Good stuff. Glad to hear about what’s going on in Vancouver. I’ll add a link to CAMRA Vancouver.

Cheers,
Chris

I find movements like CAMRA and Slow Food are an antidote to this socially destructive path. People are beginning to realize that materialism is soulless and rugged individualism is alienating. Instead, they want to return to a slower pace of life with a vibrant local community based on frequent, repeated interactions.

I see this happening in some pubs and brewpubs in Vancouver. Dix BBQ & Brewing, for example, have a cask-conditioned ale every Thursday that brings together the CAMRA members and like-minded punters. The brewer sits down with us to socialize over pints of his unfiltered, unpasteurized special creation of the week. Sometimes, people even bring in beer souvenirs from their travels to open and sample with everyone, including the bartenders.

It’s also something I see evolving in the craft beer and food scene here. Establishments are experiencing the vagaries of uncertain supply and fluctuating prices based on an arms length, globalized supply chain. To create more stability, also with a view towards sustainability, they are looking more to local suppliers/growers. This, in turn, strengthens community and reconnects us to the land, putting us more in sync with the natural rhythms of nature’s seasons.

The Regal Beagle, I haven’t heard a reference to that in a long time! Did you read the depressing story about the death of rural Irish pubs I posted just after the above post?

Personally, I feel a constant pull between wanting to live in a small town where I can know everyone and have a close-knit community, versus wanting to be in the city where there are more and better job opportunities. Plus, I hate to say it, but small towns just seem too conservative for me in general, at least the small towns that are near where most of my family lives (which are the only small towns where I’d be willing to move, so I can stay close to them). I grew up in a small town and I go back pretty often but the attitudes and world-experiences of the folks there always seem a bit sheltered to me. I would drive me nuts.

Chris

As a product of those self-same suburbs, I have longed for the type of community you’re talking about. My wife and I both, when we were looking for a place to live, wanted to have our own “Regal Beagle” (referring, of course, to the bar-slash-gathering place on TV sitcom Three’s Company).