With the National Capital Craft Beer Festival on the horizon we thought it would be fun to preview some of the breweries making an appearance at the three day festival (August 15-17, 2014, Marion Dewar Plaza).

In 2012 long time friends Shane Clark and Rob McIsaac along with Shane’s father, Al Clark thought it was about time to put their combined skills to work and open a brewery. Enter Beyond The Pale, a Hintonburg brewery making small batches of fresh local beer with big flavours and plenty of shenanigans thrown in for good measure! We checked in with Rob on what BTP has planned for the upcoming fest.

Ottawa Beer Events: For those unfamiliar with your brewery, how would you describe Beyond the Pale?

Rob McIsaac (Beyond the Pale Brewing Company): Fun. Awesome and fun? It’s a tough question to describe a brand. You guys would likely do a better job of that! I can tell you that we love what we do. We try to taste all of the beer that we can get our hands on, see what we like, and make the best beer possible for consumption. And we like to have fun along the way…

You've been very successful so far, with one expansion already and a second in the works – can you tell us about this?

We’ll be opening our new brewery and tap room in City Centre in the fall. It’s been in the works for nearly a year now. We’re pretty excited to finally get in there!

Which beers will you be showcasing at the National Capital Craft Beer Festival this year?

We’re going to have 13 different beers on draft and 8 different casks. We included a few little treats that haven’t been released yet in the retail store. We’ll post the schedule later today for when we’ll be tapping some of the limited beers so everybody can plan their consumption accordingly!

Last year you had the Wheel of Cask – any surprises up your sleeve this year? Should we expect to see a bunny suit?

I think it’s fair to say that you’ll see a bunny suit (or two) making an appearance at this year’s festival. As for other surprises…think carnival. Costumes, games, fun.