May was an interesting month, full of jam-packed weekends. We travelled a good portion of the Lower Mainland throughout, so here’s what we got up to on our journeys:

Our adventures began with eating at Taqueria Playa Tropical to celebrate Cinqo de Mayo. My meal of a Watermelon Margarita and Pastor Torta was fantastic, but there was some kind of issue with our food being delivered to us and we watched tables that had sat down and ordered long after us, be served before us. With a music lesson to get Girl Sip to, I ended up eating my meal hours after it was finally in my possession. Perhaps another visit on a non-Mexican holiday will be better.

That weekend, we attended the wedding of a close childhood friend at The Fairmont Waterfront. After our two drink tickets were spent during the cocktail reception, Mrs. Sip really wanted to get a fancy cocktail at the venue’s Arc Restaurant. She twisted my arm enough, so we had servings of the Salted Caramel & Peach Old Fashioned (Knob Creek Rye, Bacardi 8, Monin Caramel, Peach Bitters) and Summer Smash (Woodford Reserve, Hennessy, honey, lemon, orange, mint).

The next morning was Mother’s Day, so our little crew celebrated with brunch at the One20 Public House in Delta. My meal of the Cali Club and One20 Wheat Ale was a good combo. We’ve enjoyed our recent visits to the One20, as they have a good set up for families, including colouring for kids.

My liquor purchases for the month were a bottle of the new Bacardi Tropical Rum (very good in both rum and cokes and mojitos) and the Verve Vodka Soda variety pack, with an interesting selection of flavours, such as Wild Strawberry & Lemon, Peach Blackberry, Watermelon Raspberry and Grapefruit Elderflower.

Towards the end of the month, I attended the Brewhalla Beer & Music Festival with a couple of friends. Tickets were almost $50 each with taxes and fees and included a taster glass and three tokens. For $20, you could get a bag of 11 extra tokens. There was a good collection of breweries, with each one offering a nice variety of their wares. IPAs, saisons and sours seemed to be the beer themes of the event. Although we brought lawn chairs to sit back and enjoy the music, we spent most of the day going from line to line, drinking as we queued. This got worse later in the day, as some breweries tapped out early and lines grew longer. We left with tokens still to spend, feeling if we stuck around until the 6pm end of event, we’d have a tough time getting transportation out of the area.

Following the festival, we went for food at the Murrayville Town Pub. There, I had a Rajun Cajun Crispy Chicken burger, paired with a hazy pale ale/IPA I neglected to take note of. Regardless, it was delicious combo and we also ordered a pair of Pickle Back shots each because why the hell not!

Out in Abbotsford the next day for the Jurassic Quest event for the Sipplings, we dropped into Loudmouth Brewing for a late lunch. On a previous visit to the brewery and restaurant, another customer raved about their burgers, so I went out of my way to try one this time, while the girls and kids in our group split the Boss Platter. My Hamburger lived up to the hype and I still got to munch on a few items from the massive platter. As for my beverage, I went with the Hazy Pale Ale. Aside from food and drink, the best part about Loudmouth is its jovial, accommodating owner/operator. Every free moment he has, he’s chatting with customers and making them feel as comfortable as possible. He was great with our little ones, who were getting a little cranky after a busy morning, even moving a bunch of tables around to get us set up.

For the last weekend of the month, I was invited to join a group for the Langley Loop, hosted by The Clayton Pub. For $75 each, our group of six was shuttled from the pub to four different Langley breweries (Farm Country, Five Roads, Trading Post and Camp), then returned to The Clayton Pub to use an appetizer ticket. When finished at the pub, the shuttle would take folks home, so long as they lived in the area. Our driver Ed was amazing, as he navigated a bunch of groups around safely. I tasted quite the variety of brews as we went through the circuit and once back at the pub, our group had reduced to half, so three of us feasted on six tasty appies. Add a couple $3 rum and cokes to the finish the night and it was all quite the recipe for fun.

The next day, I joined another friend at the Red Card Sports Bar for the All Elite Wrestling: Double or Nothing pay-per-view. Over the close to five hour show, I enjoyed a pair of Red Card Pale Ales (at happy hour pricing), followed by a pair of Howe Sound Hazy Daze IPAs and capped with a spiced rum and coke. My meal for the evening was the Classic Burger, which was scrumptious, joined by yummy skinny fries. Best of all, the $10 cover charge we’d previously paid for other shows at the bar was not charged on this occasion.

That was it for the month of May. Just days from now, we’re off to Puerto Vallarta for a week of all-inclusive indulgence. Father’s Day is also around the corner, so there will certainly be much to discuss in the next Sip Trips!