Edmonton Craft Beer Festival

Let’s be honest, you gotta be straight tripping to have bad stuff to say about a beer fest that’s filled with food vendors. I mean we’re talking boozin and drinking until the early night time! It’s a glorious way to spend an evening.
I had the riblings from Sloppy Hogs and they were suuuuuuhhhh gooooooood! Definitely going to go there for dinner soon.
Beer wise I liked the India Session Ale from Village, some might say it’s more of a pale ale but I say either way «bright piney goodness»
Also the red Trilium (likely not how it’s spelled) was delicious.
I’m a little bias but I also think the Unilocal booth was awesome ;)
Can’t wait for next year cuz there will likely be a lot more local breweries in the province and maybe they can bump out the Miller Lite booth which is a completely nonsensical addition to the festival.

I love the Craft Beer Festival! This has been a yearly event for my friends and I and is now a regularly marked event on our calanders. Every year the continue to surprise me with the vast amounts of beer avaliable to try however I am starting to dislike the amount of «mainstream» brewers which are appearing this festival, I hope they continue to support the underground brewers over the next few years.
Aside from that this year the event was organized much better. I liked how most beers costed only 2 tickets this year making it easier to split up sheets. Simple things like that make a huge difference!!!
Finally the amount of wine at the festival this year was refreshing, I defintely found some solid brands I will continue to buy. This combined with the fact beer is sold on site and patrons can make their own variety 6 pack to go was a refreshing and unique idea!
Also having more food and wing venues there was brilliant, nothing goes better with beer than bar food!

This is a really fun event for those who enjoy beer in all its forms. The drinks themselves were relatively cheap ($ 2 – 4 for a 4 oz. sample. Most were $ 2, some were $ 3, and very few were in the $ 4 range), however the food was really over priced ($ 6 for a small cup of fancy macaroni and cheese? really?). For the beer lover, however, there is a wide variety of tried and true along with the new kids on the block from local, national and international lines. Also, if you like what you tasted, you can buy it on site, with a Sobeys/​Safeway liquor store right on site doing specials on the sampled brews.
We went VIP for this event, however I don’t think it’s worth it. What you get: a glass mug instead of a plastic one, a beer and food class ($ 2 value) and a beer seminar ($ 2 value). If you do it all, or really value the glass mug, go for it! But for me, who just did the beer and food class, it wasn’t worth it.
My only complaint is for the venue, but for an event that size, you need the space. $ 16 for parking on top of your entry fee (though I guess most people would cab or Über it there so you don’t have to have a designated driver), and then you have to buy sample tickets on site. It gets quite expensive.

Got the tickets from my company and went there with my husband. It was my first time and we don’t normally drink a lot. The event was educational for both of us. It was fun and entertaining. My favorite was the Crabbie’s. It got me hooked up, and now I have to find it from local beer stores!

I just went to my first Edmonton Craft Beer Festival yesterday. It’s a neat event to check out. There were a lot of breweries represented from local (like Alley Kat) to International. I’m not a beer expert, so I don’t know what the requirements are for a craft beer vs. a regular beer or whatnot, so I was a little surprised to see some more recognizable brands there like Rickard’s or Miller Lite, but its all good.
I got VIP tickets through Unilocal,which were normally $ 25. The regular tickets are $ 19. Honestly unless you really want to do the couple seminars (one was a cooking with beer, and the other was a beer education seminar) that you get with the VIP ticket I wouldn’t say it’s worth an extra $ 6. You do get a real glass sample mug and early (1 hour earlier) entrance into the festival, but for me (if I went again next year) a regular ticket would be fine.
Entrance into the festival does not get you any drinks though. Drink/​food tickets are sold in sheets of 10 for $ 10. Most drinks are 2 to 4 tickets. Most food items though are a lot more expensive. While I saw one food item (spiced nuts) for 2 tickets most food items were 4, 5, or 6 tickets. If you’re at the festival with someone else splitting food and drinks will give you a little more bang for your buck, but I’d suggest eating something beforehand so you aren’t ravenous and spending your tickets on food. That being said the pulled pork sundae (on mashed potatoes) from Sloppy Hoeg’s was delicious as was the Guinness/​Coffee ice cream from Pinocchio’s.
I had a few different beers, but not too many. The Rickard’s Radler (Grapefruit) was really nice, and I liked the new summer drink from Alley Kat that I tried (a lemon flavored beer). There was an IPA from Kona Brewing Company for 2 tickets that was pretty good. I also tried a wheat ale from 6 Corners Brewery in Okotoks Brewery, which I didn’t care for. The samples sizes aren’t huge, but you get enough to try a few different beers, even if you only buy one pack of tickets.
Probably the best bang for my buck was going to the the Cooking with Beer seminar. It’s free for VIP, but even with regular admission it’s only 2 tickets. There are different once held throughout the festival, but my friend and I went to the Beer and Cheese pairing. It started at 530 and we were in like at 5:10, and we just barely made it in (because the couple in front of us didn’t want to sit at separate tables… too bad for them). Since the seminars are so small it bothered me that there wasn’t somebody from the festival going down the line to count and let the people who wouldn’t be able to make it in know that. I mean there was probably about 30 people behind us, and they wasted 15 minutes standing in line, when someone could have come by and told them that they likely wouldn’t be getting in.
The seminar itself was pretty quick, but we got to try four different beer samples (from Rickard’s) with 4 different types of cheeses. We also learned a little bit about how to pair beer with cheese. My favorite was the blonde with the goat cheese, but I’m partial to anything goat cheese.
A couple of issues or things that I’d want changed for future Beer Festival events
— having signs telling people how many tickets each beer costs. As it was you had to go up and ask the bartenders directly. Maybe it’s an AGLC rule or something, but it was a little annoying when I was down to my last two tickets having to wait in line only to find out the beers were 3 or 4 tickets.
— too pricey food options. when people are drinking there should more food options that are more reasonably priced. Even the 6 ticket dishes (which are really $ 6) aren’t huge portions either.
— this can’t really be changed (I don’t think), but there aren’t a ton of chairs and tables, so make sure to wear comfortable shoes you can stand around in (the floor is cement).
— It’d also be great if parking was $ 16 (what!?) or wifi didn’t cost $ 55/​day (which is per person — that’s insane). Those might be more of a Northland’s issue though.
Craft Beer Festival was pretty cool. Not sure if I’d rush to go back again next year, but it was fun to check out once.

Last time I went to a beer festival it was at the Shaw Conference Centre. Same idea but different beers on tap. This was a good festival because there was lots of room in between booths and aisles. The only kicker was the lack of local breweries. Yellowhead was there but represented in a restaurant. No Hoggs Head brewery from St. Albert. I would have liked to have seen some other selections but you can’t get everything you want.
I will tell you that I have no idea how anyone can stomach ginger beer. That is the most disgusting beer I have ever tasted. Ginger start and a soapy flavour finish. It took two beers to get rid of the taste in my mouth.
If you are wanting to experience beers you see in the craft beer aisle of your liquor store but were scared to try, go to a beer festival. It’s a good deal on tickets and admission to try beers without having to buy a case to find out that the devil pissed in the bottle and is laughing at you when you take a swig.
My favorite from the night was Big Rock’s Cherry Farini and Granville Island’s Hey Dey. Now comes the hard part, finding it in the stores… damn you guys! You tantalize me with exceptional lagers and now I have to hunt you down somewhere.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this event. I had never been and I didn’t ask around for a review, but it definitely didn’t disappoint!
The vibe was great, the different beers were awesomely, and the sample sizes were just right. It’s amazing how $ 50 in samples can make someone feel. ;)
Overall, a great time. I will definitely go again!

Another amazing beer festival put on by the Alberta Beer Festivals group. Make sure you check this even out each year, and also be sure to checkout the Edmonton Oktoberfest event that’s coming up as well (
). Bok!

Great variety of local canadian beers. $ 2 a sample on top of admission prices. Lovely atmosphere to learn about different beers and taste fingerfoods cooked with beer.
It was my first time at a beer festival. Ive never been to one so I was pretty stoked when Unilocal gave me a pair. Awesome bc entrance at the door was $ 25 a pop. Once you enter you buy tickets to sample the beer. They come in packs of 10 for a $ 1 a ticket. We ending up spending $ 30 for the two of us but I think $ 35 would of been perfect. But we didnt want to waste a few tickets or drink to impairment. Samples cost $ 2 unless you want to try the spirits or hard liquer. There are appetizer plates ranging from $ 3-​$ 5 which are dishes eaten in 1 to 3 bites. Food was actually tasty. I had pork sliders, Pork brisket, oysters, corn bread and a pretzel. My favourite were the pork sliders from sherlock holmes. Actually I ate them before I could take a pic.lol. but there were other options I wanted to try but just couldnt. The ribs and beer ice cream looked tasty.
Now for the beer… lots of variety. The beers showcased were beers that were locally made or were special brews for the season. The usual brand of tap beers were not available. I especially liked the innis gun beers and the quebec beers flavoured with cranberry. There is something for everyone. And every brand had about a choice of 4 different brews. If you asked they gave you a little history and a little information on the different kinds of brews.
The event was put on by sobeys and there was a little store to purchase one or two cans of beer when you left. My review is based on minusing a star due to the fact that every sample costs $ 2 a pop for a tiny mug of beer (about 2 – 3 chugs) just a wee bigger than a shot glass. I thought with admission you could try a sampling of several beers included in the price of admission. But thats not the case. You get nothing but entry for your admission price. I would of paid a bit more to have a few samples included in my admission. Plus the fact that tickets could not be purchased in smaller portions and only in packs of ten was kinda annoying. After spending $ 30 we would want to buy maybe 5 more to be satisfied with all our cravings. Instead we opted to just buy some beers at the sobeys store to go.
did I have fun? Hell yeah. It was a great atmosphere and there was lots of great drinks. It was social and fun. Would I go again? Hmmm… undecided. Food and beer was tasty but $ 40 a person (how it was split if we paid admission) was a bit steep for what you get. Plus $ 15 parking. And im not sure if I would pay that price again for a repeat visit. If you score free tickets then awesome. I would recomend trying it once though. It is very fun.
A tip would be to ask the samples be split in half and get two samples to share with a friend. We did this and tried a good variety of beers. (2 half mugs=1 sample or $ 2) then hang out at borden park for a nice walk afterwards.

We had a great time! Lots of fantastic local beer, plus a cooking show and talks by different brewers. The set up was similar to any at K-​days, although I liked that the standing tables had freebies, coupons and info from nearby vendors. More chairs would have been nice, but overall the set-​up was sufficient to accommodate the folks that attended the first night. I wish I’d been able to attend both days! We also weren’t expecting food, so we ate beforehand, expecting to consume a lot of beer (thank goodness for the LRT), but there was a great food selection as well! I also got to check out the Unilocal table and meet Jennie M., extra bonus! I can’t wait until next time!