Insufficient (fun)ds:

 

Granville Island brewery tour

Brewing up a unique experience

By Jacey Gibb

you miss the joys of having that

wonderful thing called disposable
income. Vancouver is one of the most
expensive cities inthe worldand
when you’re wadding through a sea of
research papers and midterms, keeping
a part-time job isn’t always a priority.
Don’t you worry though because
The Other Press has the answer for
students who want to enjoy life but
can’t afford to. Every week a spotlight
will be given to an activity that’s big
on fun but not on price.

As a beer enthusiast, when I
discovered there was a brewing
company that went by GIB (one letter
away from being my last name), I
knew we’d get along swimmingly.
Upon further investigation, I
discovered the acronym stood for
Granville Island Brewing found on,
you guessed it, Granville Island.
Active since 1984 and boasting
the label of being Canada’s first
microbrewery, I find the GIB label
comes with an unspoken promise of
good beer within. As a result of my
admiration, I recently make a trip to
Granville Island to partake in one of
their daily brewery tours.

Well that’s a lie. The first day we
went to book our tour, they had all
filled up for the day. We decided to
try again the next day and made sure
to sign up a couple hours early. We
arrived back at the brewery in time to
be seated at a long table with several
others. We were then informed that
the sample cups in front of us, while
empty now, would later be filled
with different beers for us to try out.
After a few minutes of waiting, our
guide joined us and led us through the
dividing glass doors, into the world of
micro-brewing.

I'll start off by saying this isn’t an
activity meant for everyone. Our guide
was friendly and very knowledgeable,
making sure to ask and answer
questions to involve everyone
throughout the tour, yet to someone
who’s not into beer, the whole ordeal
wouldn’t have much appeal. At the

|: you’re a student, chances are

time of the tour the brewery was
crowded with last-minute holiday
shipments, limiting which parts of the
floor we got to experience, but our
guide made sure we understood what
each of the machines surrounding us
were. I was bombarded with beer-

‘making trivia that made me feel

like an amateur while I admired the
complex machines responsible for
the different stages of creation. The
walkthrough of the brewery and the
explanation of the processes involved
took about half an hour.

When the tour reached its end,
we were directed back to the meeting
table and the tastings began. The first
sample came in the form of the Island
Lager, probably their most basic and
popular beer. The quality was a nice
chance of pace, since I’m used to the
cheapest possible beer I can find in
stores. The next sample was up to the
group to decide on and I immediately
started influencing my fellow beer-
drinkers that the Kitsilano Maple
Cream Ale sounded like the way to
go. It turned out to be the right choice
and then our guide introduced us to
our final sample: the limited release
Chocolate Stout. It’s a respectable
beer, with blatant traces of chocolate,
but not something you see yourself
having more than a couple of. We
discussed our favourites, offering
feedback and criticisms before our
guide thanked us and bid farewell.
Our group shared some friendly
conversation while we polished off the
last of our samples before making our
way to the gift shop where we were
entitled to fifteen percent off any item.

The guide was knowledgeable,
the company friendly and the beer,
delicious. It would probably help if
you’re a fan of beer, but it was an
interesting tour nonetheless. Just
don’t get unrealistic expectations that
members of the group will start getting
picked off by shrinking rays and
falling into beer rivers, leaving you the
sole survivor in the end to inherit the
brewery. You might be disappointed.

Damage: $9.75/person

 

What’s the deal with

By Matthew Visser

ow I am not one to go and
N= someone who has a goal

in mind which they want
to reach, but why wait and say that
that goal will start on New Years? In
fact I commend people who strive to
achieve something, let it be losing
ten pounds or running a marathon or
learning a second language. I myself
have goals I want to achieve and
work towards to grow as a human
being and try do things I have never
done before. One goal of mine is to
finish writing a book I started a while
back and am very close to being
done. I guess the first day of the year
makes sense because it is a solid
date, the beginning of the New Year
but why is it that when the person
realized that they want to change that
one thing about themselves or work
towards something, they don’t start
doing it that day and that moment?
This is what confuses me.

The big reason why I think
people love to use the word
resolution is because it gives them a
feeling of hope for themselves and
for other people using it. This year
my New Year’s Resolution is...,
see, it just sounds so promising;
promising because people want to
hear that they are going to succeed
at something that they want to have
in their life. People want to have that
feeling of accomplishment in their
lives, and why not? Even I myself
want this, who doesn’t, have that
feeling and knowing that the hard
work and determination they put
in was not just a couple of floozy
words; words, which mean nothing
in the world of too many people who
give up and blame other things in
their lives for their failure. Now I
might be sounding a bit harsh, but I
am not sorry. I just feel that people
give up to easily and then look at
other parts of their lives to blame
instead of looking at themselves for
why they in the first place decided
to make the resolution and why they
gave up on it. Because let’s face it,
most resolutions get forgotten or lost
as easily as the Christmas gift the out
of place uncle got you thinking you
need that one very unimportant thing,

Qian

resolutions?

2

 

but really you didn’t.

The act of making resolutions
is something that everyone thinks
of and wants to try to do but doesn’t
because they think they will just
stop doing it half way through, or
will succeed and then have nothing
to strive to after. How messed up
is this? If people just sucked up the
hard parts that come with resolutions
and achieving goals then people
would be willing to try new and
exciting things in their lives, instead
of having the lazy attitude which
most people have.

A few years back I dida
resolution ceremony where I wrote
down something I wanted to forget
or move past or learn from and have
be gone in my life on a piece of
paper and with a group of friends. We
burned the pieces of paper signifying
that we no longer wanted that thing
in our lives. This is one other way
of doing a resolution without all the
hard work which comes with them.

So whether or not you believe
in resolutions or feel that they are
pointless, just keep in mind that
another year has gone by and the
days and years only go by faster as
we get older. And there are so many
things to do and see and learn in the
world that makes life pretty amazing.
I say try and do and see as many
things as you can in what time you
want to spend in your life and make
that time a memory to think back to
next New Years.

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