While on holiday in Bermuda, we developed a bit of an addiction to Barritt's Ginger Beer, a ginger soft drink that has been bottled in Bermuda since 1874. Unfortunately for us Canadians, it's only available outside Bermuda in the United States and the Caribbean. Upon returning to Vancouver, we started scouring the city for something that could replace our beloved ginger drink. We had just about given up on finding a ginger beer that tasted like something other than sugar, when we discovered Dickie's Ginger.

Dickie's is the creation of Vancouverite Stephen Tufts. Originally from the Okanagan, Stephen moved to Vancouver in 2012 after previously leaving his job as a software engineer to bicycle around Asia. Upon returning to Canada, Stephen wanted to do something that would contribute to the urban fabric, bringing people and their city together. Knowing of a successful ginger beer company in Seattle, Stephen started his crusade to create Vancouver's perfect ginger beer.

After four months of trial and error, Stephen had found a recipe he was happy with and Dickie's was created. In 2014, Stephen started selling his product at Farmers Markets, carefully watching peoples' faces for feedback. By 2015, he had started bottling the product and distributing it around Vancouver. The recipe consists of three ingredients: real ginger, real lemon, and real organic cane sugar. The result is a drink that perfectly balances the taste of ginger and lemon, with a hint of sweetness. In addition to the original flavour, Stephen makes three additional flavours each week. All the batches are made weekly for maximum freshness. Due to the nature of cold pressed, unpasteurized juice, each batch good for up to four weeks.

Dickies Ginger is still sold at Farmers Markets (check the website for dates and locations). It is also available at stores and restaurants / bars in Vancouver, West Vancouver, North Vancouver, New Westminster, and Squamish (check the website for locations). Some places will even fill a growler - that's a lot of Dark 'N' Stormys.

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