There's a new harvest festival to look forward to in October--and it doesn't involve apples or pumpkins. Instead, the inaugural BC Hop Fest marks the hop harvest. 

Billed as Canada's first fresh beer festival, it takes place on Saturday, October 3 at Kinloch Farms in Abbotsford, and celebrates the resurgence of BC’s hop growing industry.

Along with hop farm tours, hop education, and entertainment, 15 BC craft breweries will be pouring their fresh-hopped beer, also known as wet-hopped beer.

In an interview with the Straight last year, Ken Beattie, executive director of the B.C. Craft Brewers Guild, compared late-harvest wet-hopped brews to Beaujolais Nouveau wines for their rush between harvest and consumption. “Wet-hopped means they pick them [the hops] right off the bine: they don’t dry them or pelletize them,” he explained.  

Brewers with fresh beer to sample at the 2015 festival will include Victoria's Hoyne Brewing and Driftwood Brewing, Gibsons' Persephone Brewing, and local favourites like Powell Street Brewing and Bomber Brewing.

The festival is presented by the B.C. Craft Brewers Guild and BC Hop Company Ltd. It kicks of Craft Beer Month in British Columbia.

Tickets cost $25 each (plus fees) and include three tasting tokens. Additional tokens cost $5 for three.

The festival takes place from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. on October 3. For more information, see the BC Hop Fest website.