CREDIT: COURTESY OF LONDON BREWING CO-OPERATIVE

London Brewing Company is hosting the first year of the Truly Local Craft Beer Festival on Oct. 20 from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. General tickets to the Truly Local Craft Beer Festival are available for $10 which includes admission and four samples. VIP tickets are $30 and cover admission, six drink samples, food, guided tour through beer vendors and a conversation with a brewer. There will be both afternoon and evening sessions offered and it will be an opportunity for craft beer enthusiasts to try beers that have local grains, local hops and/or local fruits.

This event is part of the Regenerate Heritage Grain weekend that the London Brewing Company is participating in with Growing Chefs, C-K Table, Covent Garden Market and more local companies.

David Thuss, one of the founding worker-owners of the London Brewing Company, spoke with the Interrobang about what this event is all about.

“The aim of our festival and of the weekend long programming is to focus on three major issues facing our society: our soil which needs regenerating, our farming systems that need regenerating and our smaller rural communities that need to be regenerated,” Thuss said.

The Truly Local Craft Beer Festival is hoping to take these three major issues and use beer to address them.

“It is a craft beer festival that focuses on using local ingredients in beers-brews that aren’t just made locally but are also sourced locally,” Thuss said. “All beers showcased will have local grains and hops in their beers which infuse the tastes and terroir of the region.”

The festival will feature six breweries and distilleries from the area. Thuss said that London and the surrounding area has an opportunity to source ingredients locally.

“London is located in a unique part of the world-we are surrounded by amazing farmland, amazing farmers and amazing smaller communities,” Thuss said. “Yet, despite our proximity to the bounty of these locally grown crops so much of our food is coming further afield and is not being produced in a sustainable manner.”

Thuss also said that it is important for people to understand the difference between locally brewed and locally sourced.

“We think it is critical to consider the source of the food and drinks we enjoy,” Thuss said.

In addition to the Truly Local Craft Beer Festival, the London Brewing Company will be hosting a workshop on Oct. 19 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. The Beer as an Agricultural Act workshop focuses on educating craft beer drinkers on the agricultural process of brewing. The workshop will be an engaging presentation that will address malting local grains and using them in beer. Following the presentation, participants will taste beers made with local grains and have the opportunity to speak with a maltster and a brewer. Tickets for this event are $30 and can be purchased at eventbrite.ca.

To learn more about the Truly Local Craft Beer Festival visit londonbrewing.ca. To learn more about the Regenerate Heritage Grain Weekend visit cktable.ca.