Beer Tastes Better In The Rain

It’s true! Or at least that’s how it feels when you say “f**k it. I’m gonna get soaked and have a great time getting buzzed in the rain with my friends”. Now, it may be due to the fact that when you make that decision you’re already quite a few tasters deep at an outdoor beer fest but there is something to be said about dancing in the rain and not caring how much beer you spill on yourself.

So maybe the moral of the story is, rain doesn’t necessarily make beer taste better but the situation does. That specific situation i’m speaking of is the Whistler Beer Festival.

Let’s Make a Weekend Out Of It

First things first, I need to start by throwing out a huge THANK YOU to Gibbons Whistler and the Sundial Hotel. When the festival tickets were originally offered to me I was unsure if I’d be able to make it. Whistler is about a 2 1/2 to 3 hour drive from my house, so while a day trip is feasible, it’s a bit of stretch when you add in a 4-5hr activity in the middle of it. When that activity involves consuming numerous little mugs of delicious craft beer, driving is a no-no. Now add in the fact that Whistler is one of the top tourism destinations in the world, and well, hotels can be hard to come by and even harder on the bank account.

So with a babysitter lined up (thanks, Nana), a beautiful hotel room waiting for us and the car fully gassed it was time for Mr. and Mrs. Thirsty Explorer to let our hair down and put our party pants on. Oh yes, I have party pants. But first, as any BC craft beer nerd knows, a road trip to Whistler isn’t complete without a stop in Squamish. The only hard part is deciding which of the three breweries to hit when you only have time for one. The choice was made a tad easier though due to the fact that we were craving pizza and a juicy IPA. Can you guess where we went??? Backcountry Brewing. We made the right choice too. Their beer is always on point and that Mexican street corn pizza was so damn good. I highly recommend it.

Kick Your Feet Up & Enjoy The Mountain Views

It was the early evening by the time we arrived in Whistler and we had to drop our bags and prepare for the Haze Craze event at the Longhorn Saloon. When we saw the views from our hotel room though we decided to move a little slower and kick our feet up for a few minutes.

A few years ago I stayed at the Sundial and the location doesn’t get any better than this. You’re literally steps away from the chairlifts and main gondola. You’re also right in the hub of Whistler Village with restaurants, bars and shopping all within a stones throw.

They also have a rooftop hot tub! Just try to avoid it during lightning storms (more on that later).

The wonderful folks at Gibbons Whistler (the organizers of the Whistler Beer Fest) also left a goody bag in my room full of my favorite things….beer. A selection of wonderful brews from Whistler Brewing Co. and Coast Mountain Brewing. It also had our tickets for the event that we were now running a little late for!

Pep Sticks and Ping Pong Balls

We showed up at the Longhorn (which was literally across the street from our hotel) and picked up our empty tasting cup full of beer tickets, a scoring card, a ping pong ball (??) and some pep sticks. Sounds like the start to a fun night, amiright?

Shoutout to the folks at Grimm’s Fine Foods for all the pep sticks they provided throughout the weekend! C’mon, what goes better with beer than pepperoni sticks? Just watch out for the lethal burps that come as a result of that combo.

Haze Craze was essentially a blind tasting of hazy beer submitted by 11 different breweries around BC. The only info we were given on each beer was some basic tasting notes, ABV and IBU. All the casks scattered throughout the Longhorn were numbered 1 to 11 so you could mark tasting notes and rankings on your scorecard. My anxiety levels jumped as I had flashbacks to highschool tests (A, B, C, D, D, C, B, A). Once you finished trying all the beer, you put your ping pong ball in a cup beside the cask of your fav beer. Yes, this is what the ping pong ball was for, ya weirdos.

Funny enough, my ball was thrown in to Backcountry Brewing’s cup for the beer I had drank at their tasting room a few hours earlier. They ended up getting 3rd place with Coast Mountain Brewing (Magic Carpet IPA) and Fuggles and Warlock (Last Mango Wit) coming in 1st and 2nd respectively.

Now it was time for bed as we had a pretty big morning planned ahead of us.

Make Sure To Keep Your Mouth Closed

That headline is a very important tip to remember while partaking in the amazing adventure I’m about to tell you about……

Early Saturday morning we filled our thermos with coffee and headed over to The Adventure Group Whistler’s main office in the village (again, a short walk from the Sundial Hotel). They had invited us to come experience one of the following adventures; Vallea Lumina, Supefly Ziplines or a RZR Off-Road tour. Vallea Lumina looked amazing but it was raining and we also had dinner plans later that night. The ziplines were right up my alley but Mrs. Explorer doesn’t do so well with heights. So, by process of elimination we were left with the RZR Adventure and I’m stoked it worked out that way!

After signing our waivers for the intermediate tour (which concerned Mrs. Explorer a bit) we hopped in the shuttle bus from the village and drove up to TAG’s headquarters about 15 minutes away in the Whistler back country.

While driving in to the TAG HQ you get a glimpse of their Treetop Adventure course which is spread out through the forest and looks insanely fun. I’ll be back next Summer to start my American Ninja Warrior training.

The bus came to a stop and we all headed inside their equipment building to get suited up in waterproof gear which was provided by them. I decided to forgo their high quality rain pants as I had brought my cheap “waterproof” pants from home. A decision I would later regret but thankfully I just wore boardshorts underneath, so it was kinda like I went for a swim (<— glass half full thinking).

After grabbing our helmets and listening to the safety guidelines it was time to get in our Polaris RZR. The rad thing with the RZR is it’s something you can do as a couple and sit side-by-side as opposed to an ATV where you’re by yourself or sitting one in front of the other. It’s way more romantic when you splash in mud puddles together.

The intermediate tour was the way to go. They have a beginner tour option as well but our guide, Adam, told us they don’t go up as much incline or through as much gnarly terrain. Speaking of Adam, he was awesome. He led the tour and was going max speed the whole time. He took us to some amazing spots with epic views despite the overcast skies. He also took us through some massive mud puddles!

Speaking of mud puddles, I’ll direct you back to the headline of this section, “Make sure to keep your mouth closed”. Going through mud puddles and yelling “woooooooo!!!” can make for some interesting flavours in your mouth. Although, I should also mention that I didn’t heed my own advice until probably the 5th muzzle full of mud. No matter, that’s what a toothbrush is for, right?

After a couple hours of ripping around the Whistler back country it was time to head back to the hotel and clean up for lunch and the Whistler Beer Fest. I definitely didn’t wanna leave though. There was actually a guy in my group that signed up for the next tour right after this one to do it again. That’s how much fun it is. The RZR adventure would easily be in a list of the top 5 most fun things I’ve done in recent memory. Make sure to try and pick a rainy day though. I have a feeling it’s extra fun when it’s sloppy outside.

Time To Party! But First Charcuterie

If you know me (or you’ve read past blog posts) then you know my love for cured meats and stanky cheese. After Mrs. Explorer and I had brushed the mud out of our teeth, we slipped on our rain coats and headed out for some lunch before hitting the beer fest. We Googled “the best charcuterie in Whistler” and Bar Oso came up. Bonus!! It was also right on the way to the Olympic Village (where the beer fest was held).

We ordered some coffee to warm up after a cold, wet morning in the forest and we got a combo of the “Cured Board” and the “Cheese Board” to chow down on. Just what we needed. Now bring on the beer!

Okay, Now It’s Time To Party

The rain was still holding off when we arrived at the gates of the Whistler Beer Fest to pick up our cute little mugs full of beer tokens and pepperoni. This year, the beer fest featured 60 breweries pouring over 120 different beer and cider from BC and beyond. Needless to say, I wasn’t going to have a hard time using my beer tokens. They also had live music, axe throwing (from Forged) and other fun activities like a Jenga game so high it could topple over and crush you!

We met up with our friends Mike (@thebeerrater) and his wife Britt and started to fill our cups. I honestly can’t remember every beer I drank, which is understandable, but a few of the standouts for me were; “Ship It” Hazy IPA from Pemberton Brewing, Salted Plum Gose from The Beer Farmers, “Tropical Thunder” barrel-aged passionfruit saison from Sundown (which was also served with a piece of watermelon) and the IPA from Beere Brewing that I can’t remember the name of. There were honestly so many great beers it’s kind of a blur now.

The best thing about beer festivals (besides the beer) are all the awesome people you meet and get to hang out with. We ran in to our buddy Malcolm (@seatoskybeerguy) and his lovely wife, Eric (@hopperazi) & Lowella (@tru.to.form), Ryan & Amrita (@yvrbeercouple) and Dave from What’s Brewing. Add on to that all the random high fives and cheersing and it makes for one big happy good time, even if it was raining most of the time.

With a few tokens left in my pocket for tomorrow (yes, the beer fest is two days!) myself and Mrs. Explorer headed back to our hotel to get ready for a special dinner at Bearfoot Bistro later that evening.

Lightning And Hot Tubs Don’t Mix

I won’t speak too much to our dinner at Bearfoot as the Mrs. and I stayed off our phones and just enjoyed the company of one another. But I will say that the food was delicious and ordering a Moscow Mule at a fancy restaurant felt a little strange. Oh, and make sure to take a peak in their vodka ice room. We didn’t pay for the tour experience but I peeked in through the door on my way to the washroom. If you’re a vodka fan I’m sure it’s pretty…….cool.

After stopping at the grocery store for some late night Doritos and chocolate we decided to head back to the hotel and hit the roof top hot tub. It was raining cats and dogs but we said “f**k it” and went for it anyway. It was actually really nice because nobody else was in the tub, we had it all to ourselves. Well, us and the security cameras. Damn you security cameras!

Just as I cracked a beer and started to slip deeper in to the warm water there was a bright flash of light. I thought a bulb had burnt out around the tub but then a second or so later we heard a giant “crack”! It reverberated like it was right beside us on the ski hill. The Mrs. and I looked at each other and both jumped out of the tub. Lightning storm + hot tub on top of a building = potential for crispy humans. It was fun while it lasted. Time to watch a movie and eat some cheesy Doritos.

Excuse Me Sir, There’s No Talking Here

Sunday morning was almost the complete opposite of Saturday morning. Rather than splashing through mud puddles and screaming at the tops of our lungs we opted for silence and Swedish massages at the Scandinave Spa. Sometimes you’ve gotta pamper yourself.

I’d never had a legit massage before so it was a little uncomfortable at first but I eased in to it pretty quickly. I felt bad for the masseuse though, I have a pretty hairy chest and I’m sure she was picking curly hairs off her hands for the next hour.

After the massage we went to the baths and relaxation areas where we only got in trouble once for talking in the hot tub. Some seedy looking dude with a mustache came and knelt down beside us and whispered “there’s no talking in the pools or relaxation area”. Then he asked us if we wanted to buy some mushrooms…..okay, he didn’t offer us ‘shrooms but now you get a mental image of what he looked like.

With our relaxation levels at a maximum it was time to go back to the beer fest for a hot minute and use up the rest of the tokens.

So Long And Thanks For All The Beer

Day 2 of the main event was definitely a lot less busy. If you’re not in to crowds then this might be the day for you. With no line ups I was able to get through my remaining tokens pretty quickly so we could head for brunch. Massages and beer are hard work.

We only had two more stops on our way out of Whistler. The first stop was a little greasy spoon in Creekside called Southside Diner. This local favorite has some amazing brunch options and an incredibly eclectic decor. Oh, and the coffee in on point!

The second spot was Coast Mountain Brewing. How could I pass up visiting one of the local Whistler craft breweries before leaving? Their intimate tasting room looks right in to their brewing space and they have a nice patio for when the weather is more permitting. I sat at the bar and slowly sipped on a pint of their Surveyor IPA while reminiscing about our wonderful Whistler weekend.