Clad in capes, full-body leotards or other rainbow-coloured accessories, these beer drinkers stood out in the crowd Saturday.

"In our normal lives, we're mild mannered civilians but when we come to beer fest, we're super heros," said Matt Grant, dressed in green.

"Super beer-os, if you will," chipped in his buddy in purple.

The annual Great Canadian Beer Festival, held to celebrate finely craft brews, is no wine tasting where connoisseurs spit their samples and rinse their mouth.

The atmosphere at this 7,000-person strong, sold-out event is boisterous and, by the end of the day, tipsy.

Other costumed groups roamed the Royal Athletic Park, including a group braving the scorching day in full-bodied animals suits.

Fun and games aside, however, these imbibers are serious beer drinkers. The caped crowd have been making the trek from Vancouver for the past three years.

There are two groups of festival attendees, admits Paul Hadfield of Spinnakers: one serious about beer and one willing to shell out the $30 admission plus the cost of drink tokens just to have fun.

"But I think they're getting closer and closer together," he added. "We have more people becoming very discerning. The level of questions have gone way up."

One sign of this commitment is the number of cask-conditioned beers in demand.

Hadfield's ESB was among the 24 cask brews brought to the festival for sampling. The beer, served warm and flat relative to a conventional brew, is intended to the refined palate.

"It's the ultimate expression," he said. "It's what beers were 150, 200 years ago before industrialization took over. It's artisan, it's small batch, hand-crafted and variable."

Spinnakers isn't the only brewpub offering casks but was the first to offer the specialty product five nights a week – a move it made in December. Hadfield is planning a cask festival in November.

"The public are becoming more and more appreciative of what goes into the process of making great beers," he said.

And the statistics bear out his claim.

While mainstream beer sales are stagnating, the craft beer category has grown 30 per cent, said Rick Green, of the Campaign for Real Ale. CAMRA is a group of quality beer advocates which supply most of the event's hundreds of volunteers.

"Wheat beers are definitely a summer staple ... We're also finding that IPA are becoming standards across most of the craft brewers," he said.

India Pale Ales are among the most bitter of the beers, and their popularity is an indication of people's palates developing, Green said.

All of Victoria's seven craft breweries had booths at the festival, which attracts brewers from Belgium, the U.S. and as far east as Ontario.

"It's just for fun," said Paul Hoyne, owner of the Lighthouse Brewing Company on Devonshire Road. "This is holiday."

Other local brewpub and breweries include Canoe, Driftwood, Phillips, Swans Buckerfield's and Vancouver Island.

rholmen@saanichnews.com