Clinks of glasses and cheers over beers will fill the Campbell River Community Centre on March 16.
The North Island Beer Festival is back in town, selling out in only 30 minutes once tickets were announced.
“It feels amazing,” says Sarah Leigh, one of the founders. “We definitely didn’t expect to sell out in 30 minutes. It shows us that the people of Campbell River are excited for great craft beer and an event to look forward to.”
The festival was started in 2019 by two Campbell River-based teachers, Sarah and her husband, Kyle, after travelling around Canada and the western U.S. during their summer off. They came up with the idea after trying various breweries and observing the local craft beer culture in the areas they visited. They decided to bring some of that to Campbell River.
The festival started off small in its first year, with only 14 Island breweries participating but it has been growing year after year. A new addition this year is gluten-free and non0acholic beers.
“We are always trying to add and enhance the experience for the attendees whether it be the photo booth or new sustainable wooden beer tokens rather than paper,” says Kyle.
The full list of the breweries attending are:
Beach Fire Brewing Company (Campbell River)
Ace Brewing Company (Courtenay)
Rusted Rake Brewing (Nanoose Bay)
Bayview Brewing Company (Ladysmith)
Twin City Brewing (Port Alberni)
Sooke Oceanside Brewery (Sooke)
Land and Sea Brewing Company (Comox)
Gladstone Brewing Company (Courtenay)
Bones Brewing (Victoria)
LoveShack Libations (Qualicum Beach)
Spinnakers Brewpub (Victoria)
RAD Brewing Company (Comox)
Ucluelet Brewing Company (Ucluelet)
Category 12 Brewing (Victoria)
Dead Frog Brewery (Langley)
Container Brewing (Vancouver)
Strange Fellows Brewing (Vancouver)
Grey Fox Brewing (Kelowna)
Barnside Brewing Co. (Delta)
Camp Beer Co. (Langley)
Bones Brewing won the festival’s award last year. The category was called Best in Show and Bone’s Bite Me Raspberry Sour was the winner. However, the name of the award has been changed to People’s Choice Award this year. Attendees can vote on their favourites via QR codes found throughout the venue.
“We always aim to add new breweries, and we have five that are new to us this year,” Kyle says. “We are excited for Container from Vancouver and Field House from Abbotsford. We are also honoured to have the BC Ale Trail attend this year.”
BC Ale Trail is a guide for breweries around the province.
Leigh says the festival will always be strictly only open to breweries in the province, allowing attendees to visit their favourites after trying their favourite drinks at the festival.
Somewhere between 28 to 30 different refreshing beers will be on hand for tasting. The event is four hours long (1 p.m. to 5 p.m.) and will include food catered by Carve Kitchen and Meatery. There will be a limited number of tickets, with only 350 being available. Tickets include four tasting tokens and two food items, additional tokens for beer and food will be available for purchase.
All proceeds will go back to the community through the Campbell River Community Foundation.
“The foundation holds a special place in our hearts because of the family connection that dates back to Kyle’s grandparents being major donors, followed by his parents, as well as his aunt and uncle. It’s a family legacy that we wanted to contribute to in our own way,” Leigh says. .”As middle school teachers, we’re always trying to give back to the community.”