What do you get when you stick 160 beer industry people from all over the Okanagan together in a large room with copious quantities of their own product?
That was the big question Saturday night at Slackwater Brewing, where co-owner Kelsey Payton and staff had invited reps from 13 Okanagan breweries - along with their beer, mostly specialty casks and small batches - to the first annual "Ok Cask Fest."
Intended as a bridge between winter and the hugely important Fest of Ale in April, the event ultimately featured a lot of chatter and a lot of sampling. And a lot of pool table action too.
Between all that, PentictonNow pushed our way into the middle of the fun to ask a few questions. We wanted the lowdown from key local breweries as to what beer aficionados can expect at the April festival.
And what better person to start with than Darren Binnema? Binnema is the head brewer at Neighbourhood Brewing, which earlier in the day had unveiled an artist rendering of their massive facility, set to open this summer.
"Last year we were at the Fest of Ale pouring some test brews," said Binnema. "This year we'll be pouring some beers we make under contract right now at Bad Tattoo."
"We'll be bringing some of our core beers, like our Pursuit of Happiness Pilsner, and we'll also be launching our Passion Project Passion Fruit Wheat Ale. It's nice and fruity and a little bit tart from the natural tartness of the fruit. It's thirst quenching for sure."
Sitting with Binnema was veteran Cannery Brewing brewer Landon Sandback, who calls Fest of Ale a "huge event for local tourism that shows off all the skills our area has to offer."
"We'll hopefully be having our Apricot Wheat Ale, which is now a new blend," he said. "We've added some pinot gris juice to it, so it's fruitier and more complex. We have it here tonight."
"We'll also be bringing our saison, I'm thinking. And then probably either the nut brown or lager. We may do a cask as well."
Nick Kapusty of Highway 97 Brewing, who's still keeping mum about 97's likely new address, was all about the summer release they'll debut at Fest of Ale, a "passionfruit guava cream ale, with vanilla beans."
"We'll also bring a cherry radler with fresh lemon. It's half juice, half beer. And then we're bringing an IPA double dry hop with Galaxy hops."
Also in the house was Dave Gokiert of Kelowna's Tree Brewing Beer Institute. Though he won't participate in Fest of Ale, Gokiert came to Penticton Saturday "to showcase what we can do and also to let people know about different styles."
And he brought a cask along with him. "It's a porter that I've aged for the past couple months in rum barrels from St Martinique. I love the sweetness it adds to the beer. It adds a layer you don't see a lot with barrel-aged beers."
"I think Slackwater did a bang-up job on this," he added. "I'm really proud of them."
Speaking of Slackwater, Kelsey Payton took a quick break to let us know they'll bring a "peach sour" to Fest of Ale, along with their What The Fog?! IPA. Little wonder. The latter walked away with the People's Choice Award at last year's event.
We then unceremoniously interrupted Bad Tattoo's Liam Hutcheson while he was playing pool. And instead of smacking us with his cue, he clued us into his new watermelon gose.
"It's a sour concoction, super refreshing. A nice, light, easy-drinking beer. And super watermelon-y. Absolutely insane. You don't see a lot of watermelon beer."
"We're also coming up with some rebranding. So people can expect some new looking product from Bad Tattoo at Fest of Ale."
But Hutcheson was just as upbeat about the current state of Penticton's craft brew scene.
"Within two blocks we'll now have three breweries (with the summer addition of Neighbourhood Brewing)," he said, "and within a five-minute walk we're going to have five of them."
"We're a destination now. If you're a craft beer lover, you're going to want to come to Penticton, British Columbia."
