NOTE: I was invited as media with complimentary tickets to the event. All opinions are based on my personal experience.

On May 27, 2016, Vancouver Craft Beer Week kicked off their Opening Night at Yaletown Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre. We were invited as media to join in on the fun.

Each ticket goes for $60 and gets you a complimentary 4oz taster glass and around 10 tokens (if I remember correctly) to sample beers of your choice.

It also includes canapes provided by CRAFT Beer Market and healthy bars from KINDSnacks to keep you filled up. Out of the Nowhere was also in attendance to provide live music for the night. The place was bumping!

There were around 32 breweries and cideries with over 50 beers and ciders to sample from. Most breweries had two choices to sample from.

Some breweries to name a few included: 33 Acres, Steamworks, Field House,  Strange Fellows and Steel & Oak. Other than the local breweries, they also had some German breweries such as Erdinger and Stiegl.

 

One of my favourites was the Éphémère Blueberry Wheat Ale. This is blueberry fruit flavoured ale which mimics the popular Belgian fruit beers, but brewed in Canada. The sweet blueberry flavour really pulled through and is great for those who enjoy lighter beers.

There weren’t too many cideries, but we did find BC Tree Fruit Ciders at the event of which we really enjoyed both the ciders available for sample.

Overall, we had a great time at the Opening Night of Vancouver Craft Beer Week. I enjoyed the smaller venue so you could take time to chat with the different breweries and it wasn’t too overwhelming. A great event if you are a craft beer lover or even if you are new to craft beer. The perfect event to try new beers or just to have a great time with friends!

For more information: http://vancouvercraftbeerweek.com/