Bike adventures: Bowen Island

Despite living just a few kilometres away for most of my life, and peering out at it curiously each time I drove up the Sea to Sky Highway, I had never visited little Bowen Island. But, during one my recent little slices of bliss known as a "weekday off", I decided to remedy that.

And thus, one fine Monday morning, my friend and I set out on the 25km ride to the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal. The ride was gorgeous (albeit hilly), and only took us an hour and ten - actually quicker than the bus would have delivered us. We walked right onto the 10am ferry, problem-free.

An interview with Four Winds Brewing Co.

Just in case you're a craft beer drinker who's also living under a rock: 2013 is officially the year of the craft brewery in Greater Vancouver, with six new breweries opening plus three major expansions of existing facilities planned to take place before the end of the year. Much of the action is concentrated in the historic Brewery Creek (aka Mount Pleasant) neighbourhood in East Van - but that's not the only area we'll see new beer flowing from in the coming months.

Just southeast of Vancouver proper, in Delta, a little family-owned microbrewery is about to open its doors (and its taps) to the public. Four Winds Brewing is the definition of a family business: Brent Mills is the head brewer, his dad Greg Mills runs the business side of things and brothers Adam and Sean Mills are helping to build the brewery and tasting room from the ground up. I was able to catch up with Brent for a quick interview in the midst of preparations for Four Winds' grand opening on June 1st (more below the break):

Beer adventures: 48 hours in Portland, Oregon

Writing a post about where to find good beer in Portland seems kind of superfluous. It's kind of like writing about where to find good sushi in Vancouver - you don't really need the advice, because you're going to have a harder time finding bad sushi. But, purely for my own selfish interests, I'm going to write this anyway so that I no longer have to type out a list of suggested places every time a friend decides to make the trip. So here goes: