This was the first year that I attended the annual Country Club Festival. Sister to Rose Disco, both hosted by Feaster. These are two of summer’s most popular food, drink, and music festivals centred around its own theme.
In previous years it was held at PNE’s fair grounds, but this year they changed venues, opting for a larger arena, moving festivities to Jericho Beach, downtown. However having to travel further to it, having to walk all the way around trying to find the entrance in the rain, and having to trek across empty fields to get to the VIP section, I found it a little too large.
According to the website they were expecting 6000 patrons. With the rain and like the rain, the crowd trickled down at their own pace, all within the 6 hour allotted time frame. Seeing as tickets were non refundable and that this is Vancouver after all, we were ready and prepared to brave the weather. Luckily the dress code lent itself well to the need and most of us were planning on wearing cowboy hats to match the theme anyways. This kept us shielded without the need to hold an umbrella. Although the showrunners did bring out their pink and white golf umbrellas a day early, before Rose Disco, to shelter the standing tables in the VIP lounge. They helped, but it meant you were landlocked, whereas everything that made this event was spread out around the perimeter of it.
Advertised as “Country Fair Vibes. Festival Energy”. There were mechanical bulls to ride, blow up bulls to lasso, giant beer pong, corn hole, and other oversized lawn games.
For those who regret not dressing to theme there were several vendor stalls to shop from. They offered patterned fringed jackets and leather stitched boots, to customizable cowboy hats, and a slew of western accessories.
We mostly kept occupied at the Tequila Tasting Saloon. This was handful of booths, each featuring a different bottle of tequila, where you can either sample shots or purchase a cocktail made with it. Most drinks went for 6 tokens. Tokens were purchased electronically through their app and you only need to have the QR code scanned to redeem them. This is the first time I witnessed and used such ingenuity and technology. I found this clever seeing as we would naturally be holding your phone anyways, and without dealing with “dollars”, it certainly had me spending more than I wanted to.
I started with $40, which only got me 20 tokens, so it was $2 per one token. They went fast, and I ended up reloading the app two times. It was nice that you could customize by the amount you want to spend or the number of tokens you wanted to receive.
For drinks we started with Slamables the vodka based pink drink from Alberta. It reminded me of Pink Whitney, as easy to down with a lemony finish, but with no sugar. The actual owner was on location and we not only got to meet him, but snag a pair of their stylish, literal rose coloured glasses. I wouldn’t be able to attend Rose Disco the following day, but I am sure both the sunglasses and drink were a hit then and there.
We also took shots of Teremana tequila out the end of a pink cowboy boot. And enjoyed a tequila tasting flight at the Agave Saloon. A blanco, a reposado, an anejo, and a flavoured agave spirit.
Tequila Cascahuin’s Blanco was a stone-oven roasted and unaged cooked agave. It had flavours of cracked pepper and bright citrus with an earthy edge. Cimarron Reposado was rested in American oak for a soft vanilla and caramel flavour, with a whisper of cinnamon. Siempre Añejo Tequila was rested in ex-bourbon oak for notes of toffee, salted caramel, and dark chocolate, finishing with a warm peppercorn spice. And Solmano’s Mango Pechuga Mezcal is mango blended with 7-year Espadín for a vegan pechuga that is zero-sugar, bold on the nose, and subtle on the palate.
When it came time to eat, we took advantage of our VIP access and looked to Riz sushi and their specialty roll that only available for today. The Cowbowy Roll was 8 pieces of Wagyu, burdock root, tempura garlic stem, chive, hacho miso glaze, and taro sticks. This was done in the style of their infamous torched rolls that os equal parts warm and creamy, and lush and flavourful. It was a delicious bite befitting of the theme.
For the rest of the evening we explored the venue enjoying live performances, crowd sing-alongs, line dancing lessons, and the best dressed in the west contest. In short, we had a fun time and I will be looking forward to this one again next year.
