Celebrating the end of summer, my friend and I took a day trip to Bowen Island. This would be my first time, so was up for the adventure. I never had the need to go, and with what thought it prudent to see why that was.
In order to cut costs and make our travelling easier, we decided to walk on to the ferry at Horseshoe Bay, parking the car for the day. Considering I don’t travel by transit or foot often, I found this act both freeing and relaxing, especially with my friend planning our itinerary. And best of all passengers are the firsts to dis-board, walking off the boat.
Fast forwarding past the ferry ride, we arrived at Snug Cove, where there a few businesses to explore. A couple of food options and a gift shop, as well as water accessory rentals.
Branch on Bowen served tacos and ice cream from Vancouver’s Earnest.
Connected to it is “Narwal”, a gift shop of sorts, they had local BC goods to peruse through, and plenty of giftables to consider.
Kids play sets, candles shaped like cake, and a collection of gourmet pantry staples.
We would have lunch at “Tell Your Friends”, a cafe with an interesting and to the point name. They served hot caffeinated beverages, pastries, light brunch options, and sandwiches. We would each get the latter.
Established within a small house, seating spills out on to the porch, providing a view of the marina, for those who claim it. It was busy and it did take a while for our food to come, well after the drinks.
I had a hot ginger elixir with ginger, lemon, cayenne, and honey. My host a hot matcha latte with oat milk.
The classic BLT was incredibly satisfying and as expected with thick-cut bacon, roasted red onion, aged white cheddar, caramelized onion aioli, house-made cheesy spread, and greens on organic sourdough. Crispy toast, fresh vegetable, and thick enough bacon to carry the sandwich.
My friend had the Spiced Chickpea Sandwich, a zesty vegetarian option which is basically the cafe’s Chickpea salad seasoned with middle eastern spices, greens, cucumber, and chermoula, on organic sourdough.
This gave us enough rest and fuel for our walking tour ahead. The island is quite expansive if you drive or take transit to explore it from end to end. However, by foot, outside of this, there were two cluster of businesses and building areas to explore.
Our first tourist attraction was one of their beaches. Small patches of sand and rock by water. According to this a local, all the beaches on Bowen island are pretty much the same.
So the little patch of land we were on was one of the best because it is more sandy than rocky. We spent some time collecting ocean shells the likes of water smoothed oysters and tiny sea snails.
Next stop was The Hearth Gallery. This is one of the island’s local art galleries. During our visit it featured a showcase by Teryl Mullock: “Transformed by Water”.
The rest of our visit we would walk the streets, stopping at any shop that peaked our interest. Each, a one of, owned and operated locally.
There was a local apothecary, a homey florist, a children’s toy store, home decor shops, housewares, kitchen goods, and both high end and vintage fashion options.
The most popular of these shops was Cocoa West, an award winning chocolatier.
We stopped in for a couple of squares including their birthday cake truffle.
Our final stop was the island’s only distillery. Copper distillery produces award winning whisky, vodka, and gin.
Its exterior looks like nothing else on the island’s architectural landscape. A modern day duplex with a unique concept. They are not registered as a bar. They don’t have a full liquor license, so instead of serving full glasses they can only offer samples from their tasting room bar. You can either have the sips as is: neat, or mixed into a miniature cocktail with only 0.5oz of alcohol each. With a limit of 6 per person, seatings don’t linger and turn around is fairly quick.
The exterior and experience is very contemporary, whereas everything else in town is rustic and more home spun. The bar felt like a resort.
The mixology was incredibly impressive for a tasting room offering. Tasting notes are included only for the ones I did try.
The Fir Tip Spearmint Sparkle is locally foraged fir tips unsuspectedly paired with spearmint, lime and their Presence Vodka. This was savoury to start and it ends minty. A stand alone cocktail, best served as an after meal palate refresher.
The Elderflower Sparkle was Elderflower, lemon balm and apple, plus more Presence Vodka.
The Not Your Grandma’s Soap was another unique one, named for its heavier presence of florals. A deliciously sweet and complex concoction with Presence Vodka, lavender, and botanicals; shaken with aquafaba vegan foamer to add just the perfect amount of creaminess. I found this lovely, the alcohol added value and did not distract from the entirety of the drink.
The Cherry Rye Sour was a twist on a classic sour made with Copper’s rich Cherry Rye Liqueur shaken with aquafaba, fresh squeezed lemon juice, and organic cane sugar.
I liked all the cocktails I had and thought it prudent to try their spirits as is. The Verity Rye Spirit is 100% organic BC rye grain spirit, an un-aged rye whisky. It was lovely and light, a nice summer patio sipping whisky.
Harmony Dry Gin was a 100% organic BC rye vodka base with a select blend of 14 organic botanicals, including wild local fir tips and fresh lime peel, creates a spirit that is aromatic and harmonious. I got sweet cherry on the nose, garden greens on the forefront with the slight bitterness of tea.
The Cherry Rye Liqueur starts with their Verity Rye Spirit and to it they infuse organic cherries and a bit of cinnamon, vanilla, bitter roots and honey. This was like drinking candied cherry coke, this was a fun one.
Poblano Pepper Vodka starts with their Presence Vodka and to it they infuse fresh organic Poblano peppers. The spice was subtle, you hold it in your mouth to feel more of the pepper. I got more sweet vegetable than chilli heat from this.
With this we had a slight buzz to make the 30 minute ferry ride back to Vancouver more fun. This was a great day spent in casual walking and exploration.
