Tipples to Topple 

by Malcolm Yates 

Sunset with a bottle of Wine and Brew Craft Collective  

Salutations and good day.  If you’re reading this you are still exchanging oxygen for carbon dioxide in the life-living manner your lungs intended.  Some of our loved ones have not been so lucky and, while this is meant to be an upliftingly light, lollygargle of libations to lay on lips and salubriously sip, we simply cannot start without tipping a humble and solemn glass to the those who have passed.  We love you and we will carry on, holding your memories close, enclosed in the everbrite carbonite locket located ‘round our hearts…

Okay, let’s get drunk!

Sunshine in a glass at A-frame Brewing 

Just kidding.  How about this?  Let’s celebrate the aforementioned air we breathe with a pint glass or sleeve!  The pandemic is not over but, and I hate to write this next line for fear of being held accountable in an interplanar court of law for jinxing so serious an affair, BUT: with the administration of vaccines comes the curtailing of restrictions and the reintroduction of Homo sapiens to what in Latin might be referred to as a Normalis Vitae.  Huzzah.  As of this moment I am one shot in and booked for the next and I hope like heck you are too.  Especially you, yes, you in the back.  To bastardize Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire, “Help us help all of us.”  Okay, let’s get on with the celebration, perfectly aware we have a little further to run for the race to be won.

You had me at "hello",  Howe Sound Brewing 

Are you fond of ale?  If so then Backcountry’s got your back, A-Frame has your front, and Howe Sound has you all the way around!  Are you fond of cider?  Then grab a Mason jar of Cliffside or crack a can Geo cuz they’ve both got your best interests in mind!  Are you fond of wine and have a bit of time?  Wine and Brew about covers it.  What’s that, you exclaim?  You want specifics?  Hold my beer…

When the patios re-opened I made a beeline to A-Frame Brewing and held to my lips a Heffley Lake Hefeweizen that brought me within kissing distance of heaven.  And you can’t beat Howe Sound Brewing for their Chief-tastic view but let’s talk brew:  I was in a dark mood when I darkened their doors, and so I left with a recently relabeled can of Howe Sound’s darkest drink, the Megadestroyer!  This Stout lets you know what you’re about by sheer conquest of its inky depths.  GEO Cider Company showed me a Margherita reimagined that had my taste buds singing U2’s “Even Better Than The Real Thing”.  

Inspecting the taps at Geo Cider Co. 

Perhaps I’ll end this epistle with an enticement I’ve not yet undertaken: the making of wine.  I’ve waited over a year for the resumption of things I hold dear, can I not wait four weeks for the fruits of my labour to come to fruition?  Though my right-here-right-now brain may wine a little bit, I’ll bet I could!  Coincidentally, Wine and Brew is the name of the place to get’er done and start the fun.  Look, any way you’ve chosen to slake your thirst, before, during and soon-to-be post-pandemic, the artisans of Squamish have got you covered.  In one last distortion of Mr. Cruise in Mr. Maguire, help our local purveyors help you make it through: help them help you.  

Follow Malcolm Yates on Instagram @seatoskybeerguy