THUNDER BAY – When last summer’s inaugural BrewHa! festival sold out, it seemed like the craft beer trend was coming to a head.
After the Winterlude sample series sold out in 20 minutes and a second emergency session sold out in 40 minutes, it's clear the cup is running over as BrewHa! prepares for its second round over the weekend.
“I think it’s more exciting than ever,” said BrewHa! co-chairman Jon Hendel.
“I don’t think were anywhere close to being oversaturated yet. I think more and more people are making educated choices with where their food and drink come form and I think it’s exciting for the industry.”
Friday and Saturday night sessions for the waterfront event are already sold out, leaving only Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. for those who haven’t yet committed to trying over 60 beers from 15 breweries. Organizers expect 4,000 people will attend.
All of Northern Ontario’s staple breweries will be offering four-ounce tastes of their best brews along with other companies from across Canada and even Chicago-based Goose Island is crossing the Great Lakes to give the event some international selection.
“The goal of the event is for you to expand your palate,” Hendel said.
“We want you to go and learn about some new bear, leer it straight from the brewery and what their intention was the with that beer.”
A feast for the social palate is also on the agenda with the first-ever education stage where experts will talk about the movement, the history of beer and how to distinguish beers to serve with certain foods.
Hendel organized the BrewHa! festival in 2015 and the beer landscape has transformed even since then. Beer is now available in grocery stores, new craft consortiums are advocating for a growing movement and Hendel predicts deregulation is coming that will allow breweries to begin distilling.
Hendel returned from his new home in Kitchener-Waterloo to lead the organizing team because he wants to play a local role in the tectonic shift Ontario’s beer industry is undergoing.
“There’s a lot of change in Ontario. I think we’re just starting to catch up with what has been happening just south of us for 20 years and we’re on about year four in Ontario,” he said.
“If you go onto the LCBO website, you can see the backlog of new breweries that are coming to Ontario. There are hundreds and hundreds coming to our province and it’s so exciting.”
Proceeds from the BrewHa! event will benefit the March Of Dimes’ Warehouse Project, which provides arts programming for people living with disabilities.