These passports won't help you get into another country.
Instead, they're a way to explore the local craft beer scene. Created by the B.C. Ale Trail, the Tasting Passports offer participants encouragement to try new places as well as a chance to win beer-themed prizes.
There are two for Vancouver, both for hyper-local areas.
One is for the Brewery Creek area, where Vancouver's earliest breweries set up shop. The passport for the neighbourhood is focused on 15 breweries, taprooms, and beer stores in Mount Pleasant, including Main St. Brewing, 33 Acres Brewing and Portland Craft; there are a couple of operations that are a bit further out, with Tap and Barrel Bridges (on Granville Island) and Brewing August (on the Fairview/Kitsilano border) included as well.
On the east side there's the Yeast Vancouver grouping, which is centered around the many breweries in the Commercial Drive, Strathcona, and east Hastings area, like Container Brewing, Superflux, and Andina. Also involved in the passport are a few non-beer companies, with Hublebee Meadery, Odd Society Spirits and Resurrection Spirits all involved.
Outside of the two Vancouver neighbourhoods there are also passports for Port Moody's Brewers Row, one covering communities south of the Fraser River (like Delta's Four Winds and Russell Brewing's new Surrey location) and one covering locations north of the Fraser, but east of Vancouver (like Dageraad out of Burnaby and Port Coquitlam's Boardwalk Brewing).
To participate, people can pick up a 'Tasting Passport' from one of the businesses involved. Then it's just a matter of collecting stamps, like with any other passport. But with this one, once six stamps have been collected, it becomes an entry into a draw which runs throughout the month of February.
"Each passport has its own Staycation prize package, which includes a 1- or 2-night stay, activities, and gift cards to spend on beer and meals, which one lucky entrant will win in each region," says ale trail organizers in a press release.
At the same time the B.C. Ale Trail is encouraging people to use transit and participate in the Dine the Line program while filling out a passport.
