Come a wassailing to the Cork and Keg wine and beer festival

What a great time this event was and right in my own backyard of Langley. I’m speaking of course of the “Cork and Keg” event this past Friday September 30 where a lot of local and international wine, cheese and craft artisans showcased they’re wares. I took a cousin from out of town and he and I were amazed at the amount of great products that were available in the lower mainland alone. There were Cheese from South Surrey (Keso), Beer from Aldergrove (Dead Frog Brewery) and Mission BC (Mission Springs Brewing Co.) and catering services and culinary products from right here in Langley (Well Seasoned) not to mention all the great products internationally such as Argentina (Cantinian Wines), California (Belle Glos wines) and Chile (Vina Coyle) and so many more wines from BC (Blasted Church and Gray Monk). The evening was casual and lacking in pretension which was nice. The event was open to everyone and anyone whether you were a seasoned wine and beer expert or a curious knowledge seeker in which category my cousin definitely falls into as he swirled his beer and chugged his wine. I on the other hand had a little more sense to use the spit buckets provided for their named purpose. We worked the room slowly but surely that evening with our glass, he loving the white wines and beer and myself partial to reds and the cheese, oh the cheeses! I noticed however that my cousin was partial to the California and international wines, I watched intently as he savoured a Beringer white following it with a sigh of content. Well, after about the 4th time his satiated expression took place I pulled him towards a BC white from Blasted Church at which he simply looked at me and said “not bad”. I could not accept this review of our BC wine and thought to myself perhaps he was being coy or it was his way of implying Canada couldn’t possibly produce great quality wines worthy of his “to die for” expression. Then it clicked for me remembering that he was only a novice when it came to this sort of thing. I advised him to try the Blasted Church Riesling at which he then rolled back his eyes to a close and declared that this was HIS wine at which my response was, “yes sweet isn’t it, better than the Moscato and the Gewurtstraminer you tried earlier?” I did get him to try a red wine, the Belle Glos C&T Pinot Noir and he loved it as did I. I’ve always advised my friends that I could never find a Pinot Noir that I liked other than the Belle Glos Meomi but this was spicier, smoother and oh so beautifully balanced with sweet spices, cinnamon, ginger and cranberries, great for the upcoming holiday season, it made me want to open my presents tomorrow. My cousin was not the only one who discovered new things that evening I was surprised at the beers, at how much I liked them. I am not a beer drinker but if there was one that would change that for me it would be the dead frog pepper lime lager with a great black pepper and lime combination that made my mouth salivate in between sips. Mission Springs brewing company also produced some great beers such as the “Bombshell” and the “Fat Stout” that from the taste of it warns of results on the label. They gave us a couple of bars of soaps as well that they also produce. We had tasted great local cheeses from “Happy Days Goat Dairy” and “Keso cheese” as well as partaking of some artisan chocolates, fruits and crackers courtesy of “Edible Vancouver”. After about 2 hours, my cousin was feeling the fruits of his labour of waiting behind people from booth to booth that he not only swirled his beer and chugged his wine, but also began comparing the Caymus Zinfandel to baby duck. I knew that the evening was coming to a close. We both had a great time and took in more cheese than we would like and one of the best parts of the evening, just like a number of the companies that were there that evening - we were only blocks away from home.