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Fruit, meet beer: New summer festival celebrates this union

More than 25 beers expected from 15 breweries at Fruit Beer Festival in Abbotsford
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A new craft beer festival has been announced for this summer in Abbotsford.

The Fruit Beer Festival takes place Aug. 24 at the Railway District Market (2510 West Railway St.), showcasing beers made exclusively with bush fruits and tree fruits.

Mike Willis of West Craft, organizers of the festival, said the idea was to create a beer festival inside of a farmers’ market.

“The festival is much like our Hopwired Festival, where we pair craft breweries and coffee roasters,” he said.

“Fruit Beer Festival’s taking on pairing breweries and fruit growers to make juicy beers without artificial flavours and syrups.”

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Willis said organizers approached brewers with the challenge of making original beers using real whole, pureed, or juiced fruits without using any of the extracts or flavorings that have contributed to giving fruit beers a bad name.

The festival will feature more than 25 different beers from over 15 breweries from the Northwest and beyond.

The event also includes live music by Dan Tait and Tiger Moon, food vendors with a pop-up farmers’ market, and ice cream.

Festivities kick off at 1 p.m., with beer samples available until 6 p.m. A shuttle service will be provided from the King George and Lougheed Town Centre SkyTrain stations.

Willis said attendees can expect to taste new and unique Belgian- and American-style beers – alongside cherries, raspberries, blueberries, kiwis and more – from the likes of 33 Brewing Experiment, Luppolo Brewing Co., Field House Brewing, Four Winds Brewing, Garden Path Fermentation, House of Funk Brewing and many more.

Admission is open to adults only. Early-bird tickets go on sale Saturday, March 23 at 10 a.m. at fruitbeer.ca.

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