Friday, May 18
More than a calendar year has passed since Deschutes Brewery’s Woody pulled away from the Lamplighter patio to signify the end of the 2011 VCBW. It seems that in this town at least, any week could be Vancouver Craft Beer Week. There are countless casks tapped across all the neighbourhoods and at least 1 or 2 beer dinners a month to attend.
This spring alone the Donnelly Group hosted dinners for Howe Sound, Phillips, Driftwood (twice) Experienced 4 Tap Takeovers from great American breweries like Deschutes and a full Belgian blowout featuring six amazing beers brought to us by Horizon Beers. A good year to drink beer.
The Annual General Meeting of CAMRA was hosted at Smileys Pub and saw a cask of Dave Varga’s finest get drained in about 30 minutes by a group of thirsty beer enthusiast. FUSS (Fess Up to Serving Sizes) has gained a lot of traction (although there are still some notable holdouts) and we now see beer served in movie theatres. A good year indeed.
The next 9 days will see 60+ Breweries and 60+ events. I myself have already sat through two rounds of judging for the Vancouver Home Brewer Awards, and VCBW hasn’t even officially started yet…
Hopapalooza has sold out (again) and tickets for other events are going fast. Walkups seem to be the golden ticket this year as most are being run on a first-come-first-served basis. The dedicated shall be rewarded, not just those with fast internet or no lockouts on their work browsers.
We’ll be hosting 4 key events this year and there are still a handful of tickets left for all of them.
For the entire week we are hosting throughout the group the Donnelly World Tour. 8 Venues, 8 Different Beers (styles of Uncommon & Upright Brewing) and a chance to win a trip to Oregon Craft beer week. Grab a passport at any Donnelly Pub and get started. 9 days to drink 9 beers is a lifetime considering what you all drink on an average week. Details here.
Tuesday night marks the 1st Annual Battle of the Bartenders beer cocktail competition at Clough Club. Bartenders from all over Vancouver will compete in a Beer cocktail mix-off using Rogue Brewing’s Captain Sig ale. A deadly catch if there ever was one. Tickets for that or the cask fest at Lamplighter next door are still available here.
Thursday night is a double shot for us. Brothers in Hops makes its second annual show at Smileys Public House featuring four amazing brewers and double that amount in beer styles. We also have a special guest who will be featuring a hoppy home brew. Tickets available here. Most of these beers won’t be available in Vancouver for quite some time.
That same night at Bimini will be the first ever Craft Beer Fantasy Draught. A walkup event that will encourage very technical picks and choices to construct the ultimate bar bill. Space is limited so get the crew together and come run through the 24 lines the Bimini Public House. More information here.
Lots going on this week, if you’re planning on hitting up your favourite beer bar over the next 9 days make sure to check out the website or call ahead to ensure they aren’t bought out. Have a great week!
Tuesday, May 15
Donnelly Group resident deejay & super friend JOEL JASPER has just released a new original track “Travelogue” by Joel’s live project Joel & Paradise. A nice lil piece of pool side indie disco now that the weather is picking up.
Catch DJ Joel Jasper Thursdays at Cinema & Fridays at the newly opened Hookers Green
Support local artists & listen & purchase the mp3 here:
http://soundcloud.com/motionslive/sets/dream-come-true-travelogue/
Monday, May 14
Flosstradamus rolled through Republic this past Thursday and tore the house down with their new live P.A. set.
We pressed record. Enjoy.
DL -> http://www.divshare.com/download/17658424-d01
Saturday, May 12
Anya Georgijevic.
Who is she?
She’s the Vancouver Correspondent for Flare Magazine, Beauty Editor at Vitamin Daily and blogger / creator of I’m The It Girl.
She also loves thick eyebrows… and because of this, I’m growing mine.
1. Full Name: Anya Georgijevic (a toughy, I know)
2. Occupation: Writer, occasional designer.
3. In three words, describe Vancouver. Lush, active, and polite.
4. Fill in the blank: People that read I’m The It Girl are __________my favourite people in the world.
5. Name a bad habit that you have. I’m perpetually five minutes late.
6. If you could meet anyone – who would it be? It’s a toss up between Joan Juliet Buck, Tina Fey and Azzedine Alaïa.
7. What’s this season’s must have? Floral blazers are sweet and smart.
8. Name one fashion faux pas. The ultimate wrong: French pedicure.
9. What’s one thing in your closet that you can’t live without? Just one? Probably my Maison Martin Margiela black ankle boots — they go with everything.
10. Name a song that you’d Flash Mob dance to. Nasty by Janet Jackson — it’s been my dream to nail her moves ever since I first saw the video as a child.
You can follow Anya on twitter here.
Photo Credit: Sherry Lu
Wednesday, May 09
There isn’t anything that I love more about Vancouver than its local designers. Amy Sky from Hidden Spectrum is one of them. Her mini collection for Spring 2012 is full of silks, metallic linens and lightweight denims. My favourite piece is her silk Corvus dress – which I purchased in two different colours. The best part? It’s all made locally.
Available at:
Nouvelle Nouvelle
209 Abbott Street
604-682-2234
@hiddenspectrum @nouvellenouvelle
Friday, May 04
BEASTIE BOYS’ MCA R.I.P. (August 5, 1964 – May 4, 2012)
“Born and bred Brooklyn – U.S.A.
They all me Adam Yauch – but I’m M.C.A.
Like a lemon to a lime – a lime to a lemon
I sip the def ale with all the fly women”
This is so sad. Adam Yauch passed away today. MCA and the Beastie Boys, along with Run DMC, LL, and the whole Def Jam movement, were responsible for sparking my love of Hip-Hop. Both “Licenced To Ill” and “Paul’s Boutique” are among my all time favourite albums. Another legend gone. Cancer’s a bitch.
Here is our friend Mick Boogie’s latest mixtape that is full of rare, remixed, live and classic Beastie Boys records that defiantly does MCA’s legacy justice.
Beastie Boys
Mick Boogie – Grand Royal (Mixtape) – http://www.mediafire.com/?dn0i27oikf13e72
1. Mick Boogie & Intro
2. The Skills To Pay The Bills (Original Version)
3. The Vibes
4. Time To Get Ill (Live Remix Version)
5. Sure Shot (Nardone Large Professor Remixes)
6. Jimmy James (Original Version)
7. Four Fly Guys (feat. Hurricane)
8. Intergalactic (Original 94 Version)
9. Root Down (Free Zone Mix)
10. Get It Together (Buck-Wild Remix)
11. In A World Gone Mad (Original Mix)
12. Negotiation Limerick File (Handsome Boy Modelling School Mix)
13. Alive
14. Hey Ladies (Paul Nice Remix)
15. Dope Little Song
16. Shake Your Rump (Madlib Remix)
17. Stand Together (Live At French’s Tavern, Sydney, Australia)
18. The Maestro (Live Version)
19. The Sounds Of Science
20. Gratitude (Live @ Budokan)
21. Pass The Mic Part 2
22. Stop That Train (3-Way Mix)
23. Spam (feat. Milk Dee)
24. So What ‘Cha Want (Butt Naked Soul Assassin Remixes)
25. Sabotage (Live Version)
26. Beastie Revolution
27. Honky Rink (Previously Unreleased)
28. Benny And The Jets (Live feat. Biz Markie)
29. Netty’s Girl
Thursday, May 03
One of the most challenging parts of my job is trying to pair food with drinks. But when it’s done right the results can take a good meal and turn it into a great one. One of our upcoming events is being held at The Calling, and this dinner features a selection of Belgian Beers.
For this menu I drew inspiration from a couple different parts of Europe and paired that with some local ingredients.
Belgian’s are known for their love of mussels, so our dinner will be starting with citrus & olive oil marinated mussels.
Next we’ll be preparing a wonderful salad that combines local watercress and asparagus from Washington State. The addition of thinly sliced prosciutto & parmesan cheese will round this dish out.
To add to the convivial feel, we’ll be serving the main course of roasted pork loin & sausages family style. I’m a firm believer that food tastes better when shared and enjoyed among friends and strangers!
And we round out supper with an awesome sticky butterscotch pudding topped with crunchy waffle cone & vanilla gelato.
With English bay as the backdrop this will be a great night of tasty Belgian beers & delicious food.
Need Tickets? Click Here
Monday, April 30
The photo in the link below is an image of Shanghai taken by a guy named Alfred Zhao.
Its 272 Gigapixels.
What the eff is a gigapixel you say? Well, it’s a billion pixels.
Like, if your digital SLR camera is 10 megapixels, you would have to stitch together 100 photo’s on the highest resolution to create a 1 gigapixel image.
To make this image, you’d have to take 27,000 pictures on the highest resolution and stitch them all together.
This is what 272 billion pixels looks like if you write it out: 272,000,000,000.
Zoom in. Keep zooming. I was looking at the different brands of air conditioning units attached to the buildings about a mile away.
Somewhere in this photograph there is a bright blue plant watering can. Just sitting there. If you can find it, write where it is in the comments and I will give you a $25 Donnelly Group Gift Certificate. It’s like Where’s Waldo, but Waldo is a gardening utensil.
I just ruined your work for the afternoon….you’re welcome:
Go Here: http://www.shanghai-272-gigapixels.com/
Damon is the Marketing Coordinator for the Donnelly Pub Group. He is also available for Birthdays and Bar Mitzfah’s. He can be reached at ac.puorGyllennoDnull@HD and on Twitter: Twitter.com/DamonD
Friday, April 27
Fried chicken & waffles, a match made in heaven. This is a dish that has gained much popularity in a short period of time. How did this pairing ever come about? Well here’s a brief history.
Roscoe’s House of chicken n’ waffles is the most well known commercial restaurant serving this delicious dish. But the history goes back a couple of years. You’ll find a few different stories about how this dish evolved over time. Some versions include Thomas Jefferson & a waffle iron, breakfast for slaves, & late nights for jazz musicians. I’ll elaborate on the latter and how breakfast & jazz formed a piece of culinary tradition.
The Wells Supper Club was a late night spot in harlem that served chicken & waffles. They opened in 1938 and were in business for 40 years. During those early years jazz was hitting its prime. Jazz clubs such as The Apollo, The Harlem Club & The Savoy were major draws and sessions went late into the night. When those clubs let out people were ready for something to eat, proprietor Joseph T. Wells had a specialty – Chicken & Waffles. For the 2am crowd it was the perfect combination of dinner & breakfast. All differences were checked at the door and it was all about the food.
We have our own version of this classic American dish. Our chicken is marinated in buttermilk, fried to perfection and sandwiched in between two crispy waffles with proper garnish. It’s the best of both worlds, breakfast & dinner as Mr. Wells intended.
