The Society of Beer Drinking Ladies First Annual Craft Beer Festival

April 2016

Craft Beer Festival Toronto

Women and Craft Beer. What a great combination, add in a beautiful location in the Evergreen Brickworks on Pottery Road, and you have a fun event brewed up for beer loving women in Toronto.

The Society of Beer Drinking Ladies (SOBDL)

For the last couple of years, the Society of Beer Drinking Ladies have hosted a series of very popular monthly bevies, occurring on last Friday of the month, at a secret location revealed only 48 hours before the event. Capitalizing on the success of the beer bevies the Society decided to organize the first ever Craft Beer Festival for Women Beer Drinkers.

Society of Beer Drinking Ladies

The Venue

The Evergreen Brickworks is one of the prettiest spots in Toronto, even in the greyness of a cold spring April 1st evening. The Ladies took over the CRH Gallery, an enormous indoor/outdoor event space located on at the north end of the Brickworks and transformed it into a giant indoor campground.

Evergreen Craft Beer Festival

This industrial urban warehouse space was a perfect venue for SOBDL’s 1st Annual Craft Beer Festival, the large open space was littered with a healthy selection of fourteen Craft Brewers offering samples of their suds, two Craft Cideriers, lots of open fire-pits surrounded by Muskoka chairs, picnic tables and three Food Trucks offering beer friendly snacks.

Toronto Craft Beer Festival

I am surprised no one thought to organize a s’mores outpost, it would have been a sure hit and a nice touch to accompany the camp atmosphere provided for the event. Perhaps there was some worry about the safety of our beer drinking ladies wandering next to sizzling marshmallow sticks?

The Beer Festival

A thirty-dollar ticket guaranteed access to the event, 4 beer tokens and a swag bag, the additional $5 dollars for shuttle return service to the subway was money well spent. I was able to sample to my hearts content without the worry of having a designated driver or paying for a pricey taxi ride home.

Additional beer tickets were available to purchase for an affordable $1.50 each or seven for 10 dollars. The variety of beer at the event was impressive, and the passion of the small craft brewers was contagious. We tried beers that we normally may have passed on, encouraged by brewers who were more than willing to discuss the beers, the tastes and the history of the beer they were brewing. Our new favourite beer? Sweetgrass Pale Ale, very light and very yummy indeed!

Sweetgrass Craft Beer

Crafters at the Festival

Amsterdam Brewery

Black Oak Brewery

Blood Brothers Brewing

Burdock Brewpub

Folly Brewpub

Great Lakes Brewery

Henderson Brewing

High Park Brewery

Junction Craft Brewery

Kensington Brewery

KW Craft Cider

Muddy York Brewing Co.

Rainhard Brewing Co.

Revel Cider

Rhythm & Brews

Sweetgrass Brewing

Woodhouse Brewing

If you missed the festival or went and must try another SOBL event, heads up, the Society will be back with an even bigger festival in June. Our advice is to grab your tickets soon, since the Brickworks Festival sold out within 36 hours of going on sale.

BIGGEST ALL LADIES Craft Beer Festival at SessionTO at Yonge & Dundas Square on June 11

Ladies Drink Craft Beer Festival Tickets

Craft Beer Toronto

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.