‘I Heart Beer’ festival returns to Kitchener
Posted Feb 16, 2019 06:00:00 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Beer goes with everything. Whether it’s pizza, burgers or ice cream, there’s a brew to pair with almost every dish. It only made sense to marry beer with this Mexican delicacy and feature both items as co-headliners.
February 23rd marks the second annual I Heart Beer festival in Kitchener at Lot 42. Faron Benoit is the festival organizer, who said this year’s event will expand to an afternoon and evening session to accommodate the throngs of thirsty and hungry patrons.
“It’s a pairing event and a sampling event. You’re there to try a lot of different beers,” Benoit said. “We try to do smaller dishes and have people try a lot of different food and drink. It’s all about discovery and exploration. You should go there with an open mind and try things you normally wouldn’t try.”
This year marks the second iteration of the festival, which is officially billed as the “I Heart Beer and Tacos” festival. Last year, the festival focused on bacon, but the 2019 Kitchener festival shifted towards the versatile taco as the focus on food.
“We’re doing tacos instead of bacon, because bacon is a really challenging indoor ingredient,” Benoit explained. “It’s an easy food to make for the vendors, they can make it in mass quantities and still make a quality product. It appeals to the masses, so you can make different varieties for different palettes.”
Benoit stressed that both the beer and food are of equal importance at the I Heart Beer Festival. Where some festivals place an emphasis on the beer and the food is an afterthought, this event puts food and drink on equal footing.
15 breweries will be on hand for the festival, including local beer from Herald Haus Brewing in nearby Stratford, Red Circle Brewing Company and Waterloo Brewing in Kitchener and Wellington Brewery in Guelph. Ten different food vendors from local restaurants and caterers will serve up their best taco dishes at Lot 42.
The I Heart Beer festival runs Saturday February 23rd at Lot 42 with two seatings at 1:00 pm and 6:30 pm.
