events
Beer O’Clock Meets Queer O’Clock at New Festival
All that she wants is another queer beer festival with headliners Ace of Base. Photo from the Queer Beer Festival website.
The 17th annual Toronto’s Festival of Beer will kick off early tomorrow with the first ever Queer Beer Festival. It will feature more than 150 brands of beer, food—including oysters, barbecue, smoked meats, gourmet hot dogs, and gourmet grill cheese, according to festival producer Les Murray—and music from the likes of headliners Ace of Base, Lucas of Canadian rock band the Cliks, and others.
Asked why the Queer Beer Festival was created, Murray replied via email that the event came out of “a desire to create a unique experience for the queer community” after having “an amazing time at last year’s Pride Event at Queen’s Park.” Murray says he worked with community members to ensure that the festival struck the right tone. As such, the Queer Beer Festival will include some community staples, including promoters like Gairy Brown and organizations like the 519 Community Centre, which will receive a donation of $5.19 per advance ticket sold.
The festival will also include a tour led by cicerone (beer sommelier) Mirella Amato, in which she will take participants through beer tastings while sharing some of the cultural history behind beer. All are welcome for the Queer Beer Festival edition of the tour, says Amato, and she’ll work to battle popular misconceptions that might stop people from enjoying beer, such as debunking its association with the beer belly. “You can’t blame a body shape on beer,” she says, citing research published in 2009. “How you gain weight is genetic, and we all gain it in different places.”
Mirella Amato will be giving a guided tour of beers tomorrow. Photo by Alexa Clark.
“People think beer is fattening, which is upsetting to me, because it is fat-free, cholesterol-free, and 150 calories,” says Amato. Alcohol, in general, is the issue for those worried about their weight, she says, regardless of whether it’s consumed in the form of beer, wine, or spirits.
For tomorrow’s tour, Amato has researched the relationship between the beer industry and the queer community: “I find it interesting that the breweries’ approach to converting the [male] queer community is the same as for [hetero] women,” she notes. As such, beers geared to these specialty markets (such as Bud Light Lime) tend to be “light, fruity, and sweet,” she says—essentially characteristics that aren’t normally attributed to beer. Amato thinks that approach is too reductive, and she believes people should sample a wide variety of beers instead: “There are so many beers out there,” she says. “In the whole spectrum of beers, there will be one that you’ll enjoy.”
While the event has a strong focus on beer pride, if the event becomes a success, interesting questions will arise regarding queer pride. The strong showing at Pride this year suggests Toronto could stand for more queer events, including non-traditional ones like a niche, ticketed, commercial venture outside of the Village. Will a love of beer o’clock open that door?