Summer Brews Guide 2013: the five best beer festivals in Toronto from June to October

July 26-28 Toronto’s Festival of Beer This event features plenty of Beer Store varieties, but if you’re willing to wait in line, you can fill your cup at booths from Black Oak and Beau’s All Natural. Garden-goers can also attend classes like Cheese and Beer, while ’90s sensation Big Sugar headlines the mainstage. $40. Bandshell Park, Exhibition Place, 200 Princes’ Blvd., beerfestival.ca.

August 10-11 The Roundhouse Craft Beer Festival Steam Whistle invites its competitors to an annual celebration outside its waterfront HQ. The big names of the small-batch brewers are slated to attend: Great Lakes, Black Oak, Flying Monkeys and six or seven others. $15. Roundhouse Park, 255 Bremner Blvd., steamwhistle.ca/events.

September 13-21 Toronto Beer Week For nine days at the end of summer, 20 or so Toronto pubs participate in a bacchanalia of beer competitions, theme nights, special menus and beer appreciation classes. It’s the ultimate pub crawl. Various locations, torontobeerweek.com.

October 2013 Cask Days Bar Volo organizes the largest cask festival in North America. Last year, 2,700 hopophiles descended on the Evergreen Brick Works to sample some of the 150 cask-conditioned beers from 75 breweries. Ticket prices TBA. 550 Bayview Ave., caskdays.com.