The Diamond Bar School, Vancouver: Rookie Seminars

The ‘Rookie’ seminars are designed for those cocktail enthusiasts who want to impress their family and friends at home. The classes are a mix of hands-on and demonstration. Students are able to sample six different cocktails and are expertly guided to make two of their choosing. Snacks are provided. Classes run for two hours from 5:30pm–7:30pm Tuesdays & Sundays. Classes include:

•Classic Cocktails 101
•Gin & Gin Cocktails
•Contemporary Cocktails & Food Pairing
•How to Stock your Home Bar & Throw a Cocktail Party
•Whiskey & Whiskey Cocktails
•Rum & Rum Cocktails
•Tequila & Tequila Cocktails
•Vodka & Vodka Cocktails
•Diamond Favourites
•Classics #2

Price: $90

More info & booking

Vancouver Food Tour: Salt Spring Island Food Tour

Explore BC’s most prized Gulf Island, renown for its spectacular natural scenery, organic wineries and farms, vibrant art culture, and outdoor adventures. On this leisurely tour, indulge in Salt Spring Island’s famed wines, cheeses, mussels, oysters, and much more.

Guests can either meet the guides on the Island, or meet Melody at the docks in Downtown, Vancouver. A float plane will take guests on a picturesque ride and arrive at Salt Spring within half an hour.

Upon gathering the group and dropping off our bags, we’re off to our first delectable destination! We first take a tour of the famed Salt Spring Island Cheese farm, followed by a trip to an artisan baker better known as “The Bread Lady”. Saturday guests are treated to an extra detour to the eclectic Farmer’s Market.

Next, we cruise to Salt Spring’s only organic winery for a tour and a guided wine tasting. Upon deciding your favourite wine, let’s take several carafes onto the patio that over looks the winery. Guests are invited dive into their chef-prepared picnic baskets, filled with organic and local fare.

After the picnic with wine-pairings, we head down to a unique organic farm that supplies the attached restaurant. The farmer shares his strategic techniques to yield an array of produce to feed the entire establishment. We then experience the farmed goods, along with renowned Salt Spring Island Mussels on the airy restaurant patio.

A Salt Spring Island tour is not complete until guests savour freshly shucked Salt Spring oysters while overlooking the waters, and that’s exactly what we’ll do. Our tour wraps up with some squeezing of lemon, grating of fresh horseradish, and a whole lot of slurping.

As we say our farewells, the guides will help guests arrange transportation or accommodations.

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[ Pre-register now: spaces will fill up quickly]

Tour Includes:

• All meals, food, and samplings
• Fun and informative guided tour with transportation
• Drinks: Wine tasting and pairing and 1 pint of Salt Spring Island craft beer
  • Gratuities to your guide are highly appreciated

Time: 12:00 pm – 5:30 pm
Price: $199 CDN per person without flight or $259 CDN per person with flight

Meeting Spot: On Salt Spring Island or Downtown, Vancouver. Exact location provided upon confirmation

More info

Vancouver Food Tour: Gastown Tasting Tour

Taste and sip through the historic Gastown district, Vancouver’s most vibrant restaurant scene and Canada’s cocktail capitol. Expect award- winning restaurants, inventive cocktails, eccentric personalities, and inspiring decor.

We begin our evening at a proper craft cocktail bar with old-world charms. Decked out in vests and ties, the expert barkeeps shake up classical cocktails while expanding on the history and techniques. Time- honoured canapés are served, each with a story of its own. The interactive and bartenders have much knowledge to impart about the art of imbibing.

Next, follow your guide into an inconspicuous, pebble stone back alley where two hidden gems are tucked away from everyday tourists.

When your appetite is fully tickled, sample 3 BC wines alongside local charcuterie and farm cheeses from an ever-changing chalkboard menu. Nearby BC farms produce award-winning meat and cheese products that cannot be missed.

Then hop a few steps over to a modern, Barcelona-inspired taberna. Entice your tastebuds with innovative, Westcoast inspired tapas and pintxos that pushes the envelope. We pair a sherry sample with the intricate small-bites for an even richer experience.

Take a stroll in the neighbourhood and become acquainted with the hottest restaurants, hidden cocktail nooks, and hole-in-the-wall establishments.

Wrap up your evening at a lavish award-winning cocktail bar for a delectable dessert and perhaps another craft cocktail. (This is, after all, the cocktail capitol.) Tucked away above ground and overlooking Gastown Square, this vintage joint is one of the neighbourhood’s best-kept secrets.

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Tour Includes

• Four tasting courses, including dessert
• Drinks: 1 craft cocktail, 1 full wine tasting (3 wines) and 1 sherry sample
• Fun and informative guided walking tour
  • Gratuities to your guide are highly appreciated

Time: 5:00 pm – 8:30 pm or later
Price: $139 $129 CDN per person, HST included.

• 5% off 6-11 guests, 10% off 12+ guests

Maximum capacity: 14 guests for public tours. Private tours can accommodate more.

Meeting and Ending Spot: The Steamclock in Gastown, Vancouver. (On the corner of Water St. and Cambie St.)

More info and reservations