VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – We’ve come a long way from bland brews and gut-burning shots!

News1130 is speaking with the organizers of this week’s Hopscotch Festival in Vancouver about the Lower Mainland’s maturing tastes in craft brewed beer and fine whiskies.

“The markets for whisky and craft beer have increased so much over the last several years,” says Adam Bloch, executive director of Hopscotch.

“You could go to any bar in Vancouver a few years ago and the taps would be nothing but the generic big breweries. Now you go and every single bar has a craft beer tap, if not all of them being craft beer. It’s just such a sign that the palates of people who enjoy these products are becoming more refined,” he says.

“The same for whisky; it was always an old gentleman’s game and now there are people I know in their twenties getting together and drinking scotch. It’s becoming a younger demographic and a lot of women are now liking scotch.”

“It used to be just ‘scotch, scotch, scotch.’ But now, with bourbon and rye becoming so popular, a lot of distilleries are putting a lot of love and a lot of energy into these products. People are sipping them now, whereas before they were more with a mix or just a shot,” explains Bloch.

As more people gain a taste for fine whisky, there are more arguments about the best way to taste it.

“That has been a long debate,” says Bloch. “The truth is that everyone has their own particular way of tasting. You have to remember that whisky is special; its an art. It doesn’t begin or end with the taste. It’s the smell, the look… how does it feel when it hits your tongue and what is the after-taste like? There are so many different elements.”

So… on the rocks or not?

“Hardcore connoisseurs will say you just can’t have ice. I prefer not to have ice in my whisky but I’m also a believe [that you] should drink it how you want to drink it. If you like it with ice, drink it with ice. It should taste the best it can for you, so do whatever you want,” says Bloch.

The 16th Annual Hopscotch Festival continues through Sunday at the PNE Forum in Vancouver.