We had such an amazing time at the show this year , the Biggest and Best year to date!
The show was nothing short of spectacular and we are happy to have the pictures to prove it!
Take a look at our BeerFest 2015 gallery on our website here:
BeerFest 2015 Gallery
And on Facebook here:
BeerFest 2015 Facebook Gallery
Be sure to tag yourself and anyone you know!
We hope these pictures bring back some awesome memories for you. We will be back again next year with an even bigger and more amazing show! See you all in 2016!”
we will be back again next year with an even bigger and more amazing show! See you all in 2016!
Edmonton BeerFest truly outdid themselves for 2015. This year’s event was nothing short of spectacular and worth every penny.
We had an amazing line up of musical performers
- Lyra Brown
- Cadence & Nathan
- Rob Taylor
- The Moanin’ After
- Braden Gates
- Carrie Day
Thanks so much to our BeerSchool teachers who gave our Beer Gods a great treat
- David Ort
- Patrick McMurray
- Erick Rosende
Special thanks to our amazing sponsors:
If you missed Edmonton BeerFest 2015 not to worry, we will be back again next year with an even bigger and more amazing show!
See you all in 2016!”
“Stay tuned for some incredible photos from this years event!”
Beer festivals are great after a few months of extreme cold, and not just because they give you an opportunity to drink outside. The Edmonton Beer Festival gives you access to rare, less-available beers, so you can taste a wide variety, hang out with your heroes and other beer lovers, and learn a thing or two. At beer festivals, you can literally drink as much as you want for just the entrance fee, and there can’t possibly be a better way for beer lovers to spend a few evening hours.
In order to enjoy beer fests, it is important that you take the necessary preparations. The following tips will help you survive massive beer events in 2015 and guarantee you a great time:
Eat prior to entering the festival
Give yourself time to get the flavor of the food out of your mouth or you will be tasting food-flavored beer, and continue to seek out food for the duration of the festival. Typical beer festival fare of turkey legs, pizza, nachos and different sandwiches will give your stomach a much needed buffer between beer and alcohol absorption. Take time to enjoy your food; this will also help to cleanse your palate between flights of beer.
Try to come close to drinking equal parts water and beer
If you have four two ounce servings of beer, try and drink that same amount of water before moving on to another flight of beer. Most festivals provide either bottled water or some other way of obtaining water specifically for this purpose. You will undoubtedly use the restrooms more frequently, but in the end this will keep you from becoming dehydrated and could help reduce the chance of suffering a hangover later on.
Have a list of beers and a plan
Almost all beer festivals provide lists of both breweries and the beers that they plan to bring along to vend at the festival. Get hold of that list and start planning what flights you might want to try. The Beer festivals also provide a site layout–this makes finding your favorites that much easier.
Make sure you actually taste the beers.
Too often attendees at festivals look at those festivals as a four hour kegger. To enjoy the festival and create a lasting impression in your mind, and to retain a happy memory of the beers you drank (that you should be able to find after the festival), take your time to actually taste the beer. Tasting hints to consider:
- Aroma – Since half of taste is actually our olfactory perception, take time to smell the beer. Make a mental note of what you can smell.
- Appearance – Although most festivals pour in two ounce portions, you should be able get a good idea of the look of the beer. The head retention, color, cloudiness, etc.
- Taste – When tasting, it is recommended that you drink only half of the sample initially. Make a note of the different properties of the beer (bitter/sweet/tart, etc.).
- Mouth feel – What did the beer feel like? Thick, chewy, silky, fizzy? The texture will have an effect upon your perception and enjoyment of the beer.
One last tip: dress appropriately for the weather and put on some comfortable shoes, as you will be spending a lot of time on your feet at the Edmonton Beer Festival.
Source: Enjoying a Beer Festival
As we count down the months until Beer Fest time again a question that might be on your mind is where to stay when you come for next years show. No worries, we’ve got you covered. Below you’ll find a selection of hotels for every budget. Find the one that’s right for you from the list below. We’ve arranged this list from cheapest at the time of writing, to most expensive. There are lots of other options, but these are some of our personal favourites. Prices were accurate as of July 2014.
Chateau Lacombe Hotel
With prices starting at just $98 a night, you won’t find a better value for your money. High speed internet connections in all rooms and three different restaurants on site, plus you’re withing walking distance to the Theater and Arts district. You can’t go wrong with this nice, comfortable spot.
The Westin, Edmonton
This one’s only a bit more, with prices starting at $100 a night, and it has the advantage of being connected to the Shaw Conference center. If you want to book here though, you should probably plan well in advance, as The Westin is likely to fill up fast.
Delta Edmonton Center Suite Hotel
A hotel located in a shopping mall with 140 stores? What could be better, and a good selling point to your partner. Starting at just $102 a night, and just blocks from Sir Winston Churchill Square, you’re only minutes away from all the action that Edmonton offers.
Coast Edmonton Plaza Hotel
Rooms here start at $104 a night. The big draw for this location is the full service spa and the free shuttle service to a number of downtown attractions. A great hotel with some really nice amenities and a good reputation.
Alberta Place Suite Hotel
A little pricier than the rest, starting at $131 per night, you’re right next to public transportation to anywhere you’d care to go, and that’s a big plus when you don’t want to drink and drive. The hotel offers spacious suites with full kitchens!
Edmonton’s got no shortage of quality hotel space, but these are the best of the best, and all conveniently located to where the festival is being held. Be sure to book your hotel well in advance as there won’t be many rooms left come BeerFest time!
If you love beer, a visit to BeerFest is a must. You get to drink loads of beer of various brands, in the company of fellow beer lovers. Just pay the entrance fee and you can drink beer to your heart’s delight! However, to ensure you enjoy yourself and don’t end up doing something you will regret after all that beer, here is a quick beer festival survival guide to help you.
1. An empty stomach won’t help you enjoy more brews. Eat a meal before you start the beer binge or your enjoyment will last only a few beer rounds. However, don’t eat any spicy foods as they will only destroy your ability to properly taste a mug of beer.
2. Hydrate yourself! Drink lots of water, your day at the beer festival will be very long and hot!
3. Take your time. You have come to the beer festival to enjoy yourself and your beer. Pace yourself and enjoy as many types and mugs of beer as possible. Don’t drink uncontrollably, relax and just taste the beer and either dump it or take your time to drink it. The festival lasts for hours. No one’s racing – just relax and enjoy your day!
4. Wear a comfortable pair of shoes. Shoes matter a lot as seating is limited. You will spend lots of time moving from one beer booth to the next, so wear comfortable shoes.
5. Bring cash. Cash is important to buy some things with so many beer vendors and food to try. Though some vendors accept credit cards and the festival might have ATMs, it’s more convenient if you carry some cash.
6. Take notes. You never know; you may find some beer you like and no matter how strong your memory is, you won’t remember the names after all the beers, so carry some way of remembering. I like to take cell phone photos of the bottle to help me, but you may prefer the old-fashioned pen and paper method.
7. “If lost please send to.” If you traveled from out of town, it’s also a good idea to write down the name and address of your hotel or sleep accommodations. That way at the end of the night, you know where to have the taxi deliver you. Large amounts of beer can sometimes affect the memory.
8. Take lots of photos. Last, but not least, a camera is a must at any beer festival. You get to see many crazy things worth clicking to remember. Share your pics with others to give them an idea of how great a beer festival actually is!
If you have ever seen wine tasters at work, you will notice that they do not actually drink the stuff. After swilling it around their mouths for a few seconds, they spit it out. What a waste that is. They should take a leaf out of beer tasters books and actually drink what they are tasting. If you are lucky enough to get to some of the world’s largest beer festivals, you will see what I mean.
In fact, anybody caught spitting the beer out would probably be escorted to the door, and rightly so. Beer festivals are a wonderful invention. You get the opportunity to join up with loads of other people who share your tastes. You can try a whole variety of different beers while enjoying the entertainment. The entertainment usually includes the live bands that festival organizers recruit. It also includes other festival attendees who have slightly over-sampled and might be unintentionally putting on a show by making fools of themselves.
There are famous and great beer festivals all over the world. Here are a few of the better known ones:
- The Great British Beer Festival, London (United Kingdom)
- Pilsner Fest, Pilsen (Czech Republic)
- The New England Beer Festival, Auckland (New Zealand)
- The Great American Beer Festival, Denver (USA)
- Quindao International Beer Festival, Shandong Province (China)
- Belgian Beer Weekend, Brussels (Belgium)
- National Winter Ales Festival, Manchester (United Kingdom)
- Mondial del la Biere, Montreal (Canada)
- Biermeile Berliner, Berlin (Germany)
- Wasen Cannstatt, Stuttgart (Germany)
- Great World Beer Festival, United Nations of Beer, New York (USA)
The largest of all beer festivals by a long shot though is the Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany. After a few beers, people have been known to get a little befuddled. Clearly the originators of Oktoberfest did, bless them, because most of the festival takes place in September. Oktoberfest is not really about sampling beer. It is all about having fun drinking it. If you get the opportunity to visit this festival, grab it with both hands. It is an unforgettable, fun-filled experience.
Every year, Canadians get a great chance to try out a range of beers at our Edmonton Beer Festival. We are on a smaller scale than Munich, but definitely worth a visit. In 2013, festival-goers could choose from over 200 beers and we hope to add more this year. How many of those could you get through in 2 days?
If you are traveling to a beer festival, don’t forget to carry at all times a piece of paper with the address of your accommodation written on it. In a strange place, remembering where you are living temporarily after a “few” drinks can be tricky.
