New Beer Festival Coming To Moncton This Month
MONCTON–A new festival dedicated to the simple pleasuring of having a drink is coming to the Moncton Coliseum at the end of the month.
The inaugural East Coast BevCon, a convention celebrating the variety of drinks offered across Atlantic Canada, and beyond, is coming to Moncton on May 28.
“East Coast BevCon is like a beer festival, but better,” said Scott MacLeod, the co-chair of the convention.
MacLeod elaborated, saying that the festival will feature a roster of more than 40 vendors, including both micro and “macro” brewers, and regional and international producers offering ciders, seltzers and coolers, and ready-to-drink products.
“We want people to go there and try to find a new summer favourite, whether it’s a craft beer, or beer from a major producer, or a cool cider or seltzer. There’s going to be between 150 and 180 different products available to try,” he said.
“It’s a trade show-type event, where suppliers or vendors will show off their wares to the crowd of patrons and hopefully win them over for their purchasing dollars or for the remainder of the summer, creating lifelong fans.”
MacLeod noted the festival will have a strong New Brunswick presence with vendors like Pump House Brewery (where he works) Moosehead Brewery, Graystone Brewing, and 13 Barrels of Bathurst on site.
In addition to a variety of Maritime-area brewers, vendors from afar, such as Ontario’s Muskoka Brewing and Carlsberg Group of Denmark, will be attending.
“What I really like about the festival is that you’ve got the smallest microbreweries going up against the large macro breweries. You’ve got an event where a company like Blue Roof Distillery here in New Brunswick can go up against a large international brand, and the two of them are competing on a level playing field,” said MacLeod.
“You might try a cider from a craft distillery and decide that’s your summer drink, or have something new from Molson-Coors and decide that’s what you’re going to drink. Everyone’s got an equal opportunity to win over patrons.”
MacLeod is no stranger to festivals celebrating Atlantic Canada’s diversity of drink. He served as a co-chair for Moncton’s previous large-scale beverage festival, the Atlantic Beer Festival, for 15 years. That event took place at the same venue that’s hosting BevCon.
“It’s exciting to bring something like this to Moncton after almost three years of not having these types of events. It’ll be perfect to get people back together and for everyone to have a bit more normality.”
MacLeod hopes for a similarly strong turnout for BevCon to the kinds of crowds that went to the Atlantic Beer Festival, noting that tickets are selling briskly.
“Moncton tends to be a last-minute-ticket-kind of town but we’re very positive about ticket sales at the moment,” he said.
MacLeod said the event will be split into two tasting sessions–one from 2:30 p.m. to 5, and the other from 7:30 to 10 p.m. It will also feature local entertainment and pub fare from on-site vendors, to accompany the drinks.
While he declined to disclose a specific cost to plan and host BevCon, MacLeod told Huddle the event was a significant investment.
Anticipating an exciting night for guests, MacLeod noted that one of BevCon’s sponsors, ANBL, is providing its Safe Ride Program services, busing people home at the end of the night.
Sam Macdonald is a Huddle reporter in Moncton. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].