Media Releases

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

B.C. is brewing some seriously crafty beer

Suggested Tweet: B.C. is brewing some seriously crafty beer #CornucopaWine @bccraftber @CornucopiaWine @WVBF @Whistlerbrewing http://bit.ly/1gake60

Whistler, B.C. – Craft beer in British Columbia has experienced an unprecedented surge in popularity with a plethora of micro-breweries, brew pubs, artisan brewers and craft breweries popping up across the province.

This is not surprising when considering B.C. is the birthplace of craft beer in Canada. Entrepreneur John Mitchell kick-started the industry at Horseshoe Bay Brewing in 1982, where the province’s first craft beer was produced – an English Bitter called Bay Ale. Since then, B.C. has continued to frontier the craft beer movement, nurturing locally produced and small-batch brew. “In B.C. we’ve seen over 40 breweries open in the last three years, and we will see our 100th craft brewery open before the end of the year.” says Ken Beattie, executive director of the BC Craft Brewers Guild.  “With the vast majority of these locally owned and operated” - reiterating the province’s civic pride through continual support of local business.

As such, Cornucopia, presented by BlueShore Financial, is celebrating the unique and defined flavours flowing from B.C. Craft Breweries into local bars and retailers.

Attendees are invited to enjoy a surplus of beer-infused events such as, Poured: The Full Spectrum of Taste, where you can experience expertly crafted B.C. beer, alongside 50 year old whisky and some of the world’s finest wines.

The hugely popular Craft Beer for Wine Lovers seminar returns again with a line-up of compatible wine and beer duos that embrace the craft beer explosion, but are specially selected for wine lovers. Led by Ken Beattie and DJ Kearney, the seminar showcases much-loved grape varieties, poured side by side with like-minded vinous beers.

The newest addition to the festivals extensive line-up of gala tastings is BREWED: The BC Craft Brewers Guild Winter Beer Market. Beattie leads this grand tasting event, featuring over 25 of the province’s best craft brewers, with a special sneak-peak of the up-coming seasonal flavours you can expect this winter.

Ken kindly took the time to offer some insight into the flavours that you can expect this fall. “Fall is harvest time and the brewing business is no different,” says Beattie. “Pumpkin beers are always popular, as are late harvest fruit beers and with the resurgence of locally grown hops we will see a huge selection of locally produced fresh hopped beers.”

Whistler is fast becoming a familiar face at beer festivals across B.C. thanks to the esteemed Brew-master’s at Whistler Brewing Company who are continually churning out spectacular beers. From Bear Paw Honey Lager to Paradise Valley Grapefruit Ale, from Powder Mountain Lager to Pineapple Express Wheat Ale; Whistler is producing unique, quality brews that are placing the resort on the B.C. craft beer map.

No matter what you choose to sip on this fall, ‘craft beer master’ Beattie leaves you with one last statement, “keep it local… and move out of your comfort zone.” With a booming industry and a number of festivals and events paying tribute to the craft beer movement, there really is no reason to be sipping on the same old thing; change it up and keep it local.

Cornucopia and Whistler.com have teamed up to provide guests a bigger bang for their buck with incredible stay and play packages. Combine accommodation and event tickets to receive the best prices guaranteed. From Poured + accommodation, CRUSH + accommodation, Cellar Door + accommodation, or CRUSH + Cellar Door + accommodation packages available the options are bountiful. Get your party package here.

Join us for B.C craft cele-BEER-ations at Cornucopia, November 5-15.

www.whistlercornucopia.com.

-30-

Cornucopia, presented by BlueShore Financial is an eleven day dazzling display of gourmet food, wines, spirits and beer catering to everyone from amateur enthusiasts to aficionados. Respected industry professionals, judges and presenters headline each event, seminar and tasting, offering the best possible opportunity to garner as much information and insight as possible. Held on the cusp of the opening of each ski season in beautiful Whistler, British Columbia; Cornucopia was designed to showcase and support the local food and drink industry. Now encompassing wineries, breweries, distilleries, chefs and restaurants from Vancouver, greater B.C. and beyond, Cornucopia has become recognized as a preeminent representation of the culinary tourism industry in Canada. With widespread appeal shown through the immense variety of events available, the festival is truly a food and drink festival with a Whistler attitude.

Whistler is Canada's premier year-round leisure and meeting destination located in the Coast Mountains 120 kilometres (75 miles) north of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Consistently rated the top ski resort in North America, Whistler was the Host Mountain Resort of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. The resort offers an extensive range of accommodations totaling 10,000 bedrooms among 24 hotels as well as townhomes, condos, B&Bs and chalets. Whistler also boasts more than 100 restaurants and bars, 200 retail shops, 25 spas and countless activity options from world-renowned skiing and snowboarding, mountain biking and golf, to hiking, rock climbing, and watersports. The Resort Municipality of Whistler is home to a diverse community of more than 10,000 permanent residents.

Tourism Whistler is the member-based marketing and sales organization representing Whistler, operating the Whistler Conference Centre, Whistler Golf Club, Whistler Visitor Centre, as well as 1.800.944.7853 and whistler.com - Whistler's official source for visitor bookings and information. As the convention and visitors bureau for the Resort Municipality of Whistler, Tourism Whistler represents more than 7,000 members who own, manage and operate properties or businesses on resort lands including hotels, restaurants, activity operators and retail shops.

Media can visit whistler.com/media for Whistler facts, media releases, story starters, local personality profiles and access to images and B-roll.

Broadcasters: Whistler now has the capability to take you live with our enhanced fibre network. The significantly expanded network of more than 200 kilometres of fibre optic cabling throughout the resort allows instant transmission of HD signals to any location at any time. Details on how to access, and book the fibre are available on our media site.

Media Contacts

Mary Zinck
Manager, Travel Media
T: 604.938.2702
E: mzinck@tourismwhistler.com

Katie Brockett
Coordinator, Communications
T: 604.938.2726
E: kbrockett@tourismwhistler.com

W: www.whistlercornucopia.com
T: www.twitter.com/CornucopiaWine
F: www.facebook.com/WhistlerCornucopia