2018’s Steveston Ciders and Sours Fest, the inaugural event. Photo: Steveston Ciders and Sours Fest/Facebook
After a successful inaugural year in 2018, Steveston Ciders and Sours Fest is coming back this summer with tickets on sale this week.
On July 6, Ciders and Sours Fest attendees can sample over 100 different beverages from nearly 30 vendors. For Grant Bryan, pub operator at O’Hare’s GastroPub, which runs the event, the festival is an opportunity to highlight the unique tastes and growing trend of craft sour beers and ciders.
“Some people don’t really understand what sour style beers are and they don’t always sound particularly appealing when you first hear the word ‘sour’…but they can all have anything from citrus to coriander to intense, huge fruit flavours,” he said.
“They’re really delicious and it’s like trying spicy food for the first time. Give it a couple small tastes, allow your palate to adjust and you really start to appreciate and enjoy the style of beer.”
Bryan added that there’s been a “movement” towards sour style beers amongst B.C. craft brewers.
“People love them,” he said. “Sour beers are not just one style, it’s not like one size fits all. There’s a real plethora of different flavours and textures within sours.”
Unlike the Steveston Beer Fest and Steveston Wine Fest – which are also hosted by O’Hare’s – Ciders and Sours Fest takes place at Britannia Shipyards.
“We wanted to have a completely different festival altogether,” Bryan said. “The venue’s beautiful…it’s very historic, very traditional and very much Steveston.”
For those attending one of O’Hare’s festivals for the first time, Bryan said attendees can expect to see a variety of breweries and cideries set up at different tables around the room, along with small bites to accompany the brews. Each person is given a tasting glass, which they can use to sample as many of the beers or ciders on site as they’d like.
The goal, Bryan said, is to easily explore new options.
“Most craft beer drinkers, they’ll have their handful of regular (beers) but they enjoy trying what’s new, what’s seasonal and what’s fresh out of the brewery and that’s kind of part of the fun,” he said.
“You’re not just drinking one beer for your entire life. You’re constantly trying new stuff.”
Tickets for the event are expected to sell out soon and are available online for $55. Part of the proceeds from the event go to support local charities including the Richmond Sharing Farm and the Richmond Christmas Fund.
