Ziplines and Steins – Whistler Beer Fest
It’s that time of year again. Time to close out Summer with Oktoberfest and the Whistler Village Beer Fest. It’s my favorite time of year…. next to Christmas…. and pumpkin beer season (just joking, leave me alone).
A couple weeks back I had the fortunate opportunity to make the trek to Whistler for a weekend of ziplines and steins (hence the blog title) and all the other weekend festivities surrounding one of my favorite beer festivals. Keep scrolling to see all the epic adventures Mrs. Explorer and I got up to….
Draughts and Drag
Before I dive in to this I need to send a huge shoutout to Gibbons Whistler and The Crystal Lodge for hosting us for the weekend. We couldn’t have made this epic weekend trip (without kids!!) happen without you.
As mentioned above, we were childless for the weekend and you know what that means? Time to party like twenty-somethings again! Well, maybe not like 20 year olds, maybe more like, 11:00pm bedtime instead of 10:00pm. With no kids in the back seat we loaded a playlist full of cuss words on Spotify and cruised up to Whistler to enjoy one of the most breathtaking drives in the world. If you’ve never driven the Sea To Sky Highway, I highly recommend it on your next trip to the Vancouver area.
After a quick stop in Squamish to re-charge the car we arrived at the Crystal Lodge in Whistler around 7:30pm. The location of the hotel is perfect! It has access to the parking lot pretty much right off the highway and there are entrances spread throughout the main strip of Whistler Village. It’s a 1 minute walk to the Whistler Gondola, short walks to all the restaurants and about a 5 minute walk to the Beer Festival grounds. It doesn’t get much more convenient than that!
Because we arrived a little later in the evening, we had to freshen up quick and head over to Whistler Brewing for “Draughts & Drag BINGO”, our first festivity of the weekend!
I’m a big fan of Whistler Brewing and especially their Tasting Room Manager, Hugues. I always make an effort to go have a pint of Chestnut Ale and listen to Hugues crack some jokes when I’m in Whistler. Tonight we weren’t here for Hugues though, we were here for Sativa The Diva and her renowned BINGO night. It definitely started off with a BANG!
Sativa came out with an epic performance, singing and dancing to the Queen B (aka Beyonce) while we waved our bingo dabbers in the air cheering her on. The night rolled on with the same energy and some hilarious NSFW jokes to guide us through the search for the O-69 on our bingo sheets, which was always greeted with a large raucous when it hit. Even though I came to the realization that I suck at bingo, and I’m not sure how that’s possible as it’s a game of chance, we had such a fun night of drinks, bingo dabbers and making it rain Diva Bucks at Sativa.
Hold On To Your Phone!
The next morning I woke up early and strolled down to the Starbucks conveniently connected to the Crystal Lodge and got Mrs. Explorer and I some coffee and pastries for breakfast. We needed to fill up fast as we had a big day ahead of us. Saturday was the day of the Beer Fest but before that, we were making our way over to TAG (The Adventure Group) headquarters for a morning full of 4-wheel adrenaline and high flying fun.
TAG helped us out to participate in one of our all-time favorite activities, the RZR tour, but also to try some ziplining, which Mrs. Explorer and I had never done in Whistler before. After playing some cornhole and sitting around the fire in their waiting area we met up with Josh, our guide for the RZR tour. It turned out we were the only ones signed up for the morning session. I guess it pays to come in the “off season” and get the backcountry to yourself. Because we already had experience driving the RZR, Josh was able to take us to more spots than normal and with nobody else in front or behind us we were able to go max speed through a lot of the tour. Hence the header above, “hold on to your phone“.
After our dirt exfoliation treatment it was time to rinse off and hike up our pants to make room for some harnesses. No, we weren’t back at the hotel, we were getting ready for the Superfly Ziplines. Mrs. Explorer was a little nervous as she has a bit of a fear of heights but, not to worry, you only travel at 100km/h while dangling 300 metres above the ground….”gulp”.
In all seriousness though, the team at TAG made us feel super comfortable with their abundance of safety checks and reassurance that everything is secure. I was honestly more worried about my phone (yes, I realize how sad that sounds). I really wanted to film the first zipline but the guides at TAG didn’t instill as much confidence in my phone holding ability as they did in their safety checks. But whatever…Yolo! (do people still say that?) With my phone held tightly in a Kung Fu grip Mrs. Explorer and I were sent flying! With a total of 4 ziplines on the tour you get to experience different heights, lengths, speeds and views along the 2 hour adventure. It’s such a beautiful and calming experience when you’re coasting through the air.
Sunshine and Mini Steins
When we got off the last zipline platform at TAG we realized what time it was. We were late for the Beer Fest! We high fived our guides and rushed back to the hotel to wash up and head to the festival. Luckily it’s only a 5 minute walk from the Crystal Lodge to pretty much anywhere in Whistler Village.
As we collected our mini tasting steins and our beer tokens we realized we had to make the ever difficult decision at a beer fest…. what to sample first? Do we go with the new hype brewery? The tried and true classic? The servers wearing goofy costumes? Maybe something different like cider or seltzer?
Even though there were over 50 drink vendors and over 100 drink options, the decision was actually easier than we thought. We went with familiar faces. We spotted Mel and Andy from Locality Brewing right when we walked in and went straight over to say “hi” and get a pour of their “Rhuberry Wheat Ale”.
Don’t ask me what I drank next because, well, it’s all a blur of delicious tasters and token ferries. Yea, you read that correctly. I can tell you that Whistler’s own Coast Mountain Brewing took 1st Place and People’s Choice. Congrats!
I do remember what I ate though because the raclette from French’eese was not only delicious but magical to observe. Watching that oozing cheese get lightly slathered on to a French baguette gave me ASMR feelings. I would’ve bought 3 more if Mrs. Explorer didn’t come around with some tasty fish tacos from Luz Tacos. There was also Those Pretzels and Hwy. Cafe serving up delicious beer fest fare. The food options at the Whistler Village Beer Fest were on point!
The entertainment options at the festival were fantastic, as always. Live music all day with a covered viewing area to escape the sun, copious amounts of cornhole & other lawn games, axe throwing and people in amazing costumes. They also had water stations all over the festival grounds which is something that not all beer fests seem to have figured out yet.
When my token supply ran dry and we realized how exhausted we were, Mrs. Explorer and I decided to bid adieu to the fantastic fest and hit the hot tub and heated pool back at The Crystal Lodge before dinner.
That’s A Big Glass. Excuse You, It’s A Stein
We may have gone a little overboard on the pasta and bread during our dinner at Il Caminetto so Mrs. Explorer and I needed to do some laps around the village before heading to the Longhorn Saloon. We slogged our pasta filled frames over to the Rock & Gem Store to look for gifts for the kiddos and then to Rocky Mountain Chocolate and the liquor store for gifts for our gracious babysitter (thanks, sis’).
With our bodies feeling a little less heavy we took a short stroll over to the Longhorn Saloon for their Oktoberfest celebration. Our tickets came with a 1L stein fill and a free stein to grab on your way out. You’d think I’d be all beer’d out by this point but nope! I gladly filled my belly with more of that delicious liquid that makes me dance better. I’ve been coming to Whistler for more years than I care to mention and the Longhorn has always been a staple canteen to cut a rug at. It’s also an amazing spot to sit for après snowboarding and watch everyone tumbling down the mountain.
I’m gonna snore sleep well tonight!
Mornings Are For Mimosas
With a long day and a late night behind us we decided to take things a little slower on Sunday morning. We got our morning coffee and chilled on the humongous deck attached to our room at The Crystal Lodge while watching the F1 race on my phone. Go….anyone but Max?
As we finished our coffees and packed our bags we said a sad farewell to our mini vacation without kids. But we still had one last excursion to appease our appetites before making the beautiful drive back home.
I feel like the Stonesedge Kitchen is now almost prerequisite for us when visiting Whistler and this time it all tied in to the Beer Fest weekend. They were offering a “Brunch and Beers” special menu featuring Grimm’s meats for 3 food options and an exclusive caesar. Sign me up!
We arrived around 10:30am and, based on past experience, figured it’d be packed by that point but I guess all our fellow beer fest attendees were nursing some wicked hangovers and couldn’t get out of bed. Amateurs! Mrs. Explorer and I had the whole back corner of the restaurant to ourselves. It definitely did pack out by the time we left though. The early(ish) bird gets the caesar.
As we made the short stroll back to our car we couldn’t help but admire the steins hidden in bushes throughout the promenade. A sign of a night well spent in the quant little village of Whistler.
I’ll see you again in December, Whistler. This time with my snowboard in tow. Be gentle to me!
Here are a few more photos from our epic weekend. Enjoy and DM for any Whistler recommendations.
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