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Hyper-Specific City Guide: What to Do in Vancouver With Your Brother Who Wears a Suit Everywhere

He infuses his own gin. He wears a suit everywhere but the gym. Here's how to plan the perfect day on the town for your brother who loves the finer things in life.

By the Editors /

This is part of our Ultimate, Hyper-Specific Vancouver City Guide, featured in the May 2024 issue of Vancouver magazine. We’ve created 25 unique personas and 25 unique itineraries to match. If this to-do list for ‘menswear-and-cocktail-obsessed brother’ isn’t helpful, perhaps one of the other 24 bespoke schedules will be. Explore them all here. 

When you walk into the high-intensity Fuse class you’ve booked at House Concepts (free first time classes, or $37 for drop-in, 701–1431 Continental St., houseconcepts.com), just know he’s going to crush you. That’s okay. You’re in a state-of-the-art space with weirdly flattering lighting, your heart is pumping and you’re too busy sweating to get into another awkward fight with him about who Mom loves more.

Towel off and refuel at Matchstick Yaletown (1328 Richards St., matchstickyvr.com), where the espresso is strong even if you aren’t. He’s still putting butter in his coffee but do your best to resist hassling him about it—you want him to maybe buy you a cute pair of socks once he’s done getting fitted for a made-to-measure suit (oooh, forest green!) at Blair Shapera (prices vary; 861 Hornby St., blairshapera.com).

When Big Spender is done, stroll a few doors down to Long Table Distillery (1451 Hornby St., longtabledistillery.com) for a cocktail class ($65), where you’ll get schooled in a trio of impressive drinks and embarrassingly work up another sweat with the shaker.

Now you’re both inspired and a little tipsy. Time to pop into the Modern Bartender (28 E Pender St., themodernbartender.com) to stock up on supplies like habanero bitters ($20) and Luxardo cherries ($25) for what will surely be a lifelong passion for mixology. Ready for some more research? A Chinatown cocktail crawl it is!

Start at Keefer Bar (135 Keefer St., thekeeferbar.com) for an Inside Out old fashioned ($28) and end by ordering the “Number 7” at the unassuming Blnd Tger dumpling shop to achieve access to a dark-and-dreamy speakeasy called Laowai (251 E Georgia St., laowai.ca).

More from the Ultimate, Hyper-Specific Vancouver City Guide here.