Tim Collins/Contributor
Craft beer was in its infancy on Vancouver Island in 2013 when Joe Wiebe and a small group of like-minded craft beer aficionados got together to find a way to promote craft beer to a greater population.
It was the beginning of what has become Beer Week in Victoria, an event that has celebrated and helped to promote craft beers on Vancouver Island and has helped to create a beer culture that is recognized across Canada.
Beer Week is returning to its 10th year and will run March 1 to 9 with events all over Greater Victoria, all in celebration of craft beer.
“This year will be bigger and better than ever,” said Wiebe, the festival’s “Beer Director.” “We’ve got more than 20 breweries from Victoria and even a few from outside Victoria all coming together to celebrate craft beer.”
The festival has come a long way in the past 10 years.
“When we started out, nobody – well, hardly anyone – had any tasting rooms or anything,” said Wiebe. “It was only the brew pubs where you could sample product. It took a while for the laws to catch up, but we’re in a much better place now.”
That is a bit of an understatement, given that craft beers have managed to capture more than 30 per cent of the beer market in British Columbia.
Beer Week, as well, has grown exponentially and has garnered a strong following of fans of craft beer lovers. It features events like Cask Night in which special casks of craft beer are produced for sampling, Pucker Up, a night dedicated to the exploration of sour beers, and much more.
READ MORE: ‘Dangerous precedent’: Victoria Airbnb operators rally to fight new rules
“If you’ve never tried craft beers and experienced the full range of flavours and styles, you’re really missing out,” said Wiebe.
And that’s really what’s behind the increasing popularity of craft beer everywhere. Consumers have discovered that craft beers offer a greater variety of products, each with an intimate and unique flavour experience that simply can’t be reproduced by commercial, macro-brewed beers of the past.
“Each craft brewer is constantly evolving and innovating, and people are responding to the tastes and complex recipes. It lets beer lovers try something new,” said Wiebe. “We’ll be having a ‘Birthday Bash’ on March 9 at the old Victoria Press Building to toast our success and it’s going to be great.”
Beer Week’s popularity shouldn’t be surprising, of course, given that the virtues of beer have been touted for centuries, with everyone from Thomas Jefferson to Shakespeare singing its praises. One wag went so far as to name beer as the greatest invention of mankind. He allowed that the wheel was also an important innovation, but observed that, unlike beer, the wheel didn’t pair well with pizza.
For more information on Beer Week or to purchase tickets for events, visit victoriabeersociety.com.
