BackBar - Booze Culture Distilled

New extension of licensing hours to be In place in time for Olympics.

Ringing in the 2010 comes with new provincial fines, with a doubling in alcohol related offences...

 In my shortish time here in Vancouver, one thing I've noticed is that Vancouverites love their brunches. And as a result of this there are some pretty good places to go to sort your stomach lining out from the night before and prepare for the day ahead. Nothing quite hits the mark like the Full English breakfast pictured above, but there are some notables.

Sure there's the hotel spreads and the finer dining brunches, and they're great, but that's a bit fancy for me. When I'm in the throws of a stonking hangover I'm more of a fan of a good honest breakfast in a nice little cafe or diner that's not going to break the bank, and so here's bunch of the better breakfast spots in town:

So the Keefer Bar in Chinatown has finally opened it's doors. It sits beneath a boutique hotel on the ground floor of an old heritage building on Pender St.  A good looking, small, tight space with a dark, moody, sinister feel.  

Forget these plastic 'Irish' venues riddled with leprechauns serving green dyed pissy lager. I am a man who enjoys a proper pint of Guinness in real surroundings. So here's my top five favourite spots in Vancouver to sup on a pint of the black stuff… 

I've just been sent news of a interesting new bar restaurant opening in Vancouver, scheduled for early 2011. The bar, to be called 'Top Guns', is brought to us by a consortium of Paramount executives and a few of the stars including Kelly Mcgillis and Anthony Edwards. Tom Cruise is said not to be involved, an unnamed spokesperson said "isn't he a bit too f#@king crazy to be running a bar, besides we wouldn't want him jumping all over the couches destroying the upholstery!"  

Vancouver's cocktail scene has really matured in recent years and has a much bigger presence in an already thriving food and wine scene. (Click below for full story and our video bar guide of Refuel)

Coming upon us fast is the first ever Vancouver Craft Beer Week, to be held from May 10th to the 16th. Brought to you in association with CAMRA, the campaign for real ale, the week long event "aims to inspire a broader interest in all aspects of beer in order to cultivate a flourishing craft beer culture in the region."

This one we've been looking forward to for some time now and it's only days away. The opening of the new Carribean joint, 'Calabash', on the edge of Chinatown is to open next week and we got a sneaky peak into this funky little venue and took some shots…