On Nov. 22nd, Wilf’s, along with Laurier Campus Life: Waterloo and the Wilfrid Laurier University Students’ Union, hosted the second-annual Craft Beer Festival in the newly renovated space of The Turret.
Participants could buy tickets for a dollar each ticket for advanced buyers or five dollars for three tickets at the door, to receive samples from different breweries who were present.
The event also featured live music from Ontario artists Datsunn and Jessie T for participants to hear while enjoying their brews.
“We had an attendance of roughly 150 people, that was really good. Seven breweries were in attendance and one was a moonshine company from Elmira so that was a huge hit with everyone. We [also] had three local vendors from the area selling cool stuff to get people thinking about the holidays,” said Nikki Corless, the vice president of programming & services for the Students’ Union.
“We had a nice little drop-in, event style, where people could buy tickets at the door and come in and taste test all the different samples.”
The breweries in attendance included Waterloo Brewing, Redline Brewing, Royal City Brewing Company, Wellington Brewery and Murphy’s Law Distillery, the Elmira company that makes moonshine.
“I think it went over better this year. The feedback was really positive, because we added so many elements compared to last year. I think last year we had six breweries in total and basically an iPod plug-in,” said Kelsey Richard, the programming & promotions manager for the Students’ Union.
“I think having the moonshine distillery there was very cool. It was different and people loved it because I know a lot of people are not specifically beer fans, so having that there just so people could try the moonshine was really cool.”
There was also food available at the event, as it was in part hosted by Wilf’s, which further attracted participants to stay at the event and enjoy some food while trying out new beers they may not have had a chance to previously.
“We had four appetizers that people could order and people really took advantage of that. They sat down, they stayed longer this year which is cool because they were able to watch the entertainment and eat, so the turnover wasn’t as quick,” Richard said.
“There was a lot of people in the room at once rather than people causing traffic and coming in and out like they did the last time.”
