The first Craft Brew Rendezvous, a local fundraising event put on by Athol Gow of Elora and Jason Thompson of Fergus, was held on Oct. 25.
The event was attended by 26 craft beer enthusiasts and considered a success.
Participants of the Craft Brew Rendezvous wet their whistles with a bus tour stopping at local micro-breweries and brewing-related businesses throughout the afternoon. Starting at Wellington Brewery, the group enjoyed a beer tasting and ploughman’s lunch provided by foodplaycatering.com which included a spent-grain bread courtesy of elorabreadtradingcompany.com. During the lunch, participants received a mini-lecture, Women and Brewing in Medieval Scotland presented by Elizabeth Ewan of the University of Guelph.
Next stop was F&M Brewery for a tour and tasting, followed by a presentation from the owner of Harvest Hops and Malt. The tour continued to Royal City Brewing for another tasting and a tour of their unique nano-brewery. The next stop was a preview of the Elora Brewing Co. space. Though still under construction, everyone was eager to take a peak at their progress as Jim Murphy of Elora Brewing shared the vision for the space with the group. Organizers then walked participants to Wreckless Eric Cafe for a final tasting of some beers created by breweries that might be included on the next tour.
When asked how the Craft Brew Rendezvous came to be, Thompson states, “I enjoy craft brew as well as organizing fundraising events, [so this] seemed like a perfect pairing to me. When I mentioned the idea to Athol he jumped at it and given his love and knowledge of craft brewing, he was the perfect co-organizer and the 2014 Craft Brew Rendezvous was born.
“On the fundraising side, I’ve been looking for a local organization to donate the proceeds of these events and found the Centre Wellington Community Foundation.
“I’m simply ‘remixing’ the well-known environmental phrase from the late ‘60s early ‘70s “Think globally, act locally” to ‘think locally, give locally’.”
Centre Wellington Community Foundation is a local charity committed to helping donors find local initiatives that need resources and financial support. The foundation is becoming recognized for its mini-grants. Check out the website to see some examples at cwcfoundation.ca. The 2014 Craft Brew Rendezvous will be donating $500 to CWCF.
