‘Drink This! Vancouver’ a fantastic pour

The real secret of a great libation? Not the alcohol. Not the care and craft devoted to fermentation and aging, although those are important, of course. Not the sugar, the salt, the fruit, the other ingredients and flavors in all their bold simplicity or subtle complexity.

It’s the company you keep. That’s why the organizers of the latest “Drink This! Vancouver” are pleased to note that the event, started a few years back by a few downtown barkeeps, shows no signs of slowing: Saturday’s outing is up to a brewer’s dozen participating venues, and the new blend includes several recent Uptown Village additions to what’s mostly been a lower-downtown tour of bars, restaurants, breweries and taprooms.

“Drink This!” is all about stimulating your brain while you lift up your glass. Proprietors, pourers and master mixologists will be on hand with big smiles, small samplers and plenty of information about their locally sourced ingredients, products and techniques.

“This is a best-of-downtown thing where you can meet the artisans and learn a lot,” said publicist Rusty Hoyle of Choice Events. “There is so much happening in downtown Vancouver — craft breweries and wineries, new and exciting bars coming in and mixing things up with craft cocktails.”

“It gets a pretty broad demographic,” said Michelle Brinning of Cellar 55 Tasting Room, a co-op that features small-producer wines from the Walla Walla area. “People who are young and new to wine and cocktails. Older people who have lived here their whole lives but they’re just rediscovering downtown, which has changed so much. It’s a really nice mix.”

There are even a couple of venues that really have nothing to do with drinking. Salmon Creek Outfitters, a brand-new apparel store, got a “special occasion license” to join the fun by serving up Ethereal Meads, which are made in Battle Ground; Simple Solitude, a nail salon, will emphasize not tasty intoxication but health and nutrition — by offering all-organic natural juices from another local startup, Absolutely Juicy.

Uptown living room

Jeremy Cram moved to Vancouver from Portland in 2001, and after a while he burned out on driving back over the bridge to enjoy new brews with old friends. That’s why he and his wife, Sharon, opened a new Upper Main Street establishment, Thirsty Sasquatch, earlier this year. Let his buddies come to him, he said, and discover Vancouver’s surprisingly trendy-yet-friendly beverage scene.

“I like the culture up here,” said Cram. “Everyone seems to enjoy trying different types of beer and other drinks.” The days when you settled on your signature drink and never emerged again from that comfort zone “are long gone,” Cram said. “A lot of people are interested in exploring what’s out there. Crazy beers, different liquors — people are really getting behind trying out drinks like it’s a hobby.”

And what a homey hobby, added Sharon, who describes Thirsty Sasquatch as an extension of her family living room: a cozy, informal space with a small stack of board games available. Since there’s no kitchen you’re perfectly welcome to bring in your own food, Cram said; equally welcome are hot-food deliveries from Vancouver Pizza and Sabor Mexicano, both steps away.

“What I like about being here is, it’s our neighborhood. It brings friends together,” Sharon said. “And it’s walkable.”

What she also likes, she added, is the way women are carving out their own drinking turf. “Many women I know prefer whiskey to beer,” she said, including herself, and for simple reasons: “It tastes better,” she laughed. “It’s not so filling.” Thirsty Sasquatch features 44 whiskeys in addition to a large selection of beers, ciders, wine, kombucha and root beer.

Man caves, lady lockers

Women seem to sip it. Men like to collect and study and even huddle over it in private.

“There’s something about the male psyche,” said Brinning of Cellar 55 Tasting Room — especially the over-40-with-discretionary-income male psyche, apparently.

The bulk of space at Cellar 55 — 9,000 square feet — is a cold, humid, cavernous collection of lockers, small and large, where local folks’ private stashes are stored. “The ideal temperature for storing wine is 55 degrees and 70 percent humidity,” Brinning said — hence the name of her business. “We’re replicating an old French cave, really.”

The smaller lockers hold up to 108 bottles each and cost $25 a month to rent; the largest walk-in spaces hold hundreds of cases — and at least one has also been decked out with Oriental rug, comfy chair and other guy-pleasing amenities. “It’s the ultimate man cave,” Brinning said.

But that’s the storage facility only. The front tasting room should be nice and warm for “Drink This!,” and Brinning will be selling tapas plates as well as a special fall release wine tasting: five wines for $5.

“For the past few years it’s been pretty amazing to watch the transformation of downtown Vancouver,” she said. “So many new microbreweries and bars and cafes and tasting rooms. We hope people will come explore them.”