Daily bite: Vancouver Craft Beer Week Festival grows to a record size for 2018

This ninth interation of the annual event will bring together more than 100 breweries and cideries from across North America

Vancouver Craft Beer Week Festival. Photo by Christine McAvoy.
Vancouver Craft Beer Week Festival. Photo by Christine McAvoy.

Since its start in 2010, the Vancouver Craft Beer Week Festival has become one of the biggest and most popular events of its kind in Western Canada. Each year, this pinnacle festival event during the West Coast craft beer week brings together some of the finest breweries and cideries from across North America, allowing guests to sample a wide selection of unique brews and ciders while immersing themselves in live music and interactive art projects. Beginning on May 25, the week-long celebration of craft libations closes out with a bang with this big festival, taking place on the PNE Fairgrounds on June 2 and 3. Newcomers to the 2018 festival include Beere, Boombox, Twin City, Electric Cycle, Gibsons Tapworks and Slow City.  

Notable new brews available at the VCBW this year include Field House's Dry-Hopped Pear Kolsch, Riot's Currant-ly Unavailable Blackcurrant Blonde Ale, and Doan's Lucinda Boysenberry Ale. Since B.C. is a leader in the Canadian craft brewing scene, the "BC Ale Trail-er" will be pouring at least eight craft beers from across the province. As well, the BC Farm Crafted Cider Association cider row will feature a wide variety of cideries and their creations, ranging from bubbly and bone dry to interestingly aromatic and hop-infused.

The VCBW Festival starts Saturday June 2 from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. and finishes on Sunday, June 3 from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the PNE Fairgrounds in Vancouver. Single day, weekend passes and VIP tickets are available now, starting at $39.