Beer festival features all-you-can-drink from top Toronto brewers

There’s a huge party coming to one of Toronto’s coolest streets this month, featuring dozens of the best breweries in North America.

While Ossington tends to get all the glory when it comes to cool streets in Toronto, anyone who knows what’s good knows that Geary Avenue is — and has been for the past decade or so — on the ascent to steal the throne.

Ever since opening its doors in 2015, Blood Brothers Brewing has been at the forefront of the trendy-fication of Geary Avenue, bringing a cool and relaxed spot for indie brews, seasonal bites and events to a then-relatively desolate industrial area — and they haven’t slowed down since.

In fact, not even the weather can slow them down, as they plan the return of their annual Over the Tap beer festival, which brings together a number of the best breweries in North America (a number of which hail from our very own Toronto) for a night of tap takeovers, live entertainment, snacks, games and dancing.

This year, you’ll be able to sip on special collaboration brews between Blood Brothers and breweries including All My Friends, Bellwoods, Collective Arts, Short Finger and Third Moon, alongside guest taps from the likes of Burdock, Rorschach and Rouge River.

Did I mention it’s an open bar? Well, it is, so you can — in theory, at least, — sample each and every brew on offer all night long. If your tolerance allows, at least.

Beer is nothing without bites to compliment it, so there’s also set to be a selection of all-you-can-eat snacks served throughout the night, all covered in the price of your ticket.

Throughout the evening, expect a selection of live music (the acts have yet to be announced) and DJs to keep the party alive, alongside bar games, brizes, exclusive merchandise and, in Blood Brothers’ own words, “all sorts of hijinks and mayhem.”

On Geary, I’d expect nothing less.

General admission tickets, which are available now through eventbrite, ring in at a lofty $99 per person before tax, but, considering the price of admission covers as much food as you can eat and beer as you can (responsibly drink), it’s not a bad deal at all. 

All the fun you’ll have is just an added bonus.

Blood Brothers’ Over the Tap Festival 2025 is taking place on Friday, Jan. 31 from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. What better way to spice up the chilliest month of the year?