Great Canadian Beer Festival

The Great Canadian Beer Festival is a Victoria institution and a milestone in the country's brewing story — billed as Canada's first-ever craft beer festival when it launched in 1993. Held outdoors at Topaz Park, it gathers more than ninety craft breweries, cideries and meaderies from coast to coast, pouring 200-plus different beers over the event. For anyone who loves craft beer, it is a rare chance to taste widely from across Canada in a single afternoon.

The format is simple and social: buy drink tokens, trade a token for a four-ounce sample, and work your way around the tents comparing styles, chatting with the brewers, and discovering small labels you will not find on Island shelves. It is a tasting festival by design, built around trying a lot in small pours rather than pints. Around the beer there is a full day of atmosphere — live music and DJs, food vendors, lawn games and quirky entertainment — that gives the park a relaxed, celebratory feel. This is a 19-plus event and government photo ID is required. Victoria makes an ideal host: the walkable, pub-rich capital is easy to reach by ferry or float plane, and the festival pairs perfectly with a weekend of the city's own breweries, restaurants and waterfront. General admission and premium lounge tickets are usually offered, and they tend to sell out, so buy ahead and plan a safe ride home.