The Intelligence Brief is our weekly compendium of food and drink news sourced from outlets all over the world, including right here at home.

In an attempt to prove that the system could be gamed too easily, an Arizona man registered a beehive as an emotional support animal. Not to be outdone, this Brooklyn dude says “Hold my beer.” Literally.

Victoria’s long-running San Remo has closed due to lease expiry. According to their website, the Mediterranean-themed eatery is currently searching for a new location.

Opening soon! Vancouver Island will soon be home to Ucluelet Brewing Company, which is set to open in mid-February.

Uh oh! A BC winery worker has lost his job after accidentally spilling thousands of litres of Sauvignon Blanc down the drain.

Meanwhile, at California’s famous Rodney Strong winery, 96,000 gallons of Cabernet Sauvignon were lost when it spilled from a “storage tank at the Healdsburg winery, made its way into Reiman Creek running through the property and drained into the river.”

The Globe and Mail’s Alexandra Gill reports on a couple of downtown vegan options that will make your plant-based diet resolutions that much easier to keep.

You can’t fight city hall, unless you’re the mafia and your weapon of choice is the artichoke.

Eating via Instagram honours this week go to @saymercyyvr, one of Vancouver’s newest restaurants:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Say Mercy! (@saymercyyvr) on Dec 9, 2019 at 9:25am PST

Related: Even though we’re less than a month into 2020, the Georgia Straight’s Gail Johnson makes a 5-point argument for why Say Mercy is a strong contender for the Vancouver’s best new restaurant of the year.

From muffins at Matchstick to ice cream at Earnest, Resurrection Spirits co-founder Brian Grant shares his picks for the best places to dine and drink around Vancouver.

How a number of San Francisco restaurants are joining the fight against climate change.

Vancouver Island’s Four Mile Pub has officially reopened several months after a fire left it heavily damaged.

Apparently a Michelin star doesn’t mean you’re offering exceptional customer service. Case in point: this Canterbury restaurant refused to refund a man’s $862 reservation deposit after he missed dinner due to his father’s death.

Eater on the history of Dry January, its current cultural relevance, and its increasing appeal among a generation that is already reducing its overall alcohol consumption.

On a related note, Esquire’s Josh Bolton shares lessons learned from his year of sobriety.

Also related: rather than going out for drinks after work, the staff at some restaurants are choosing to exercise together instead.

The New York Times’ restaurant critic Pete Wells lays out his defense of the noisy restaurant.

“The truth is, I love them. Not all of them, not all the time. I enjoy more than a few quiet restaurants, too, where you can concentrate on the food and the conversation without auditory distractions. But so many of the places I enjoy most tend to be at least somewhat noisy that eventually it dawned on me that one of the things I enjoy must be the noise itself.”

On the underrated, unassuming and oft forgotten delight that is the affogato.

The Vancouver Sun’s Mia Stainsby shares her picks for Vancouver’s best restaurants of the decade.

The Georgia Straight’s Tammy Kwan pays a visit to the recently opened Old Bird in Mount Pleasant to check out the Chinese street food on offer.

Scout’s tour of Vancouver’s best comfort food continues with a stop at Harvest Community Foods for a bowl of curry noodles.

Lights, camera, action! Actor Russell Crowe to direct, produce, and star in biopic of famed British chef, Marco Pierre White.

How the ongoing protests in Hong Kong are impacting restaurants that often find themselves on the front lines of the fight.

Looking for work in the industry? Check out who’s hiring!