Calgary International Beerfest president Bill Robinson has seen enormous growth in Alberta’s craft beer industry since the festival launched twenty years ago. “We’ve got over 200 craft breweries in the province, over 60 craft distillers. Our festival has over 250 different beverage exhibitors at it,” Robinson told CTV News. When the festival began in 2005 there were only five craft breweries in the province. Robinson said the biggest trend in the business now is diversity, with a wide range of beers produced in Alberta. That includes non-alcoholic beers, which he said appeal to “ping pongers”. “They have a beer, then they have a non-alc. They go back and forth for health reasons. And when you think of the quality of non-alc beers, over the last few years that’s improved a ton,” Robinson said. The Calgary International Beerfest runs Friday and Saturday at the BMO Centre.
