Breweries took centre stage this weekend at the Burnaby Beer Festival and it was all for a good cause.
About 240 beer connoisseurs turned up for the second annual festival, held on Saturday at Spacekraft in Metrotown. The event is a fundraiser for Burnaby Community Services and proceeds from the daylong festival go towards programs run by the non-profit group.
This was the second year Burnaby Community Services hosted the event. This year’s event raised in more than $6,500, and according to Stephen D’Souza, executive director of the organization, it went well.
“We had three really fun tastings with some great bands, some great drinks, some great food. It was a lot of fun,” he told the NOW.
New this year was an afternoon tasting session, but it was the two evening tastings that were really a hit with guests, D’Souza said.
“We were trying out an afternoon session, it was the first time we’ve tried one. It wasn’t the biggest success, but the other two were great,” he said, adding the final tasting session sold out completely.
Burnaby breweries Dageraad and Steamworks were among the nine breweries that took part in the event, including Steam Whistle Brewing, Whistler Brewing Company, Doan's Craft, Dogwood Brewery, Strange Fellows Brewery, Lighthouse Brewing Company and Phillips Brewery.
While the tasting sessions were popular, D’Souza said, there was definitely more people dropping by outside of the sessions.
“We think largely (because of) the long weekend, people weren’t in town as much, which we understand. But we’re looking forward to next year and take what we learned from this year and continue to make the event bigger and better,” he added.
But the best part of the whole thing was seeing the support for Burnaby Community Services, from the guests to the sponsors, D’Souza said.
“It was really great to have the community come out again and support local organizations, drink from some local breweries, as well as sample some local food and support some local artists,” he said.
- With files from Tereza Verenca
