The Best Beer Festivals in Calgary
Calgary craft beer events — Calgary Beerfest, Craft Beer Week, Oktoberfest and brewery releases in the Barley Belt, Inglewood and Ramsay. Updated weekly.
Calgary anchors Alberta's craft-beer scene and has one of the fastest-growing brewery counts of any Canadian city. The Barley Belt — the industrial cluster in the southeast running through Manchester Industrial and into Ramsay — holds most of the city's breweries, and the annual event calendar leans heavily on late-May Beer Week and mid-March indoor festivals, with a strong outdoor patio-and-beer-garden season from May through September.
The biggest annual events on the Calgary beer calendar are the Calgary International Beerfest at the BMO Centre (mid-March — one of Western Canada's largest indoor sampling festivals), Calgary Craft Beer Week (typically late May, coordinated with the Alberta Small Brewers Association), Oktoberfest Calgary in September–October, and dozens of individual brewery anniversaries and beer releases through the summer.
Calgary's brewery clusters worth planning around: the Barley Belt / Manchester Industrial (Cabin, Cold Garden, Annex, Zero Issue, Village, Establishment), Ramsay & Inglewood (Cold Garden, Ol' Beautiful, Trolley 5), and Marda Loop and southwest (Marda Loop Brewing, Township 24, Legend 7). Brewery-hopping is walkable within each cluster; between clusters is a short ride-share or transit hop.
2 beer festivals to catch in Calgary
OCT9Featured
MAY7
Where Calgary’s craft-beer scene lives
- Barley Belt / Manchester Industrial
- Ramsay & Inglewood
- Marda Loop & Southwest
Frequently asked
When is the Calgary International Beerfest?
Calgary International Beerfest is typically held in mid-March at the BMO Centre in Stampede Park. It's a sampling-style festival featuring 100+ breweries across Friday, Saturday and Sunday sessions. Confirm current-year dates and tickets on the festival's page.
When is Calgary Craft Beer Week?
Calgary Craft Beer Week is typically the last week of May, coordinated across breweries in the Barley Belt and city-wide. Individual breweries host tap takeovers, collaboration launches, brewery tours, and paired dinners throughout the week.
What is the Barley Belt?
The Barley Belt is Calgary's informal name for the Manchester Industrial cluster in the southeast, home to the majority of the city's craft breweries. Cabin, Cold Garden, Annex, Village, Establishment, Zero Issue and Big Rock's Barley Mill Taproom sit within a few blocks of each other. Most Calgary beer events either happen there or a short ride from it.
Where can I find Oktoberfest events in Calgary?
Calgary Oktoberfest events typically run late September through mid-October. Multiple breweries host their own Oktoberfest weekends, and the citywide Oktoberfest Calgary event books traditional food, oompah music and imported German styles alongside Alberta craft beers.
More Calgary craft beer
Every Calgary craft-beer event on one page — festivals, tap takeovers, brewery releases, live music, trivia and cask nights.