Clever...but still busted

It’s been a while since I’ve taken the oppourtunity to write, as our progress towards opening Pourhouse has been satisfying and all-consuming. Sometimes in life, inspiration just strikes you, and I was struck this morning. Saturday, September 5th was the 7th Annual Steamworks Concours d’Elegance - a smorgasbord of neatly and lovingly displayed art-on-wheels. You don’t have to be a car enthusiast to be affected by a display like the one that lined the rain-glazed cobblestones of Water Street. My morning walk through Gastown was painted with a rainbow of showy and virile muscle-cars, quirky roadsters, charmingly miniature brits, and massive sedans. I quickly acquired an Americano at Smartmouth Cafe, dashing back to the street where I proceeded to drool in awe over the stream of vehicles being gingerly eased into their display positions by proud albeit protective pilots. My morning was to be spent at our construction site - considering the wine list and developing cocktail recipes - but I had been absorbed by the spectacle outside my door. As I got close to our address, my eyes widened - realizing that the classic trucks had all been arranged directly in front of Pourhouse.

I love trucks. I love trucks almost as much as I love drinking. There were a few sad years in my past when I didn’t drive a truck, and I’d prefer to forget them. Seeing a cool, old truck sparks an emotional response in me; I begin to think of all the great things I associate with trucks (mine or otherwise): truck rallies, tailgate partying, road trips, off-roading, or just riding around with the window open and my dog blissfully sticking his head out it. I was in a whiskey-state-of-mind today, and my thoughts turned to an infamous and iconic vision: The Bootlegging Truck. During the early 20s, the legendary Ford Model T was the standard steed - succeeded by the Model A near the end of that decade. The Diamond T Model U and Packard Model E provided supporting cast on missions of alcoholic mercy from the Whiskey warehouses of Eastern Canada. There were no trucks as old as those metal miscreants in Gastown today, but their spirit resounded in these dependable descendants from the 30s and 50s.

1920s Entrepreneurs and their Ford Model A

Outside my door - 1936 International

On the Gastown Concours - a 1958 Rhapsody in Green

1953 GMC - be still my heart

The Prohibition years (1919-1933) were dark days for the United States - but where there is crisis, there is also oppourtunity. “The Noble Experiment” proved to create booming business for the ambitious bootlegger and a golden era for the North American black market. The distilleries and breweries of Canada burgeoned, as illicit trade routes eagerly sought to satisfy the stifled American thirst for Whiskey and Beer. The Roaring Twenties had been born, and the venerable American truck was called to duty in support of supplying a spawning sea of Speakeasies.

The blossoming Bar & Bartending community of Vancouver has a lot to thank this era for - The lore of the Speakeasy is often over-romanticized, but born of a deep affection for the American Bar and all its torrid history. There isn’t an ambitious Bartender in this town that doesn’t smirk at the thought of Prohibition-Era Taverns and all their gritty glamour - when cocktail flavours were fearless. Down at the East end of Water Street, our friends at The Diamond have that reverence running through them too - having built a beautiful monument to the Cocktail there, looking down on Maple Tree Square and the humble statue of Captain John “Gassy Jack” Deighton - frontier Vancouver saloonkeeper and father of Gastown. The soul of Pourhouse resonates with the history of its one-hundred year old wood and brick foundations. Every day, the stout character of Gastown seeps its way a little further into our hearts and minds. As we work to respectfully imbibe ourselves into the community, the perfect procession of pickups past our windows seems to ring true with the very fiber of our neighbourhood.

As our construction nears completion, my enthusiasm to get back behind the Bar escalates. It will be my endless pride to serve you up that Speakeasy spirit - one drink at a time on a journey of genuine Gastown hospitality. Plunk yourself at the wood, toss me your keys, and let us do the driving.

Cheers, J