"It's like Canada's Wonderland for beer drinkers," says festival organizer Rob Shorney

Beer is synonymous with Oktoberfest. Along with the traditional German fare, dress and music, beer is one of the biggest staples of the festival. Festhalles are bountiful this time of year, but Kitchener only has one craft beer festival happening during Oktoberfest; it’s called “Craftoberfest”, taking place October 5th and 6th.

Rob Shorney is one of the festival organizers and co-owner of local brewing co-operative Together We’re Bitter. Along with his business partner and fellow co-op owner at TWB, Alex Szaflarska, they’ve created a beer festival where the centrepiece is local beer, but it’s also a celebration of the fall harvest.

“It’s kind of like Canada’s Wonderland for beer drinkers. We wanted to offer folks an alternative; a fun party that was centred around beer,” Shorney said. “The important thing was not to make it a traditional craft beer festival. There’s live art going on. We’ve got a stilt-walker, too. We try to make it this crazy circus of a party.”

What began as a one-night festival evolved into a two-night spectacle highlighting dozens of craft brewers. In year one, Craftoberfest set up shop at the former Imbibe in downtown Kitchener. The following year, the festival moved outdoors to downtown Kitchener. In 2017, Craftoberfest expanded to a new location at the Kitchener Market.

With an indoor venue and pre-existing food vendors already in-house, Shorney says the Kitchener Market is the ideal setting for the festival. “It encompasses the harvest festival theme. There are already nine food vendors at the market. It was a hit at the market last year and we decided to do it again this year.”

The two-day festival features beers from 25 Ontario craft brewers and three cideries. Waterloo Region’s craft beer scene will be well-represented with 16 breweries from Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge and Elora. The lineup rounds out with nearby breweries from Guelph and London, with one participating brewery from Ottawa.

Festival-goers will find special beers brewed for the festival which reflect the Oktoberfest and autumn harvest motif. Shorney says Together We’re Bitter will serve a special märzenbier as a nod to Oktoberfest, a fall seasonal wet hopped IPA and a few special Craftoberfest collaboration releases. Many participating breweries will also serve special German-inspired beers for Craftoberfest.

“We have four themed bars and each bar has four beers. There’s a harvest bar, a festbier bar, a wet hop bar and a Craftoberfest bar. We’re asking breweries to send us their best Oktoberfest beer or something that fits one of these themes,” Shorney said.

He explains the impetus behind Craftoberfest was to offer an alternative to Kitchener’s long-standing Oktoberfest celebrations; an answer to revellers’ pleas to showcase craft beer. Over the years, Shorney has been pleasantly surprised by the community’s demand to host a beer festival which spotlights the grassroots of craft beer.

“I think the first year of Craftoberfest was a tester, but last year solidified it for me. The first year, it was more of a house party where I knew everybody. Last year, one-hundred people came through decked out in lederhosen and dirndls that I didn’t even know. They’re using this as an alternative to Oktoberfest and that’s what we wanted here. A festival for the community, by the community.”