Toronto Festival of Beer 2016 - Jul 22-24

[Cass]

Interesting news from the TO Beer Fest today about this year's event...

Toronto, ON. (July 5, 2016) - Toronto's Festival of Beer, presented by The Beer Store, is giving Toronto a chance to Sample Sweden! On July 22 to 24, the festival will work alongside the Swedish-Canadian Chamber of Commerce to feature six Swedish breweries, 28 different brands of beer and two renowned Swedish Chefs, inside a 10,000 square-foot zone, at Bandshell Park in Exhibition Place. Bier Markt is the exclusive restaurant partner of the Swedish Pavilion. Sample Sweden is proudly funded by the Government of Ontario and generously supported by IKEA Canada and Volvo Cars of Canada.

"Discovery is a major part of Toronto's Festival of Beer and beer culture in Sweden is growing so fast that making Sweden our feature country this year, was an easy choice," said Les Murray, President of Toronto's Festival of Beer. "It's an opportunity for beer lovers in Toronto and beyond to sample great beer from a region of the world that produces great products."

Sample Sweden will feature some of the country's most adored breweries. Combined, each of these breweries will bring 28 different beers for attendees to sample with the majority of them not available for purchase in Canada. These breweries include:

Brekeriet Beer AB
Dugges Ale och Porterbryggeri
Gotlands Bryggeri
Omnipollo
Poppels Bryggeri
Tempel Brygghus

Two of Sweden's most renowned Chefs will also be in attendance at Toronto's Festival of Beer. Chefs Peter J Skogstrom and Roland Persson are both former winners of Sweden's Chef of The Year award, the country's most prestigious competition for professional Chefs. They will be constructing some of their tasty creations for attendees to feast on in both our Club House La Grille Grilling Tent and in our Sample Sweden pavilion.

"This is a monumental occasion!" said Len Kleine, Chairman of The Swedish-Canadian Chamber of Commerce. "The spotlight is now on the very best of Sweden. Our beer, our Chefs and our culture will be front and centre at Toronto's Festival of Beer."

Toronto beer enthusiasts will have their first taste of Sample Sweden, available at all Bier Markt locations within the GTA, in advance of Toronto's Festival of Beer. The restaurant will feature Leon by Omnipollo, a Belgian Pale Ale that is assertively hopped and fermented dry using champagne yeast, on tap from July 11 to July 24.

Bier Markt will also hold a promotion on food as well! The offer includes one ticket to Toronto's Festival of Beer on the sold out date of Saturday, July 23, with the purchase of both a $15 Swedish dish and a Leon. The bundled offer is $50 + HST and is available until supplies last.

On Friday, July 22, media are invited to attend the official unveiling ceremony of Sample Sweden at Toronto's Festival of Beer in Exhibition Place. This event will take place prior to public access to the festival and is opened by RSVP only through: dav@intelivents.com. Photo and media opportunities with the feature Chefs and the Swedish-Canadian Chamber of Commerce will be available on site, and in advance of the festival by request only.

For more information or to purchase tickets please visit: www.beerfestival.ca. Use promo code SWEDEN to save $5 off general admission tickets.

[JerCraigs]

ISO free tickets. I'm curious to check out again for the first time in years but not willing to pay for it.

[Cass]

Anyone heading there tomorrow? I've got tix for Friday - if anyone wants to have a beer I'll be there

[El Pinguino]

I used to go on Fridays with early bird tickets....that first hour was always the best....and I'd leave by 8 or so.
Have fun whoever is going!

[biegaman]

Anyone heading there tomorrow? I've got tix for Friday - if anyone wants to have a beer I'll be there

Be sure to swing by the Horizon booth to say hi!

[Belgian]

Anyone heading there tomorrow? I've got tix for Friday - if anyone wants to have a beer I'll be there

I got snaggled into my local Beach Jazz Festival. Pretty intense crowd Friday, probably same tomorrow.

[DeMarco]

Any reviews of the Swedish tent?

[Provost Drunk]

Any reviews of the Swedish tent?

Vicariously through a friend who went I hear they had some on point stouts.

[Cass]

Swedish tent was legit. Interesting beers, not overpriced (1 or 2 tokens/half glass which was in line with others at the fest).

The Swedishness outside of beer was a bit cheesy (ABBA cover band), but the beer was great.

[FEUO]

I'm surprised anyone from BT would attend this fest. Unless tickets were free.
Supporting TBS? Not me. Sorry.

[napoleon]

I'm surprised anyone from BT would attend this fest. Unless tickets were free.
Supporting TBS? Not me. Sorry.

I got burned a couple times with mediocre beer festivals. Even went to one with free "media" tickets. Even with the free tickets, I could find enough beers I wanted to try to stay more than 20 minutes. Now, some of them may have some gems here or there. But most of them do not. It's just hard to get up the motivation to pay a lot of money to get in, get average beer, and then wait in line for a porta potty.

[Tapsucker]

I'm surprised anyone from BT would attend this fest. Unless tickets were free.
Supporting TBS? Not me. Sorry.

Seriously? Who here would turn down the opportunity to spend time with a bunch of heatstroked amateur drunk frat boys fist bumping and puking? Where else could we enjoy the fashion show of ball caps and billboard jerseys perfectly blending in with Corona reps?

[Cass]

There's no doubt a bunch of threads about TFOB but this one seems to the most recent.

Work took me to TFOB 2024 this year and I went for the Saturday session for the first time in years, I guess 2016 according to my own posts in this thread (I don't remember much about it to be honest).

TFOB isn't nearly as crazy as it once was. The Saturday session last call is 7:30pm and it does seem that they've made an effort to tame things down. I stayed until about 5:45 and it really wasn't too crowded or messy (I don't believe it sold out). I really didn't notice the "frat" element that much.

The focus has slid away from serious craft beer stuff - there are still a bunch of micros that you would expect at larger events GLB, Collective, Nickel Brook, Monkeys, Cowbell, and a few others. There's no pavilion stuff like the Sweden thing from 2016. Outside of Peter from GLB I didn't see anyone from the beer industry there.

There's lots of big brewer stuff, a lot of seltzers/coolers and many food options. There's still "brand experience" things but it's all pretty low key - corn hole, big connect 4, etc.

A lot of attendees still dress up in matching shirts and that kind of thing but I don't mind. However people want to have fun is ok with me. It's not an event for "serious" beer folks but it hasn't really been for years.

The at-festival pricing was reasonable, 2 tokens ($2) for a half glass and $4 for a full. The entry ticket was pretty steep though - last minute pricing for Sunday's session (non early entry) is $95.

In the end it feels more like a "social festival" than anything else. "Toronto's Festival of Beer" isn't an accurate moniker these days. When the weather's nice it's a pleasant enough experience to hang out, but it is definitely not in the wheelhouse for most of the folks at BT anymore.

[S. St. Jeb]

Your post and the ones above give some reasons NOT to go. But let’s put those aside and assume I’d like to go for whatever reason.

$95 to get in??!!

YIKES!!

[shintriad]

Did you have any interesting samples that stood out? Were people generally enjoying the vibe? Also wondering how the entertainment was!