A New Hop: Festival of Beer returns to the Bushplane this Saturday

After a two-year hiatus, the wait is finally over for beer lovers and enthusiasts.

The Sault Ste. Marie Festival of Beer, 'A New Hop,' will make its return to the Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre this Saturday.

Dozens of varieties of beer represented by 16 Ontario craft breweries will be available for sampling.

Event organizer Stephen Alexander of Loplops says he's thrilled to finally welcome locals back to a community favourite.

"It's been so long," he says. "I'm crazy excited and crazy nervous. We haven't done one since 2019. I'm excited to finally get to do it again and bring it back to the community."

Alexander anticipates this year's event will be one of their biggest yet. More than 900 tickets have already been purchased, and well over 1,000 people are expected to come and go throughout the day.

Alexander says the festival has come a long way since its early beginnings ten years ago.

"We only had 30 breweries in Ontario ten years ago, now we have 330 breweries," he says. "We'd have to go down to Southern Ontario to buy the beer ourselves, none of the reps would come up to Northern Ontario at the time, and no delivery services would come up this way."

Those roadblocks are all but a memory now as the event has expanded considerably in selection.

The festival has featured up to 24 breweries in past years, but Alexander thinks having 16 at this weekend's event is a more appropriate total for the number of people attending.

Attendees are invited to stop in at anytime between 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. this Saturday.

While thunder showers are currently in the forecast, Alexander is remaining hopeful the rain will hold off so they can host the event outside as well.

Tickets can either be purchased at the Bushplane Heritage Centre or online. The purchase includes the souvenir SSM Festival of Beer sample glass and four sample tickets. Additional sample tickets can also be purchased at the Bushplane Heritage Centre.