Ah yes, beer: a beverage often enjoyed outside in the summer months after a long day of work. But what about winter? What do people do then? Well, they stay inside or go to bars and pubs. But soon Victoria will offer something new to beer enthusiasts: the Christmas Craft Beer Show.
The main focus of this event, which will be held over two days at the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre, is on BC-made craft beers. One of the attending vendors at this wintry show is Victoria’s Driftwood Brewery. Driftwood director of marketing and sales Gary Lindsay says that he, and the rest of Driftwood, have high hopes, and high spirits, coming into the festival.
“We don’t know how it’s going to go,” he admits. “The early responses have been great and the way the organizers advertised and set it up has been great. I’m going to go out on a limb and say they are pretty ambitious to organize a first-year beer festival that runs over two days, but I think they are taking it on in a big way, and choosing that venue indicates that they have big aspirations. It seems to me like it will be a hit, but no one has ever done anything like it this time of the year.”
Lindsay feels that brewers have an incredible amount of passion in their work and in how the customer receives it; he says that beer is also great for the excitement it creates among those who drink it.
“There’s been an overwhelming amount of passion for beer,” he says. “It’s just one of those things you dream of—‘I want to own a brewery one day.’ The passion and excitement that’s created just makes something for people to enjoy, sitting down with a group of friends over a pint. Craft beer represents that because at a table of craft-beer drinkers you’ll find that if there’s six people there, at least four of those beers are going to be different, which illustrates the uniqueness of the industry and how everyone gets along and appreciates the different styles.”
Linsday says that the diversity that craft-beer drinkers often have in their tastes is another good thing about the craft movement.
“What I find cool is that people often switch their craft beer up, which is a cool thing to be a part of—people aren’t just 100-percent loyal to one beer. That’s how it started for us—enjoying great flavours and being able to deliver those to people.”
Christmas Craft Beer Show
5 pm Friday, December 2,
1 pm Saturday, December 3
$40 for single day, $70 for two days
Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre
christmascraftbeershow.com