Salt Lake City Weekly’s Utah Beer Festival gets underway this weekend. The three-year-old event has a new venue, more beer and shorter wait times for festival goers.
Eighty eight different varieties of beer will be poured this Sunday at the Gallivan Center. That’s a significant jump from just 45 beers the Utah Beer Festival showcased last year. The festival features regional and local brewers. Jacqueline Briggs, Marketing Manager for City Weekly says that means a lot more variety and hopefully smaller lines.
“The craft brew alliance tent actually is bringing in some beers that you can’t even get in the liquor store here," Briggs says. "So it will be a fun experience to try things that you don’t normally get to try.”
Briggs says the festival was moved from Saturday to Sunday to prevent conflicts with other Saturday activities.
She adds the move from Washington Square to the Gallivan Center this year allows for increased VIP section capacity from 100 to 250.
“That’s an area where we’ll be sampling beers that are not at the regular festival," Briggs says. "So we’re growing that area and there are going to be pairings with Liberty Heights Fresh so it will be a fun experience up there as well as the regular festival.”
Briggs says those VIP tickets are sold out, but general admission tickets are being sold online through Saturday at midnight. They can also be purchased at the gate.
Briggs says four to five thousand people are expected to attend the event.