Those who like it, will love this a lot.
People can raise a complimentary souvenir mug to bitters and bottle openers Saturday at the third annual Halifax Seaport BeerFest. As many as 2,000 beer lovers and brewers are expected to flood the Halifax waterfront with foam filled glasses to say cheers to more than 140 brands of beer.
“We just thought there had to be a coming together of all the beers in Nova Scotia in a one-day celebration of all things brewed,” festival co-chair Bruce Mansour said.
The first BeerFest he and festival co-chair Brian Titus organized in 2007 included about 100 brands of beer from around the world, including some from Nova Scotia.
This year, international breweries will be joined by all nine Nova Scotia brewers, including Halifax’s Propeller Brewery.
“We’re relatively well known around the beer crowd, but we hope to attract some new customers,” said Propeller owner John Allen.
Allen will be representing one of three local microbrewers – Propeller, Sea Level and Rockbottom – new to the Seaport festival.
“I’m cool with that,” he said. “We’ve participated in a couple of these things in the past. There was one in Halifax years and years ago that didn’t come back.”
Mansour said he’s excited to try beer from Gahan House, the only brewery in Prince Edward Island, as well as other Canadian brewers.
“They’re all different depending on the taste and flavours they try to create,” he said.
Allen agrees this festival should focus on taste.
“What I would like from a beer festival — and I think they could learn something from the wine festivals — is the emphasis should be on tasting and appreciating different styles, rather than getting your money’s worth.”
