly doing the splits. She's incredible! Hopefully this wins him his competition (if there really is one)
Chloe packed us each a little snack pack for the van between breweries! This was the most brilliant idea! We had veggies and hummus, a fruit snack, and some trail mix. Our guide was VERY impressed. But not as impressed as he was when he found out who we all had with us... Neurologist, OB-GYN, Internal Medicine Doctor, two Dentists, Physiotherapist, Sports Medicine, another doctor, Naturopath... I'm probably forgetting some big careers too. Smart group!
- Beer can be stored in oak barrels and they may absorb some of the flavour of whatever it was previously used for (whiskey, wine, etc.). This can create some very exquisite beer with lots of depth.
- The large vats of beer are so heavy they had to re-rebar and concrete the foundation of the brewing area because it was starting to sink and they didn't want to risk a vat tipping over.
Art gallery in Strange Fellows
Bought a growler with a Framboise Noir (Raspberry Hefeweizen). Yum!
A friend brought Aly some balloons and this was my view the whole way back to the house! Haha
After the brewery tour we headed back to Kim's parents' house for some snacks and to re-hydrate. After this time, Courtney and I packed up to head home. I got to see Dom again for half an hour or so before he went to bed :). I missed him, but they did great!!
WIsh I could have joined the ladies on the rest of the evening's festivities! Maybe next time! It was so nice to meet the girls, and it will be really fun to see them all at the wedding again!
From what I understand, Chloe and her dad spent HOURS upon HOURS making these paper flowers.
Finally some pictures of Aly and I!
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