Over the years, the event has become known for increasingly ambitious cooking projects.
Few events have shaped Western Canada’s food scene quite like Brewery & the Beast.
What started as a bold idea in Victoria in 2012 has grown into one of the country’s most celebrated culinary festivals, drawing thousands of guests and some of Canada’s most respected chefs to gather around a simple concept: exceptional food cooked over live fire.
Ahead of this year’s Vancouver event on Aug. 30, I caught up with founder Scott Gurney to talk about the festival’s growth, the evolution of live-fire cooking, and why supporting local restaurants remains at the heart of everything Brewery & the Beast does.
The event first launched in Victoria before expanding to Vancouver in 2013, Calgary in 2015, and most recently Toronto. While the scale has changed dramatically, Gurney says the foundation has remained remarkably consistent.
“It’s always been about using very high-quality ingredients from farms and ranches that raise animals responsibly and sustainably,” he explains. “Cooking with live fire has always stayed true.”
That commitment to quality has helped Brewery & the Beast carve out a unique place in Canada’s culinary landscape. While many food festivals focus on samples and sponsorships, Brewery & the Beast feels more like a playground for chefs. It gives them the opportunity to experiment, push boundaries and showcase their creativity in ways that simply aren’t possible inside the walls of a restaurant.
The chefs have responded.
Chefs push the envelope with bigger barbecue feats each year
Over the years, the event has become known for increasingly ambitious cooking projects. Gurney recalls chefs building elaborate fire structures, cooking whole animals, and creating custom equipment designed specifically for a single dish.
One of his favourite examples came from Vancouver, when chef Alex Chen helped create a vertical fire installation using stacked honey drums filled with flames. Rather than cooking over the fire, an entire pig was suspended beside it.
Another year, a chef in Calgary decided to cook an entire bison. The Brewery & the Beast team worked alongside welders and fabricators to design and build a custom cooking structure capable of handling the massive undertaking.
“It cooked for more than twenty-four hours,” Gurney says. “It was an amazing cooking feat.”
Having attended the event myself, what continues to impress me is not necessarily the size of the crowd but the sheer amount of creativity on display. Every chef seems determined to push things a little further than the year before, whether that means building a custom fire pit, cooking a whole animal, or simply creating a dish that guests are still talking about weeks later.
Those stories help explain why chefs continue to return year after year. The event gives them a platform to dream big, while the Brewery & the Beast team provides the infrastructure and support to bring those ideas to life.
One of the event’s longest-standing partners has been Two Rivers Specialty Meats, which has been involved since the earliest days of the festival. For Gurney, that relationship helped establish the standard Brewery & the Beast would become known for.
Brewery & the Beast feels uniquely Canadian
From the beginning, the goal was never to showcase commodity products. Instead, the event sought out producers focused on quality, sustainability and responsible farming practices. That philosophy continues today, with chefs working with some of the best ingredients available anywhere in the country.
The result is an event that feels uniquely Canadian. Guests may arrive for the spectacle of open flames and whole animals turning over coals, but they leave with a deeper appreciation for the farmers, ranchers, fishers and producers who make great cooking possible.
This year’s Vancouver lineup is another strong reflection of the city’s culinary depth.
Returning favourites include Published on Main, Boulevard Kitchen & Oyster Bar, Elisa, Basta Barbecue, Juke Fried Chicken and Two Rivers Meats. New additions such as Violete’, Chez Céline and Restaurant Kavita add fresh energy to an already impressive roster.
For Gurney, however, the real goal extends beyond the festival grounds.
“We want people to come to the event, discover a restaurant they haven’t visited before, and then go support them.”
That sentiment resonates strongly with me because over the past few years Vancouver’s culinary reputation has continued to rise. The city now boasts Michelin stars, national accolades, and growing international recognition. Restaurants such as Published on Main, Boulevard, and dozens more continue to appear on Canada’s most prestigious dining lists, while a new generation of chefs keeps pushing the city forward.
Yet none of that success happens in isolation.
Behind every memorable dish is a network of farmers, ranchers, fishers, producers, servers, cooks and restaurant owners working tirelessly to create experiences that define our food culture.
That is what Brewery & the Beast celebrates. Yes, it’s about incredible food and spectacular live-fire cooking, but at its core it is about community. It’s about the people behind the food and the restaurants that continue to shape Vancouver’s dining scene.
Brewery & the Beast Vancouver takes place July 26 at Concord Pacific Place, bringing together more than 50 chefs, restaurants, beverage producers and culinary partners for one of the city’s premier food events.
Brewery & the Beast in Vancouver
When: Aug. 30, 2026, 2 to 5 p.m.
Where: Concord Pacific Place – 811 Carrall St.
Cost: $204.29 (all-inclusive ticket covers all food and drinks). Buy via Showpass.