People of the South Cariboo will be able to quench their thirst on Sept. 14, when the first 100 Mile House Craft Beer Festival comes to town.
“We will be bringing in five breweries. Each brewery brings in three different types of beer,” said Gisela Janzen, the president of the Rotary Club, who is spearheading the festival.
The Rotary Club is using the festival as a fundraiser for the club.
“We also want to make sure the town knows there is a Rotary Club and we’re also looking to enlarge our membership and make this a vibrant club again,” said Janzen.
There will also be one cidery, Left Field Cider, at the festival for those who don’t like beer or prefer cider. El Caballo’s will also be providing food for the event.
“The Rotary Club in Quesnel has been doing a beer fest for a few years, so we’ve been following their concept and we want to give it a try in 100 Mile House,” said Janzen. “It’s a challenge, but that’s what we do. We take it on and we just try to make it happen. We do our best to move forward and hopefully, have a successful event. Of course, we’re nervous about it. There are lots of things to think about and make sure everything goes smooth.”
For the event to happen, the organizers needed to obtain special events licence, a liquor licence and make sure there are enough people to help put the event together.
Janzen said a group of members from the Rotary Club attended Quesnel’s event in March and came back to discuss it. They started working on organizing it at the end of May.
One challenge she said they had was getting breweries to come.
“It’s a busy time of year for them and there are events every weekend. It was challenging to get them to sign up but we got five, including our local.”
The five are Jackson’s Social Club and Brew House (100 Mile House), Red Collar Brewing Company (Kamloops), CrossRoads Brewing (Prince George), Three Ranges Brewing (Valemount), Barkerville Brewing Company (Quesnel) and Left Field Cider is based in Logan Lake.
Janzen said they went after northern breweries because she thought it was more challenging for them to get much exposure.
Tickets for the beer fest are $25 and can be purchased at Jackson’s Social Club, El Caballo, New Roads Nutrition, RE/MAX and Stolz CPA.
Janzen said their target was selling 330 tickets. The tickets must be purchased ahead of time and won’t be available at the door.
The event is on Sept. 14 from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.
“People just get together, taste the different beer and in the end, we will hopefully have a winner for the favourite beer. We will have some door prizes and it’s just a fun evening get together and hopefully an affordable evening for people,” said Janzen. “It’s a first and it’s a start and we’ll see how it goes and if it’s a success we’ll hopefully continue and make it a yearly event.”