Hopscotch 2017
I attended the 22nd Vancouver Hopscotch for the first time. It was held at the Grand Tasting Hall at PNE. It was filled with craft and premium beers, spirits, scotch, whiskies from around the globe, wine and food.
There was a lounge near the wine and beer area where there was live band performing music.
When you enter there is a station to pick up a souvenir glass. If you break it, it costs $5 for a replacement cup. To get drinks you exchange tokens. It ranges between 1-4 tokens depending on the type of drink you go for. Tokens costs $1 which isn't too bad! The tokens are sold in 5 and 20 bundles. There were several stations for buying tokens so we didn't notice a huge queue if we needed to buy more later in the night.
The first area was all liquor and spirits. The other half of the hall had food, wine and beer.
The Hendrick's booth really caught my eye with their steampunk looking machine. We just had to order a drink here and you can view a video experience on the right! This was a visual treat and a unique performance.
Last year there was 80 booths and this year there was over 130! Last year there was 300 products to sample and this year over 400! I love how it is growing with more selection of beer, spirits and other liquors.
The event had light snacks to full size meals. We tried the hot dogs from Juno Kim but the food options weren't really clicking with me so I saved my stomach space to go out to eat after I was done drinking. Below is a list of the vendors offering food.
LA PENTOLA
Italian restaurant in Vancouver by award-winning La Quercia. Located inside OPUS Hotel in Yaletown.
THE PAWN SHOP
Vancouver’s rebel Mexcian restaurant. Resistant to enforced change, The Pawn Shop’s voice is unapologetic and always evolving.
STEEL TOAD
Gastropub Fusion fare. Award Winning.
JUNO KIM SHOWCASE
Juno is the king of the pop-up food company. His (usually) invite-only pop-ups are frequented by the in crowd of Vancouver foodies. Such a treat to have him at Hopscotch this year.
BKH JERKY (with a twist)
Not only will BKH Jerky be showcasing their (“ridiculously amazing” – Adam Bloch, Hopscotch Producer) Singaporian Beef and Pork Jerky, they are now attending this year with a large BBQ and will be grilling their Singaporian short ribs. This is an activation that everyone at Hopscotch should visit!
We had two tokens left which wasn't enough for liquor. Luckily most of the beers were single token so I tried Sun Rype Cider and a quirky one from Red Racer that is a smore's stout.