Sherbrooke beer fest coming in May
Already established in Quebec City and Lévis, the Quebec-based beer festival, Festibière, is coming to Sherbrooke at the end of May. Taking a slightly different approach than others major festivals in the city, the celebration of all things beer has found its home at Victoria Park in Fleurimont on the last weekend of the month, looking to kick off the summer with an open door to the products of 21 different microbreweries from across the province.
“Victoria Park lends itself to a beer festival really well,” said Sébastien Huot, promoter of the festival. “We came to visit, and when we saw the park we said hey, there is something here.”
Huot explained that the three day festival will revolve around discussions and tastings of different kinds of beer in a rustic and comfortable outdoor vibe, but added that the experience will be accented by live performances, gourmet food, and displays of the works of local artisans.
“We always try to have local actors take their place in the planning of the event,” the promoter said. The last thing that the organizers want to do, he continued, is import a pre-made festival into a local setting. “We never want to do that,” he said. “Every time we want to do things a little bit differently.”
Asked why Sherbrooke is the next chosen location for Festibière, Huot noted that the Sherbrooke area is a large region with a good baseline of breweries, but also that he lived in the city for four years and feels a connection to the community.
“Sherbrooke is well placed,” he said. In his announcement of the festival programming on Tuesday, Huot acknowledged that the city already has an established beer festival in Dégustabiere and thanked that festival’s organizers for supporting the new project.
Nicolas Ratthé, co-founder of Dégustabiere and owner of the Au Vent du Nord beer store, said that he doesn’t see the new festival as competition so much as another, different support for small local breweries.
“We’re both on the same road, driving mostly in the same direction, but in very different vehicles,” Ratthé said, explaining that the two events speak to a very different clientele. Where Dégustabiere is aimed at a more intimate crowd with an interest in the technical side of beer, Festibière offers an experience for the general public. “It’s good for the image of beer,” he added. “It makes people talk about beer and gets them out.”
The store owner also pointed out that Degustabière is a volunteer driven nonprofit organization whereas Festibière is a business, but he said that ultimately they both serve the goal of helping to support small local brewing businesses.
“There are never enough beer events,” Ratthé said.
More information about the festival is available online at infofestibiere.com/sherbrooke