Tag Archives: Deschutes Brewing

Whistler Village Beer Festival 2015 (Saturday Festival) – Whistler BC

by Mike

Last September I attended what turned out to be one of my favourite beer festivals in BC in the Whistler Village Beer Festival.  The weather was beautiful and the beer was amazing!  Here is last years official festival video.

Last year was such a success that this year Gibbons Events Co decided to make the Main Festival happen over two days with many satellite events that ran over 5 days.  The main Festivals took place on September 19th and 20th 2015.

While last year had epic weather this year we did not get so lucky!  But hey this is BC and we all own rain jackets so a little rain didn’t stop an epic party!  I was only able to attend the Saturday Main Event which was lucky for me as the rain was not quite as bad.  The festival was held at the Whistler Olympic Park in the Whistler Village once again.  The event started for average attendees at 1pm (opened at 12 for gatecrashers) and ran until 5pm (last call at 4:45).  I got into the grounds before the festival opened to the public and gate crashers and was to take lots of photos of the booths as they set up.

This year the Resort Municipality of Whistler gave the green light to increase the festival grounds by 40% to increase the amount of breweries to around 80.  This is impressive as 2013’s event was half the size of 2014!

Breweries involved included the following (Ordered by booth Number)

Muskoka Brewing, Steam Whistle Pilsner, Steamworks Brewin, Persephone Brewing, Big Rock Brewery, Off The Rail Brewing, Moody Ales, Russell Brewing, Red Truck Beer Company, Glutenberg, Bomber Brewing, Phillips Brewing, Howe Sound Brewing, R&B Brewing, Steel & Oak Brewing, Postmark Brewing, Lighthouse Brewing, Shacksbury, Lagunitas, Deschutes Brewing, Sierra Nevada Brewing, Double Mountain Brewing, Scuttlebut, Stone Brewing, New Belgium Brewing, Ninkasi Brewing, Strongbow, Maui Brewing, North Coast Brewing, Crabbie’s Ginger Beer, Czechvar, High Mountain Brewhouse, Yaletown Brewing, Big Ridge Brewing, Bowen Island Brewing, Fuggles & Warlock Craftworks, Parallel 49 Brewing, Fernie Brewing, Prohibition Brewing, Rider Cider Company, Whistler Brewing, LoneTree Cider, Stanley Park Brewing, Old Yale Brewing, Hoyne Brewing, Goose Island, Okanagan Springs, Unibroue, Tofino Brewing, Black Kettle Brewing, Central City Brewers & Distillers, Scandal Brewing, Cannery Brewing, Yellow Dog, Dead Frog Brewery, Strange Fellows Brewing, Deep Cove Brewers & Distillers, Doan’s Craft Brewing, Mt Begbie Brewing, Beverage Concepts, Pilsner Urquell, Spinnakers, Coal Harbour, Main Street Brewing, BC Tree Fruits Cider, Four Winds Brewing, Off the Rail Brewing, Granville Island Brewing, Hearthstone Brewing, Mission Springs Brewing.

Last years attendance came in around 3,500 for the festival and this year even with bad weather beat that with around 3,000 people on Saturday and 1,300 on Sunday with a total over the five day of around 5000 people (numbers from here).  Craft Beer fans are tough (and own rain gear) and we don’t stop for rain.  I could only imagine how big Sundays numbers would have been on a sunny day.

 

Like at all festivals I attend I took photos of many of the samples I drank while enjoying the event.

Even with awful weather this year everyone in attendance had a great time!  I still think this is one of the best festivals I have attended (even this year) as even though there are tons of people there are little to no lines and everyone is just having a great time!  The only issue was a lack of washrooms probably made worse with all the rain.

I am excited to see what Gibbons Events has in store for us next September!

This years top three breweries as voted by Festival Goers won 1 year tap or bottle contracts at multiple pubs in Whistler Village which is a very lucrative prize!

First Place
Parallel 49 Brewing – Longhorn Saloon, Dubh Linn Gate Irish Pub, Garibaldi Lift Co

Second Place
Fuggles & Warlock Craftworks – Tapley’s Pub, Merlins Bar & Grill, Amsterdam Pub

Third Place
Whistler Brewing Co – FireRock Lounge, Dusty’s Bar & Grill

Full sized photos here
Whistler Village Beer Festival

 

Pacific Beer Chat Podcast #2

by Mike

Reposted from http://www.pacificbeerchat.com

Were back and talking beer (Pacific Beer Chat #2)

Welcome to Episode 2 of Pacific Beer Chat.

Bloggers involved include;
mike G of http://www.mikescraftbeer.com,
Terry of http://westcoastbeergeek.com/
Joe of http://thirstywriter.com/,
Mike of http://thebeerrater.com/ and
Steve also of http://www.mikescraftbeer.com.

Topics of Discussion:
1 – Recent attended event recap.
2 – Discussing the April 1st Price Changes in British Columbia
3 – Lastly we discussed issues around growlers.

Establishments and breweries mentioned in this podcast include, Vancouver Craft Beer Week, Four Winds Brewing, Washington Brewers Guild, Victoria Beer Week, Hoyne Brewing, Dageraad Brewing, Powell Street Craft Brewery, Drake Eatery, Swans Brewpub, Category 12 Brewing, Strange Fellows Brewing, Brassneck Brewing, Main Street Brewing, 4 Mile Brewpub, Loghouse Brewpub, West Coast Brewery Tours, Maui Brewing, Hop & Vine Taphouse, Deschutes Brewing, Bomber Brewing, Red Truck Beer, Parallel 49 Brewing, Fest-Of-Ale, Bad Tattoo Brewing, Kettle Valley Station Pub, Cascadia Liquor, Spinnakers Brewpub, Moody Ales, Half Pints Brewing, Phillips Brewing, Lighthouse Brewing, Driftwood Brewing, Howe Sound Brewing, Woods Coffee (Washington), Steel & oak brewing, Lake of the Woods Brewing, Fort Garry Brewing.

———–

Note to would be Podcasters
It may seem like a cool idea to podcast with two different bloggers in the same room (With different computers) but there are to many technical issues.  One of which is hearing yourself speak through your headphones (My god that was distracting).  Having to set only one microphone to record and ensuring that your computer doesn’t overrule your muted microphone.  I had to fight to remove a second echo version of my voice on the podcast and it was not simple and was time consuming.
Mike G