Tag Archives: The Barley Merchant

Sip Trips #249: Wicked Weekends

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Well, August was pretty wild and flew by at break-neck speed. Was it fun? Sure. Was it a little overwhelming? Two things can be true at the same time. Here’s what the Sip Family got up to during most of the month, with our week in Disneyland at the end saved for another Sip Trips update:

With the Siplings still away with Ma and Pa Sip, Mrs. Sip and I took off to Peachland for the August long weekend. On our drive there, we stopped for dinner at Stallones Kitchen & Bar in Hope. I went full Stallone/Rambo, ordering the Stallones Burger and Mountainview First Blood Orange Wheat Ale. We had fantastic food and service at this restaurant, while the live music was very good. A great find by Mrs. Sip as we approached the town and were in need of sustenance.

Our time in Peachland was largely spent visiting a friend whose family has a beautiful place there. We did squeeze in a visit to the amazingly-themed Crown & Thieves Winery. Their tasting room is so cool it has to be experienced in person. Best of all, our $15 tasting fees were waived with a bottle purchase each, which wasn’t hard to do given the great wines available. We received excellent service from our scoundrel (aka server) and will definitely return, hoping to one day check out their onsite speakeasy basement bar.

The following weekend, reunited with the Siplings, we were off to Vancouver Island. Once arriving via ferry, we made our way to Rusted Rake Brewing in Nanoose Bay. This was another very cool setting, offering farm-to-table brews and food. To drink, I enjoyed a pint of The Wandering Scotsman’s Spruce Tip IPA. To eat, Mrs. Sip and I shared the Cornbread, Burnt Ends and Chicken & Pickles. We also tried tasters of their It’s Farming Saison and Willem Wets His Whistle Belgian Witbier.

The next day, we had lunch at Fern + Cedar Brewing in Qualicum Beach. Between games of cornhole with Boy Sip and Mrs. Sip, I managed to have the Green Mountain State NEIPA, along with a yummy Teriyaki Salmon dish.

Not content to leave the other brewery in the area off our visit list, we travelled over to Love Shack Libations, ordering two flights to cover their entire available lineup. My favourite drink here was the Juice Bigalow Hazy Mango Pineapple Ale.

Back on the mainland, our next weekend was spent staying at a friend’s place, as mutual friends from the U.K. visited. While out in the Langley area, we had a meal at The Barley Merchant. Over the course of the feast, I had servings of the North Point Strawberry Blonde Ale and Category 12 Fuzzy Peach IPA. My main dish of the Karai Ahi Noodle Salad was good, but I felt the meal didn’t know if it wanted to be a salad or a noodle bowl, incorporating ingredients of each. I guess it came as advertised as a “noodle salad”.

Later that weekend, we hit up Locality Brewing, letting all the kids run wild at the farm location. While there, I drank the Rhuberry Wheat Ale, Lean on Me DIPA and Black Tea Lager, all of which were tasty in their own way. Mrs. Sip and I split the Bison Poutine from Stampede Burger food truck and will have to go back sometime when they have their expanded catering menu, featuring Po’Boy sandwiches and other interesting items.

Our last outing while our friends were in town was to the PNE. I tried a California Sushi Taco from one of the many food trucks onsite, pairing the dish with a glass of Parallel 49 Trash Panda Hazy IPA, which made for a good combo.

That wraps most of August, a month where we didn’t spend a single weekend at home. The next Sip Trips, my 250th entry in the series, will be a special one as I dissect our week-long voyage to the Disneyland Resort!

Sip Trips #238: Birthday Bashing

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September was busy, filled with birthdays and other activities – a fair portion of the month spent out and about, as open houses were run on our condo. Let’s see what the Sip Family got up to over the course of the month:

Our first outing took us to Locality Brewing in Langley. There, I had the Strawberry Milkshake Ale, which I’ve enjoyed before, but was a substitute when my original choice was no longer available on tap. Mrs. Sip and I also shared an order of the food truck’s Bison Poutine, as we did on our inaugural expedition to the brewery.

To celebrate the Sipplings return to school, we took them out to Red Robin for dinner. It had been some time since I’d visited the restaurant and I really enjoyed my Bacon Cheeseburger with Yukon Chips (a bottomless side dish, which I had to get another round of). To wash it all down, I went with the Stanley Park 1897 Amber Ale, another secondary choice when my first selection was tapped out.

back-to-school

Over the course of the month, I picked up a couple different vodka soda cases, including the Truly Hard Seltzer Berry Mix Pack (Black Cherry, Field Berry, Blueberry & Acai, Raspberry Lime) and White Claw Variety 30 Pack, which features five different flavours (Lemon, Lime, Blackberry, Tangerine, and Black Cherry).

Afforded some time to myself, I ended up at a Browns Socialhouse, electing to have their Tiki Tuna Poke Bowl, paired with a Social IPA. I’m not very good with free time on my own, so I ate at a decent pace, settled my tab and returned to my life of misery! 😊

The next weekend, Mrs. Sip and I were in Vancouver to watch the musical Come From Away. Prior to our show, we had another meal at Browns Socialhouse, where I had the Sesame Ginger Gyoza this time, along with another Social IPA. As for the fantastic performance, which is about the many travellers who ended up in Newfoundland, Canada, following the grounding of all planes on 9/11, I tried the Dillon’s Tangerine, Lemon and Mint Gin Cocktail.

Alone

For a guy’s night out, in recognition of my birthday, us lads had an epic dinner and drinks session at The Barley Merchant in Langley. Over the course of six hours spent at the eatery, I consumed the Beva Goombah Milkshake IPA, Barley Merchant x Slackwater Chinwag IPA, two Four Winds Monocle IPAs, a pair of Black Bear Spiced Honey Rum & Cokes, as well as three Pickleback shots.

The birthday festivities continued that weekend with a party for Girl Sip and a side serving of the Sip Advisor. At that gathering, a friend gifted me a one-liter bottle of Captain Morgan’s Spiced Rum, which we worked our way completely through, mixing it mostly with our preferred Dr. Pepper, but also with the limited edition Coca-Cola: Oreo.

The next day, my actual birthday, we ventured out to Barnside Brewing for some family time. There, I had their Home Field Hazy IPA, while the Sip Family shared a couple Beer Baked Pretzels. We also visited Kelly O’Bryans for my free birthday dinner. This promotion allowed me to get an entrée, up to $30, on the house. I went with the O’Bryans Bowl, which is basically a tuna poke bowl, while also picking at Mrs. Sip’s Chicken Lips N’ Lattice Fries. I washed it all down with a pair of Whistler Grapefruit Ales and for dessert, we all shared the decadent King O’ Mud Pie.

Birthday Coupons

Other boozy birthday gifts I received for my birthday, included six 750ml crowlers (Krisp Dry Hopped Lager, Bright El Dorado Pale Ale, Idabro IPA, Heff Hefeweizen, Strawberry Heff Strawberry Hefeweizen, and Key Lime Pie Tart Ale w/ Lime and Vanilla) from Bright Eye Brewing, courtesy of Ma and Pa Sip, as well as a $50 gift card to BC Liquor Stores via Mrs. Sip and the Sipplings.

For Girl Sip’s actual birthday, the day after mine, we had dinner at Boston Pizza. Here, I went with a glass of Blue Moon, while trying their Appy Hour Burger with Caesar Salad. I really liked the burger and will likely order it again in the future. Mrs. Sip and I also used the free birthday dessert I received in the BP app to share the Chocolate Explosion.

For the Reconciliation Day long weekend, I travelled to Tobiano with the Sipplings in tow. This is the location of Ma and Pa Sip’s new abode, located 15 minutes outside of Kamloops. This new off-site headquarters will allow me to explore the Kamloops beer and bar scene over future visits. On this trip, we managed to check out Bright Eye Brewing for their Hoppy Hour. I tried the Smedium Tank Top Hazy IPA and Throwback Burger with Fries, which were both nicely discounted for happy hour.

New House

We also stopped at Iron Road Brewing, where I ordered the Red Bridge Pale Ale. One last local journey we made was to Privato Vineyard. While the kids enjoyed the chance to play and check out the place’s pumpkin patch, I was reminded of how much I HATE WINERIES.

That puts a bow on September. October has already filled up with activities, largely focused on Halloween celebrations. It’ll be interesting to see how we survive the ghoulish month!

Sip Trips #200: August Awe

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Wow, I can’t believe this is the 200th Sip Trip post. We’ve documented so many adventures since I started doing them, with the best still yet to come. Typically, I’ve been posting Sip Trips monthly, but an event we attended this week is being run twice more before the end of August and I want to get my thoughts out there to anyone who may want more info on it. So, here’s what we’ve been up to for most of the month:

Our first journey took us to the Langley Farmers Market, which was featuring a Craft Beer Crawl. In attendance from Langley’s burgeoning craft beer scene was Camp, Dead Frog, Smuggler’s Cove, Five Roads, Locality, and Farm Country. We bought tall can four-packs from four of the breweries, which has stocked us well for the last couple weeks. We also enjoyed some neat ice cream from Rolled West Coast, going with the Cookie Monster offering.

farmers market

Following the market, we went for dinner at the newly-opened The Barley Merchant. I targeted a serving of Dead Frog Big Melon, Little Berries Watermelon Blackberry Imperial Pilsner, which was very good. It also paired well with my The Dirty Bird fried chicken burger with fries. I look forward to return trip to the eatery, which offers 50 taps of beer and ciders.

The event I want to highlight for this Sip Trips was the Sip n’ Dip (aka Sip & Swim) at the Otter Co-op Outdoor Experience waterpark in Aldergrove. $15.75 plus tax paid for admission and one drink ticket, with additional tickets costing $5 each. There was only 200 spaces available for the event, with registration opening a week prior. Folks should get there early, as you have to sign in and buy your extra drink tickets before entering. We picked up an extra six tickets, with me theory that we would go through a drink each half our portion of the two-hour event. I used my tickets on Trading Post Helles Lagers and Farm Country Everyday Ales. They also had two flavours of White Claw Hard Seltzers, a cider and wine available.

I thought the event was pretty well run, but three hours instead of two would have been great. As Mrs. Sip put it, three hours is not long enough for people to get too messed up and long enough for people to pace themselves better, not that I saw any issues with that over the course of the evening. A Triple O’s food truck was on site for those who wanted to eat. One issue was that only small “wallet size” lockers were available to those who wanted to secure their items. Other than that, I can’t think of any other problems.

livin the dream

Following the Sip n’ Dip, we went to the Townhall Pub in Langley for some late night happy hour treats. I had an order of Chicken Tenders with fries, while also sharing some of Mrs. Sip’s Pulled Pork Hushpuppies. It was a decadent meal, with multiple $3 highballs and finished with slices of Oreo Cheesecake.

That wraps this mid-month report. Despite our wedding anniversary coming up soon, I’m not sure we’ll get to do much for it, as Ma Sip is scheduled for hip replacement surgery the day after, along with Mrs. Sip celebrating a friend’s 40th birthday over the occasion and going away on a girl’s trip. I want to wish Mrs. Sip a fun time away and Ma Sip all the best in her recovery.