I was heading downtown for a different social event after work yesterday when I decided to pop into Rebellion Brewing to have “a couple” samples from the many unique brews at their 4th Annual Cask Fest before carrying on my way.
The tap room was packed and I was resigned to standing along a wall, awkwardly sipping my samples when a regular who’d earlier introduced himself as I walked by, waved me over to a seat he’d found at the bar.
We talked beer for a while over a few different samples then he left to wander and his seat was quickly filled by someone else. While chatting with this new person, we realised we shared a friend in common – someone who I used to work with at RPL is her cousin. (And coincidentally, when I’d looked at the FB event page for Cask Fest, the cousin had indicated she was interested in attending – though it turns out they weren’t going to be there that day.)
That person left with her friend to go to a “Girl’s Night” and once again the seat was quickly filled by another person. Somehow, this conversation quickly became about his many visits to Hawaii (possibly inspired by my recommendation of Rebellion’s own entry in Cask Fest, “Tropical Milkshake“?)
By this point, I decided I wasn’t in any condition to drive to the other event (honestly, with the current drinking while intoxicated rules, you can barely drink a single pint without risking having your vehicle impounded) so decided to try a Designated Driver service.
As opposed to a cab, these services send a team of two people – one who drives your vehicle home for you and one in a trailing vehicle who picks up the driver when they get you home. Plus I ended up having another great conversation – this time, covering everything from current economic conditions in Regina to the opiate addiction epidemic to testicular cancer! 
It’s slightly more expensive than a cab (about ten bucks) but well worth it to have my car safe and sound in the driveway this morning.
(Oh, and should also note that it was cool to see Rebellion using buns from my hometown Indian Head Bakery!)
