Summer Brews Guide 2013: the five best beer festivals in Toronto from June to October
June 22
Session Toronto
Ontario Craft Beer Week, a province-wide festival of tours and tastings, ends in a Wychwood Barns beer garden. A $50 ticket buys you a bottomless mug for filling with beers from more than 20 Ontario breweries. 76 Wychwood Ave., sessiontoronto.ca.
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.
