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Thank you to everyone who made the first-ever Alberta Spirits & Cocktail Festival a success.
Riley from the Ultimate Bartending School shows off his skills at the Flair Bar while preparing cocktails made with local Alberta spirits.
Photo credit, @jrush.photos
Supporting Alberta Spirit Producers
The first-ever Alberta Spirits & Cocktail Festival took place on April 27th at the Edmonton Convention Centre, in downtown Edmonton, where we had over 30 Alberta based spirits producers exhibit along side local restaurants, artisans and special guests.
We'd like to thank our many guests who came out to enjoy their afternoon and/or evening with us and supported local Alberta business.
We'll be sending out a survey to those who addended shortly to gather additional feedback on the event and will listen to your suggestions on how we can make the event bigger and better for you next year.
INITIAL FEEDBACK
We heard many comments from our guests and exhibitors which were mostly all positive. However, this was the first time we have put on this type of show and wanted to know what we could still do better to increase overall guest experience.
WHAT WENT WELL
The Atmosphere was great | We heard from many guests that they loved the cocktail vibe at the show and felt like it was a great date night spot or night out with friends.
The exhibitors we're friendly | Guests loved how approachable and knowledgeable the vendors were. Many ended up going back to their favorites multiple times.
The Liquor Market | It was laid out great and guests loved that they we're able to purchase products that they sampled at the event.
Alberta Content | Many guests we're surprised and excited to see how many spirit producers are based in Alberta and that we're at the show.
The Fire Truck | The Booze Brothers came to party in their restored classic fire truck that was dispensing some of their most popular products. Guests loved getting pictures inside the truck!
The musical talent was great | Guests loved that there was live music throughout the event and really got the crowd going.
Great food selections | We had several food vendors onsite which we're all unique and offered a variety of food including classy cocktail appetizers, jerk chicken, lobster rolls, East Indian delicacies, sweets, and frozen desserts.
The Red Carpet & Photo Booth | Guests loved that there we're multiple photo opportunity locations and some we're even to get their group photos by our event photographer.
There were chairs! | We heard this one a lot! Guests mentioned that many of these types of events do not have places to sit and take a break. They loved that there we're plenty of places to site down and soak in the atmosphere while they chatted with friends and sipped their cocktails.
WHAT NEEDS IMPROVEMENT
Better communication on sampling tickets 01 | In order to keep the line moving smoothly we opted for a cash only option, which is typical to other similar style events. We had communicated this on our website and had ATMs onsite for guests who needed more cash on the day of, but we heard through some guests that they we're surprised to see the sample tickets as a cash only purchase. We will work on improving this communication for next years event.
Better communication on sampling tickets 02 | Some guests we're unsure of how many tickets to purchase as they were not sure what exhibitors would be charging. While exhibitors are free to set their own prices, we will communicate better guidelines and recommended ticket pricing for next years event.
Water stations more clearly marked | While we had several water stations onsite, we heard from some guests that they had trouble locating them. For next years event, we will place these locations on the event map and have better visual cues on the floor.
The Passport Program was confusing | The intent of the passport program was to collect stamps from various exhibitors for a chance to win prizes throughout the event and to submit the passport at the end of the event to win additional prizes. There seemed to be some confusion as to how to win prizes and or how to submit the passports. We also heard that some passport stamps ended up smudging. We apologize for any confusion this caused and we will be entirely revamping this for next year.
VENDOR LIST
In case you missed them at the festival, please see the complete list below of all who addended as exhibitors in this years event.
130 | Alberta Craft Distillers Association |
123 | Anohka Distillery |
108 | ATLAS Steak + Fish |
134 | Badlands Distillery |
111 | Bar Oro Caffe & Roastery |
106 | Black Diamond Distillery |
120 | Blake Brewhouse & Distillery |
137 | Booze Brothers Moonshine |
105 | Bridgeland Distillery |
121 | Broken Oak Distilling |
119 | Burwood Distillery |
139 | Choco N' Dip |
128 | Cold Like Brewing & Distilling |
118 | Doege Company |
138 | Edmonton Convention Centre |
116 | Elk Island Spirits Co |
125 | Field Notes |
114 | GNU Craft Spirits |
112 | Guru Kitchen + Bar |
102 | Hansen Distillery |
140 | HART Edmonton |
107 | Hawke Prohibition Distilleries |
115 | Highwood Distilling |
124 | Lone Pine Distilling |
101 | Lost Things Distillery |
135 | MD Distillery |
142 | Middleton's Bitters |
141 | Mojo Jojo Pickles |
122 | Park Distillery |
133 | Pivot Spirits |
103 | Rocky Mountain Bighorn Distillery |
104 | Romero Distilling |
117 | Silver Devil Spirits |
135 | Soul House Sweets |
129 | Stickler Shrub Cocktails |
127 | Strathcona Spirits Distillery |
109 | Sunset Reggae Kitchen |
143 | Tisk One Art |
126 | Token Bitters |
110 | West of the 5th Distillery |
CHARITY PARTNER
Humane Animal Rescue Team (hart) | We are huge supporters hart and love the work they do with stray and abandon dogs within the Edmonton area and were able to help raise hundreds of dollars for their cause through this event.
OPERATIONS PARTNER
Ultimate Bartending School | We partnered with UBS to facilitate our event operational procedures and to serve as our exhibitor engagement manager. They we're also the host of this years Flair Bar, where there past and present students put on a spectacular show for our guests and served up classic cocktails with an Alberta twist, using locally produced spirits.
MEDIA PARTNERS
Stingray Media | Parent company of 100 of radio stations including K97 Classic Rock, 96.3 The Breeze and Stingray Music. Radio host Terry Evans, even joined us at the event and met with many of our exhibitors to chat with them about what they were serving. More to come from this segment on Terry's Cocktail Trail.
Culinaire Magazine | Alberta's premier food & beverage magazine and host of the Alberta Beverage Awards.
Global Edmonton | We we're featured on Global Edmonton's Saturday Morning show on April 20th, with host Lisa MacGregor
PHOTO GALLERY
Stay tuned for more photos from the 2024 Alberta Spirits & Cocktail Festival.
