The Bourbon

Maybe it was because we came on a Tuesday, but this place was totally empty. It’s a pretty large place but we were the only people there! The server came and greeted us and asked us what we’d like to order. I asked if they had a drink menu, and he said that they do not. Whaaaaaat??? What kind of bar doesn’t have a drink menu? So, we asked him what he would recommend and he recommended a pitcher of bud. He brought it out and it was warm.
The interior was interesting though. It’s a «country» bar complete with moose heads, bear skin, and a mechanical bull. They were also playing country music. I think this place would be interesting if there were more people, but honestly I wouldn’t come here again.

As we were walking around Gastown looking for a place to drink at, we noticed that all their bars charge an entrance or cover fee. Like what, we don’t do that in CA, yeah for a freakin’ club, but not bars! So we passed by The Bourbon and they let us in for free. Without knowing, it was a country bar!
That’s a first! Luckily, I knew some of the songs they played haha.
There were two bars, all the staff were dress up to the country theme, which was nice to see.
There was the mechanical bull that’s available for everyone to try for free.
The guy who manages it was very funny – made the whole experience quite entertaining.
As the night goes on, it got more crowded and the small dance floor was really packed.
Overall, quite an experience to be at a country bar.

Not into country at all but still had a great time at this bar. I’ll admit to having two stepped my ass off. The dance lessons were a nice touch as well. Friendly staff. Good atmosphere.

I like the place. Usually it is fun. Bartenders and security are friendly. Prices are fine.
Add on top a nice country music :)
I’ve heard that the «bull» guys is not very nice sometimes, but didn’t check it myself :))

I’ll be the first to admit that I was very hesitant when my friends said we were going to a country bar. I don’t consider myself a fan of country music or country culture by any means, so my expectations were not high. However, The Bourbon has something for everyone, and was an absolute blast.
First things first, there’s a mechanical bull. While at the beginning of the night I admired this from afar, a couple hours and many drinks later I was convinced I needed to try it since it was on my bucket list… It was SO much fun! The guy who runs this part of the bar is super entertaining and makes the whole experience so much better. I even made it to level 3! There’s also a small dance floor which gets more crowded as the night goes on, and 2 bars.
The ambiance is very fun and casual, and not creepy or sleazy at all. There is a cover that can run pretty high if you’re not on the guest list, but the cover girl gave us a very generous discount and let us in for $ 4 each. Definitely worth checking out, and I will be back!

My favorite place in Vancouver. It’s big and spacious but can get packed on a busy night. The best bar tenders in all of Vancouver! Music is country but I like that. The owner is also a really cool guy! And they serve hot dibs at 1 am. I love them!

Fun place to go with your friends on a girls night out! Good music & great drinks. It’s a large place that doesn’t get too crowded like most other places in the city. Also has the mechanical bull!

The sign that reads: Some of the most beautiful women have walked through this door describes this bar perfectly. OMG!!!
I’ve been here a few Fridays in a row, you can sometimes find free cover tickets from some promoters around the bar usually between the Met and the Charles Bar.
The mechanical bull is a fun and free ride (after you get in, cover or not) on Friday and Saturdays. If you’re a guy, you may wanna consider wearing a jock strap, because your family jewels will hurt like hell for a bit after the ride. It didn’t feel like getting kicked in the groin but certainly reminds me of it.
Budweiser cans are $ 3 on Friday nights which is the minimum that they can charge according the liquor control board. It works out to about $ 3 for 12 oz of beer (355ml). If you could pour that into a 20oz Pint, they would charge you $ 5 for the full 20 oz. Not sure if this is a regular thing, but once they gave out free hotdogs to everyone in the bar around one am on a Friday night. That was pretty epic.
It’s a mix of country and top 40 songs depending on the crowd. Yes, it’s probably dead from Sunday to Thursday. And yes, it’s a dive bar (I mean, the sign does say it’s been around since 1936.) And I’m not sure about g-​list as I’ve never had to be on one to get in because I tend to come early. I do think the fact that the staff dress up to the Country theme with their sheriff badges is extra effort on their part though. And I can’t think of another bar in or around Vancouver unless you drive quite a bit away with a mechanical bull. But this 4 stars is for the amount of fun I tend to have at the bar during the weekend.
Tip:
Once in awhile you can by-​pass cover if they have promoters working on the streets on Cordova near the Woodwards building.

This was venue stop #3 on a stagette over the weekend and we were ready to get the bride-​to-​be on that mechanical bull and have some fun!
On the plus… if you want a mechanical bull, this is the place, cheap drinks? Sure but don’t bother going for the doubles, the drinks are sweet and were not all that strong. They do play country music, but it’s mixed in with a lot of pop. The crowd is yooooouung.
We had a guestlist and I had told the guy that we wouldn’t be there until late so he extended the time for us until 11:30. Well at 11:15 I gave my name and they said they didn’t have guestlist for us. Luckily I had kept the email confirming and also gave my contact’s name and all of a sudden they knew what I was talking about. Half of us paid cover ($ 10) and the other half were in for free so I’m not too sure how that worked out, but better than nothing I guess!
This definitely wouldn’t be my fave place to go but things were going okay until somehow one person in our group’s shirt ended up on the air mattress thingy (that the mechanical bull sits on) and then on seeing it later on a table to the side, she went over to get it and was stopped by the bull operator (yes, this all sounds weird but it happened). First off, we were not all that drunk and definitely not being rowdy and it was not our group that threw the shirt in. There were a LOT of young rowdies around us so who knows how it ended up on there. Anyways, they refused to give the shirt back to our friend. We explained what had happened and even offered pics of her wearing the shirt at the beginning of the night and they held firm. They said we could try to come back at 2am when the place closed to get it back. Why does this make sense to come back when people are even more drunk at 2? I have no idea… We ended up getting a manager involved who also tried to reason with the bull operators (there were 3 of them making a fuss and berating us) and in the end we did get the shirt back. In the end, we were good but it was totally unnecessary and their ‘policy’ and ‘explanation’ made absolutely no sense.
Would I recommend going back? If you want to try a mechanical bull, sure, otherwise, no way. I still gave it a generous 2 stars as it played the part for our event and that’s it.

if you like to go out to bars only to have the door guy claim that your one friend is too drunk (when she’s literally only had three drinks), and then not let any of you in «until you go get her a cup of coffee», and then demand that you tell him what kind of coffee you got her and from where, then this place will fit the bill! this baboon was also telling patrons to not buy any alcohol once they got in… what an exciting business model this is: a bar that discourages drinking! safe to say i took his advice and will encourage everyone else to do so as well ~~

My friends and I came here to celebrate my birthday and had a great time!
Pros:
Atmosphere, nice sized dance floor (not too big or not too small), the mechanical bull, the country theme (so fun!)
Cons:
Are their double drinks really doubles? …who knows for sure
There are definitely more ladies than gents (but it’s great for a girls’ night!)
Tip: If you build a guest list and get there before nine there’s no cover

1^st time was for a staff party i was here it was not great, but ok.
I came in a couple of times after, for the pool tables, but after I saw cockroaches in the benches I stopped coming in for awhile.
Last night I found their website offering country music, and thought I would try them again (need a change of scenery).
Not happy about the ‘remodel’ (they removed most of the benches, took out all but one pool table, and put in a mech. bull) and though the website states guys no cover till 9, ladies’ ½ price cover to 10, the bouncers tried to argue the point («only if you on guest list»). yeah, and it’s my first rodeo, huh?
So, to make up for the sorry dregs that hang here during the day they want to soak those who have money?
The bar is divided between old men shooting pool– whose legs are so bad they need the table to support, and the younger folk in the back (who appear to all know each other).
On the plus side, I didn’t see a cockroach.
commenting on some of the reviewers’ notes about sparkling shirts, I have 2 things to say:
1) there used to be a pool hall on davie, and I went in once with a girl I wanted to be intimate with, and her 2 gay friends. Let’s just say that ‘if pictures of naked fat men on the wall with huge dicks offend you’, yeah I WAS in the wrong place. No need to worry about gays being ‘offended’ in a country bar.
2) Some people just DON’T get Foxworthy– likely they lost their funny bone.

Very fun time! I had to wait an hour in line and I was about to just leave. When I finally got in, it was definitely worth the wait. WARNING: almost all the people there are 20 – 21.

HORRIBLE. this place has the worst customer service I have ever encountered in my life. the staff is so rude and unfriendly I was absolutely shocked.
I lost my ID on St. Patty’s and called the next morning to see if it was there. The bartender told me that she couldn’t check and I could drive down and check myself if I wanted to know. I was shocked. I told her I was across town and I had been waiting until twelve for them to open and I needed to cross the border.
The bartender told me that it wasn’t her problem. I begged her to just check for me. She told me she had better things to do. I didn’t know what to say. She told me to call back in a half an hour because they weren’t even open. (UH if you’re not open what better things are you possibly doing???) I said thank you and she just hung up on me. I was outraged and decided to call back and ask to speak with a manager. It was the same girl and she said that she was a manager. I continued to argue with her about checking for my id for ten minutes, and finally she said that all ID’s were in a safe and it was locked until twelve thirty when the person with the key to the safe would arrive. I was blown away. Why hadn’t she told me she didn’t have access in the first place instead of being so rude?!
I called back a half an hour later and they said my ID wasn’t there. I felt like I had wasted so much time because they had made it so inconvenient for me. I felt like I could not even trust their word that my ID was not actually there.
Either way, I was truly appalled at how I was treated.
Horrible customer service skills.

This place is AWESOME!!! Unfortunately they have a cover, but that’s just how BC is. There is a cover at every bar, so if you can — try and get there before 10 and be a girl who’s on the list, or you’re paying 10 – 15 $.
Firstly — I noticed someone’s review mentioning the signs they had and that it offended them because they were gay. The sign said: ‘if your shirt sparkles more than your girlfriends eyes you’re in the wrong bar’ i thought that was hilarious and I took it as … if you’re wearing a studded shirt that is Jersey Shore esque from brands such as Ed Hardy — you’re in the wrong bar. Clearly it was a country bar, flannel shirts required.
I loved the atmosphere in this place. Everyone was having a great time, and the bar is HUGE. Considering it was a Saturday night and packed when I went, the bar tenders were observant and quick to take your drink orders. I was there for a Bachelorette party and one of the tenders gave the Bach a free «pink shot» very nice touch :) A+ for the staff for sure! The mechanical bull was down the night we went but there was still plenty to be entertained by. If you’re lucky, like we were, you can grab a big booth by the dance floor. Great spot for people watching!
The music was obviously country of all different styles, mostly modern country hits, but they also threw in a hip hop song here and there. This is a fun spot if you need a night out dancing and drinking. with a little eye candy of cow boys :)

This is a country bar
Let me start by saying I don’t listen to country music and the only reason I went to the Bourbon country NiteClub on a Sat. Night was because a friend of ours made us go.
So, I’m a good sport, I said sure after she told me they had a mechanical bull and cheapish drinks.
I had a blast on the mechanical bull (it’s free)! Most of the crowd was younger (under 30s) and pretty much all white people. That made me feel a little self conscious as I was pretty much the only brown person there. However, the bartenders were great and quick with getting me my drinks.
I don’t think I’ll go back as its not really my kind of crowd or music and if I do go its only for the mechanical bull and cheap drinks!
My recommendations: Get on the guest list and/​or get there by 9pm as the line up starts early.

What can I say? When you are gay and you go with a group of your partners friends to a bar that has signs like, «If you shirt sparkles more than your girlfriend’s eyes, then you are in the wrong bar» and «The only people carrying purses in this bar are women» you tend to not really care to be there. I felt very offended by the signs as if they are implying that all gay guys wear sparkles and carry purses. And here I thought Canada had forward thinking. As I stood there all that was going through my mind was, «I moved out of central small town Illinois for a reason.» I do have to say that the individuals in the bar seem to not feel the same way as the bar décor implies. The bartenders are horrible. They are not friendly and the woman bartenders didn’t appear to want to be there.
The bar had a $ 10 cover (still trying to figure out why — there wasn’t a band or any special event). They looked at my ID just outside the door and then again inside the door. Crazy… I wanted to see the two girls in the front that were checking IDs ID… They didn’t look more than 12 years old.
On a good note, they have a mechanical bull that was fun and though I hate country music, they had a good variety of country music.
Can say I had fun, but you might.
So…
As always, Have Fun!!!

I never thought of The Bourbon as a place to hangout for me. I don’t listen to country music and I am definitely not a fan of anything country. I once was petrified when I found myself surrounded by a bunch of red necks with four wheelers and ginormous trucks around a bonfire in middle America. Don’t even ask how I got there; it’s was a long story.
Despite all that, I gotta say I enjoyed riding the mechanical bull ride, even though I didn’t get past level 3.5. You have to get me a little drunk first though. The music was standard country stuff but with such a large floor space and a stage area, you can go wild to town dancin’ all night long. Sadly I barely knew any of the songs except for Shania Twain and Taylor Swift. You consider them country music?
Drinks were kinda blah. There’s some selection of bourbon whisky but the beer on draught was severely lacking. Budweiser, really? Bud’s one of the reason why I left America. Overall, it was very pleasant place. At least the staff were very friendly and nice.

Was forced to go here for a Birthday party. Wow this place is a real dump.
First things first STAY away from the draft beer. The Pale Ale was sour and rancid.
Country music bars have never been my thing, but on this particular night the torture reached epic proportions as they were hosting a Country music Karaōke night.
Second thing Stay away from this place.

Sure it’s a little bit of a dump, but I’ll be damned if I don’t have a great night every time I go. It’s an awesome country bar and them cowboys really know how to party.
It’s got a good dance floor, pool tables, and tonnes of people just looking for a good time. And for the most part, the staff aren’t pretentious like so many other downtown clubs. Good times, all around.
And, hello, it has a mechanical bull on Friday and Saturday nights! (The guy who runs it seems really surly, but I met him outside of the club once and he’s really nice. He just gets grumpy with all us silly drunk people, so if you’re there, cut the guy some slack!)