Whistler, British Columbia – June 8, 2015: Gibbons Festivals & Events Co. Ltd is proud to announce the return of the third annual Whistler Village Beer Festival, September 16-20 2015. After having doubled in size in it’s first two years, the 2015 event will see another huge leap forward, introducing a second Main Event day at Whistler Olympic Plaza and an expanded educational and culinary cross-over program.
“We want to create a beer festival that every beer lover, brewery and caterer will highlight as their number one, must attend annual event. Last year (2014) we hosted 63 breweries and 3700 attendees at Saturday’s tasting event,” says Liam Peyton, Festival Director. “This year we’re excited to announce that the festival has received approval for a second day at the plaza, which means there are now two days in which to try beers from over 70+ breweries. This model will mean more people can attend and the selection of tastings will be very impressive.”
This means that both Saturday September 19 and Sunday 20 will play host to 3500 ticket holders, 35-40 breweries on each day, and new to 2015 – cider. In addition to the three sold out seminars in 2014, CAMRA Vancouver will be partnering with the festival to offer two new seminars, Hops 101 and Ciders 101, to educate our beer loving guests more about the agricultural side of beer production and to segway in the introduction of ciders to the line-up.
The festival’s expansion doesn’t stop there; in partnership with the Province of British Columbia and Resort Municipality the festival is hosting a brewing industry icon panel discussion called “Master Crafters”. This will be the kick off event of the festival, held on Friday September 18 at the Westin Hotel and Spa Whistler. “Master Crafters” will be hosted by Tourism BC’s beer blogger and author of Craft Beer Revolution, the Thirsty Writer; Joe Wiebe. Wiebe will be moderating a B.C. and American panel through topics such as expansion, difference in style, generational shift and the limitations of the industry. The B.C. panel includes Brent Mills of Four Winds Brewing Co. from Delta, Gary Lohin of Central City Brewers & Distillers from Surrey, and Sean Hoyne of Hoyne Brewing Co., from Victoria. The American panel consists of; Jamie Floyd, Co-founder and brewer at Ninkasi Brewing, from Eugene O.R., Kim Jordan, co-founder and CEO of New Belgium Brewing, from Fort Collins C.O., and Dick Cantwell co-founder and former Brewmaster at Elysian Brewing, from Seattle W.A. Once the talks are done, the Emerald Ballroom, Westin Resort & Spa, will transform into a reception style event with live local music and some of the craft brewing industries A-list.
For more information on this exciting new event, please view the Master Crafters Press Package. Images of the 2014 event are available here.
Early Bird tickets for this year Main Event will go live June 19 through the Whistler Village Beer Festival website, Facebook and TicketZone. Regular pricing and all other events will be available from July 3. Tickets to Master Crafters will be limited to 400 attendees. With last year’s seminars and food pairing events all selling-out in advance you’ll need to move fast on these ticket purchases.
