Hopscotch Festival’s Grand Tasting Hall launches tonight

Tickets are sold out, but a few extras just became available

The Hopscotch Festival Vancouver launched in 1995 as a single-day event dedicated to whisky and beer with about 36 vendors.

Now it sprawls over an entire week, with more than 130 merchants peddling some 400 varieties of spirits, cider, wine and cocktails at the PNE Forum.

The festival started earlier on November 20 but its signature event, the Grand Tasting Hall, runs November 23 and 24. One of the hotter tickets in town, it’s been sold out for weeks, but a few extras became available to those on the festival’s mailing list.

Tickets include admission, a souvenir tasting glass, access to an app for beverage connoisseurs and a free shuttle ride downtown after the event.

Just under 100 craft beers from B.C. will be showcased at Hopscotch, plus more than 120 whiskies from around the world.