The Liberty Merchant Company hosted the 16th annual fund raising event, Taste B.C. 2010 – A Celebration of Local Food and Drink, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Vancouver last night. The goal of Taste BC is to raise money for the B.C. Children’s Hospital – Oak Tree Clinic, which specializes in providing care and services to sufferers of HIV/AIDS. Along with the food and drink, the attractions included live music, door prizes and a silent auction that features luxury items.
While the event is branded as a celebration of food and wine, the main emphasis is on the wine. This isn’t surprising since Liberty is a wine merchant and not a food purveyor. Attendees were able to sample wines, beers and spirits from 77 participants. Each winery brought at least two wines (red and white) and some brought as many as six. If you were to sample every drink on display, you would be one drunk chicken by the end of the night. Everyone leaving the event is given a free bus pass whether they need it or not.
The food lineup is no where near as impressive as the wine. There were only five stations serving food and one station serving cheese. Nothing really stood out for me except for the cheese cake with bacon. It stood out not because it tasted good but because the combination was so unusual. The other food stations were pretty underwhelming. It’s a shame that Miku wasn’t able to be at Taste BC this year. They were the star of the 2009 show.
For the British Columbia wine connoisseur, Taste BC is a can’t miss event. There’s really no other event in the province where you can sample so many wines all in one place. Many people take wine tasting very seriously. I even saw one person who brought his own wine glass with him instead of using the ones provided by the Hyatt hotel. While wine tasting maybe the main theme of Tast BC, I sampled a bunch of beers and ciders as well. My favorite drink of the night was the Braebum ice cider from Raven Ridge Cidery. Next time I’m at a Liberty Wine store, I’m picking up a few bottles.
All photos by Ed Lau.