Disclaimer- I was hosted by the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge to experience the Jasper Summit Beer Festival which I thought was a great opportunity to experience a place that I already love in a whole new way.
I will use just about any excuse to jump in the car for a weekend in Jasper, and if that weekend includes a stay at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge and more craft beers that you can shake a keg at, I’m all the more excited.
The resort, affectionately known as “JPL” to regulars, is truly one of my favourite spots on this earth. When I close my eyes and think of my happy place, only two spots come to my mind. One is an oceanside bench on La Jolla cove in California, which is where my wife and I took our first trip together. The second is the main lodge area at the Jasper Park Lodge, specifically pulling up a chair to that stunning stone fireplace.
My happy place
The Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge is well known in Alberta for hosting some of the province’s best stay-and-play events, with Christmas in November being the flagship event. The all-inclusive nature of that event is a great selling feature, and I personally love knowing that my room, all meals, and seminars are included in one price. That succesful formular is one they have duplicated for the Jasper Barley Summit, put on by Alberta Beer Festivals.
With the 2019 edition of the festival being only the second Jasper Barley Summit, I had a hard time understanding what it was all about and who exactly it was targeted towards beforehand, and I’m certain I wasn’t alone in that. I enjoy sampling a variety of craft beers, but would my love of tasting beers be enough to justify coming to the festival? Would my limited technical knowledge about the brewing process leave me out of my depth and feeling out of place? Would I enthusiastically sample far too many tasty beers and fall asleep in one of the comfy chairs in front of the fireplace like an amateur?
*Spoiler* Yes. No. No comment.
WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT IF YOU ATTEND THE JASPER BARLEY SUMMIT?
The Venue
On this particular weekend, Alberta was hit with an exceptionally icy blast of winter, with temperatures below -30 for daytime high’s, and windchills that would make a polar bear cry. Throw in a big-‘ol blizzard, and we had conditions nothing short of miserable.
Between Blizzards
Though the extreme cold put a damper on a few activities that were planned for outdoors, the show went on inside the main lodge. If you have to endure that climate, the JPL is the place to do it, and the lodge/fireplace area was packed with people seeking refuge from the cold.
One place that wasn’t packed was the pool, which is a shame as it’s one of my favourite things about JPL. Some brave souls found their way to the hot tub later on though, despite the frosty winds.
The rooms are recently renovated, and I always request something as close to the lodge as I can get, as that’s where I prefer to spend most of my time. It’s also convenient if you need to run back to the room to grab a cell phone charger or a quick nap.
While wandering the main lodge, I often find myself daydreaming while appreciating some of the finer details, including the beautiful chandeliers and Fairmont signature Adirondack chairs. There is just so much thought put into making this space as cozy as possible.
As someone who routinely weekends in Jasper specifically to do nothing but hang out in the resort, I can’t recommend it enough.
The Festival: Friday Evening
After you get settled into your room (and sample the provided growler of Jasper Brewing’s finest), it’s time to mingle with other guests at the welcome reception in the main lodge. The reception is hosted by 2 of the vendors – on the first night it was Apex Predator Brewing and Park Distillery.
Consider the reception a bit of a warm-up for the main event in the Edith Cavell Dining room.
Once the doors open for the main festival, you’re given a tasting mug and you are off to the races. The temptation to turn this into a race is strong, my friends, but my advice is to be in it for the long haul. You don’t want to be the buffoon chugging samples like shots and tapping out in an hour. There’s plenty of time, and slow and steady always wins the race. Trust me on this.
One of my favourite things about the Jasper Barley Summit was the easy access to the brewers. No long line-ups, no feeling of being rushed, and no question too simple. The brewers love talking about beer and happily engage you as they pour a sample (or two). Not only do the brewers love to talk, but the other attendees freely engaged us as we sipped our beers, asking opinions and suggesting their favourites.
With 20 vendors, each serving at least 3 different samples – some far more than 3 – you’d be hard pressed to get through it all. Hard pressed, and probably ill-advised unless you plan on having an Advil omelette for breakfast.
It’s best to have a strategy, which for me involved trying to sample as many new-to-me beers as I could. In hindsight, it may have been a flawed strategy, as I went booth to booth instead of by styles. After tasting a few aggressive IPAs and porters, it’s hard to go back and detect subtle nuances in lighter beers like lagers. I tried to change my strategy for the second evening and decided to start by tasting a bunch of lighter beers back to back, then move onto something more aggresive. It worked well, but by the end of the night I had severe palate fatigue and was desperately searching for a refreshing sour or gose to refresh my taste buds. There were a couple of those options but a few more would have been appreciated. Thankfully there was fresh fruit on the dessert table so a few trips that way helped my drowned palate.
I appreciated the high priority put on bringing in Alberta craft beers, but it was a nice touch to also bring a few select non-local brewers, like Lagunitas, to the party. I enjoyed the opportunity to get to taste some beers I never would have had otherwise.
Lagunaitas Brewing from Chicago
Breakfast was served from 9am-9:30, and must have been a challenge this morning, as the entire town of Jasper lost electricity shortly after midnight and didn’t get it back until mid-afternoon. Luckily, the Jasper Park Lodge has a huge generator and any issues were mostly unnoticeable to the guests.
After breakfast, we stayed seated for a talk by Sam Thompson of Lagunitas Brewing. Anyone interested in hearing how Lagunitas recipes came to fruition kept their eyes and ears on the stage, but if that isn’t your jam you’re free to use the time as you please.
Beer talk with every meal
At 11 am you had a choice of 3 seminars to sit in on, with 2 focused on beer talk and a food-focused option for the more casual beer fan.
- 12 Things I Beerlieve- Jim Button of Village Brewing
- Inspiration: The Unique Czech Beer Culture – David Claveau or Olds College Brewing Program
- In the Kitchen – Nevin and Kara Fenske of Edmonton’s Drift food truck
Stadium Nacho Cheese with chorizo, and pork rillette with Jasper Brewing Pilsner mustard from Drift Food Truck
The lunch break included a talk/ Q&A about Bock Chain Beer, with Canada Malting, Red Shed Malting, and Last Best Brewing.
The afternoon seminars also featured 2 beer and 1 food presenter.
- Summit Brewing: 32 Years and Counting – Tom Thomasser of Summit Brewing
- In the Kitchen – Dan McLeod of Pig and Duke in Calgary
- Managing Growth of your Brewery – Brent Mills & Garrett Kean of Four Winds Brewing
The afternoon wrapped up with a 90-minute presentation from Kevin Smith of Jack Daniel’s Distillery.
UPDATE- Nope, still nobody in the pool…
The evening program for the second night of tasting mirrored the first with a couple of vendors switched out. It was nice to take an even slower pace on the second night and retry a few favourites from Friday. The tasting event was considerably busier on Saturday night than Friday, but the room still felt spacious and still allowed plenty of face time with the brewers.
Park Distillery with a Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge labelled gin
The Food
As mentioned, all meals are included in your weekend pass price. You can get a single night event ticket as well, but if you’re driving from out of town you’ll love the weekend pass.
Food is available for devouring at your convenience throughout the evening tasting sessions, with Friday night featuring pork sliders, mac and cheese, and a potato bar. Can you imagine a better pairing with loads of beer than a potato bar, loaded with different preperations of potato, complete with sauces, toppings, and cheeses? Of course an array of salads and cold items were available too, as well as a huge dessert bar.
Tiny mousse and s’mores bars
Breakfasts featured the standard items, but Sunday included a few extra brunch items and an omelette bar. I know I definitely enjoy 23 slices of bacon and 3 desserts when I’m hung over and have to drive home in a blizzard, and I assume everyone else does too.
Sunday Brunch at Jasper Park Lodge
Saturday’s lunch was simple, yet had plenty to keep folks happy. Grilled cheese sandwiches with a soup/salad bar and the obligatory dessert table hit the spot.
Hot tip – Fill your soup bowl and head back to the salad bar, where you can top your soup with croutons, bacon bits, and shaved parmesan. Gourmet A.F.
So Did I Figure Out Who This Festival is For?
The evening tasting sessions are unquestionably the highlight for the craft beer fan with only a casual interest in the production process. True beer nerds can get more out of it by asking technical questions to be sure, but there’s plenty here for the average person too, and it’s a lot of fun.
As for the seminars, they seemed definitely geared towards those with more brewing know-how and there are a couple of things I would change if I was King of the Brewery.
- I would have expected both of the “In the Kitchen” seminars to feature cooking with beer in some way. Drift’s seminar did include delicious mustard made with Jasper Brewing’s Crisp Pils, but that was it for beer use. The afternoon session recipes didn’t include beer in them at all. I would have loved to see a few recipes using beers of different styles, and maybe a talk about how to choose the right beer to use in recipes. A missed opportunity I think.
- Instead of 2 talks, how about including an option of a tasting session with experts? I would have been very interested to taste 4 of the same style of beer from multiple breweries with an expert to guide us along and point the differences in each. I think side-by-side tastings are fun and incredibly enlightening.
Hanging out in the beautiful Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge is everything I need for a great weekend already, but adding a fun festival of food and drinks is the icing on the cake. The JPL always does a bang-up job hosting events, and even if the Jasper Barley Summit isn’t your cup of tea Saison, there’s likely a weekend festival that’s right for you. Just save me a seat in front of the fireplace, will ya?
