Cyclists
shift toward

boozed-up
biking
Some say it's a safer

alternative to drinking
and driving

By JASON GILDER

iewed by some as a safer alter-

\ | native to drinking and driving,

cycling under the influence of
alcohol is on the rise in Vancouver.

As more awareness is focused on the
risks of drunk driving, many Vancou-
verites are finding themselves cycling
their way to and from bars and micro-
breweries across the city.

Thomas Batty, head brewer of Dog-
wood Brewing in South Vancouver,
said that a lot of customers come to his
brewery on a bicycle. With the rise of
microbreweries all over Vancouver, the
sight of jammed-up bike racks outside
of tasting rooms has become increas-
ingly common. He knows that this is

less harmful to

drivers, but be-
lieves it is still
a risk to cyclists’

well-being.
MAY USE | “DE
FULL LANE | way it can be

considered a

safe alternative

is for other drivers on the road,” Batty
said. “The only person youre really go-
ing to endanger is yourself.”

Batty said hopping from brewery to
brewery on a bicycle can be fun, but
does not condone drunk biking.

Oliver Majewski, who works at the
Ride On It bike shop in Marpole, said
that although it is not completely risk-
free, there is probably some truth to the
idea of cycling under the influence be-
ing safer than driving.

“The velocities are much lower,’
Majewski said. “If you have an object
weighing 4,000 lbs travelling at a ve-
locity of 70 kilometres an hour, that is
way more unsafe than an object weigh-
ing 200 Ibs travelling at 15 kilometres
an hour.”

Majewski points out that riding
while intoxicated is still hazardous to
the cyclist. Missing time at work or
paying for health services out of pocket

are just some of the consequences asso-
ciated with drinking and cycling.
Kiefer Blackburn, who works at
Dream Cycle on Commercial Drive,
said that the more experienced the rid-
er, the safer they are. Being a seasoned
rider can often offset some of the dan-
gers of bicycling under the influence.
“Tve been a rider for well over 20
years, so for me it’s just one of those
things that comes naturally,” he said.

Technically, yes. Impaired driving
laws do not apply to cyclists.

You can still be arrested for
public intoxication, or for not
following traffic rules like running
stop signs.

Under ICBC rules, if a cyclist
damages a car, a driver may have
the right to recover costs from
the cyclist.

SOURCES: VPD, ICBC,
SIMPSON, THOMAS & ASSOCIATES

Non-traditional couples and other revellers gather at Club Eden,

‘|

which organizes regular private parties in locations throughout Metro Vancouver. Facebook

added the "in an open relationship" status in 2011, signalling that non-traditional sexual relationships are more mainstream. suamiTTED PHOTO

Monogamy Is sooo 2011

Swinger or non-traditional relationships on the rise in Metro

By SASHA ZEIDLER

ancouverites are swinging in
every direction, but not on
the dance floor.

Swinging, or being “in the
lifestyle,” as it is now commonly known,
is the non-monogamous practice where
sexual relations take place outside of the
relationship. In recent years, lifestyle
clubs and websites have seen a drastic
increase in popularity.

Chuck, who asked that his real name
not be used, has been in the lifestyle for
three years with his wife. Meeting new
people, and partaking in conversations
he normally would not, is what entices
Chuck and his wife to swing.

“We met people from Boston about a
month ago. We met for a drink and they

were fun and turns out they were big
Trump supporters,” he said. “We had a
big political discussion with them and
then he [had sex with] his wife in front
of us and it was just a fun evening.”

Club Eden, a life-
style club whose loca-
tion changes each week,
holds swinger parties
for private members in
the lifestyle. Their first
event drew roughly 60
people when it launched
in 2008. The owner, who
prefers to be called Eve,
said gatherings now attract crowds in
the hundreds.

Eve said that the moment Facebook
added “in an open relationship” to their
relationship status options in 2011, it

was clear there was an evident increase
in the popularity of the lifestyle.

“It’s not swinging that’s growing, that
term is going out. It’s that a more open-
minded approach and less judgmental

“Turns out they were big Trump supporters.

We had a big political discussion with them

and then he [had sex with] his wife in front
of us and it was just a fun evening.”

— CHUCK, WHOIS 'IN THE LIFESTYLE’

emotional attachment is forming,” she
said. “With the millennials, they've
grown up with the internet to be much
more accepting of alternative lifestyles,

of the LGBTQ. community. There’s

been a much more organic education
process.”

An anonymous representative of Fet-
Vancouver.com, a bondage, domina-
tion, sadism and masochism (BDSM)
and fetish event list-
ing website, said that
swinging is just one
aspect of a larger sub-
culture.

“Swinging can be in-
tegrated with BDSM,”
the representative said
in an email.

“That is why we are
seeing this explosion of acceptance with
the clubs, with the parties, with the life-
style in general,” Eve said.

“Because it isn’t just swinging any-
more.”

south Van distillery

Former bartender
and chef distill
apple-based
vodka and gin

By CHRISTOPHER THOROSKI

P | Ahree years ago ‘Taylor Dewar
was slinging drinks at some of
Vancouver’s better known cock-

tail lounges. Today, he is hoping his own

brand of spirits will sit on bar shelves
alongside names like Hendrick’s Gin
and Grey Goose.

Dewar is the founder and owner of
Tailored Spirits, a new South Vancou-
ver distillery located on Kerr Street.
He hopes to officially launch this year.
Dewar previously worked as a bartender
with the Glowbal Restaurant Group
and as a bar manager at Oru Restaurant
in the Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel.

It was there that he found the inspi-
ration to start his own distillery.

“My wife basically said you can do all
of that, so I just started creating my own
stuff,” Dewar said.

“We're probably 80 per cent of the
way there. We have our development
permit and we’re just waiting on our

building permit,” said the 29-year old
entrepreneur. “For every other distillery
we've talked to it’s been two to three
years.”

Unlike other distillers, Dewar uses
locally-grown apples as his base for gin
and vodka. Dewar also distills kirsch,
a colourless cherry-flavoured brandy,
whisky and pisco, a Peruvian specialty.
Odd Society Spirits opened their

: East Vancouver dis-
pr | tillery in October
of 2013. General
manager Miriam
Karp said opening
a new distillery in
Vancouver is dif-
© ficult but finding a

suitable — and af-
fordable - location
is the real challenge.

“When opening in Vancouver it’s
expensive,” Karp said. “Industrial land
is limited and additionally, distilleries
have to meet a fire rating code in their
building.”

Chris Konarski, a retired chef who
also worked with Oru, has been Dew-
ar’s partner in his venture for over three
years. He became inspired to start dis-
tilling after travelling throughout Eu-
rope.

"I was in a french countryside town
where there was a mobile distillery that
comes once a year to make moonshine

Miriam Karp
GENERAL MANAGER
ODD SOCIETY

poised to

for everyone. And that the moment I
saw that I wanted to get into this,” he
said.

While the process of opening the
new business has been difficult, Konar-
ski believes that staying motivated in
the face of small setbacks has been vital

launch

as Tailored Spirits inches closer to its
official launch.

“We put our heads down and do it.
We both come from a very hard-work-
ing background,” Konarski said. “We
build up on each other’s great ideas.”

Partners Chris Konarski (left) and Taylor Dewar (right) at Tailored Spirits on
Kerr Street. The two have been working for three years to open a distillery.

PHOTO CHRISTOPHER THOROSKI