By Dale Woodard on August 24, 2021.
A tour of some downtown locales and a bit of sampling was brewing for some lucky diners over the weekend.
And a history lesson was the main course as the Downtown Lethbridge BRZ hosted the Downtown History and Beer Tour Saturday.
The annual event featured walking-distance stops at the Italian Table, the Round Table Board Gamerie, the Bread Milk and Honey and the Streatside Eatery, offering the tourists not only a history lesson on each location, but a tasty dish and a signature beer at each stop.
In keeping with the history lesson aspect of the tour, even the beers at each stop also had a small bio for the diners to read up on.
As it has been in years past, the Italian Table – located at the Sandman Inn on Scenic Drive – was the first stop on the tour.
The Italian Table, as well as the beer it served, is local, said Sarah Ferrari, scheduling human resources coordinator of Italian Table and Prime Catering.
“We opened in March of 2018,” she said. “The beer we have is from Stronghold Brewing Co. in Fort Macleod. It’s a Brut Mimosa IPA. It’s a fruity beer with a champagne undertone and we’re serving it with a side of bruschetta, which is one of our number one appetizers sold in the restaurant.
“After this they’re going to drink and eat and order something else if they want and then they’ll go to their next stop until they get to the end.”
With COVID regulations easing as of July 1, Ferrari said this year’s tour has been the best one due to people’s hunger to simply get out and socialize.
“After 18 months of being locked down, I think it’s just nice to have people in here and I think people just want that social aspect, to just get out,” she said. “That’s our goal. Our motto is ‘Socialize and share’. We love for people to come in and eat the Italian way and share stories and good food and good drinks and just enjoy.”
As of late Saturday afternoon, the touring diners were still filing in to pick up their tour pamphlets.
“I think we have 27 people on the tour this year, which is awesome,” said Ferrari. “I think we have about eight more people to come in.”
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