In April, the first ever Slow Fest was held in Boston, MA. Put on by Dig Publishing (the folks who publish Beer Advocate Magazine), Slow Fest was a celebration of low alcohol beers (under 5% alcohol by volume or ABV). As a big “session beer” fan (a term used to describe lower alcohol beers) I was excited to get a chance to attend this event.
The Slow Fest included over 30 breweries, including some that would surprise you to know brew quite a few low alcohol beers, like Stone and Victory. In addition, the Slow Fest incorporated an element of slow food to accompany the “slow” beer.
Slow Food is a movement that is centered around getting people to be more aware of where their food comes from and taking the time to enjoy meals. It’s essentially the complete opposite of “Fast Food”. A perfect pairing for craft beer, which despite a debate on the definition of the term, really is the opposite of mass produced beer.
The event was a great chance to try a lot of flavorfull beers, perfect as the temperatures rise and session beers become more of what I crave.
Hopefully they will do this event again next year. If they do I will certainly be there, and as always, I”’ be here for the beer.
In this quick episode, I take a trip out to Boston for the night to check out the East Coast’s largest craft beer event – the American Craft Beer Fest.
With over 80 breweries and 400+ beers available to sample, the fest is well equipped to handle the 12,000 attendees that will pass through in the weekend.
I had the chance to talk to the founders of Beer Advocate and this event, the Alström Brothers, Jason and Todd, about this 3rd year event. Even as the doors just opened, they shared expansion plans for next year. The Bro’s have really raised the bar on craft beer festivals and often tailor those events to the craft beer lover. In this case, they share that the ACBF is geared more toward introducing craft beer to those who may not make it an everyday first choice.
Overall the event had that feel to it, but not in a bad way. There was a strong regional representation, with most brands being from MA and the surrounding area. It gave me an opportunity to revisit some of my local favorites, as well as sample some new breweries I had yet to try. I attended the Friday night session, which is usually the quieter of the 3 sessions, and didn’t have to wait long to taste anything. I was impressed that the longest lines were at some of the smallest breweries, a testament to the crowd and the work that Beer Advocate (and other craft beer supporters) do to put focus on these smaller brands.
Overall it was a nice night out in Boston and it was great to see some fellow beer geek friends that I tend to only run into at these events. I look forward to the next Beer Advocate event, sure to be shared right here – on here for the beer!
We are happy to say that the first ever Brattleboro Brewers Festival was this past weekend and it was a great time. 40 breweries were represented, with many brewmasters and owners actually coming out to show their support and pour. Big breweries and small came together with great music from local favorites Peter Miles and Terrapin Island as well as great food from Vermont Country Deli (who actually created 7 dishes with beers from the festival), North End Butchers and Top of the Hill Grill. Thankfully the weather held out and it was a beautiful day for a festival.
Check out our video to see a quick overview of the event (we were pretty busy during and didn’t get to give it a real “hereforthebeer” production). There is also a great series of photos of the festival taken by Mallory Finnley over on her Flickr page.
If you were able to come out for the fest, we would love to know your thoughts – post a comment here or on facebook. If you didn’t make it this year, we hope that you will be able to make it next year. Keep an eye on the Brattleboro Brew Fest website or right here on here for the beer for the details. Cheers!
A few weeks months ago we took a trip to Portland Maine and were lucky enough to get to peep into Maine Beer Company. Co-Founder David Kleban gave us a tour around the small startup brewery and talked to us about their beer and their plans.
The Peeper Ale (or Spring Peeper as it was called at the time) is a fresh west-coast style (their description) hoppy pale ale. The beer was certainly good, but it seems that David and his brother Dan will be hanging onto their day jobs for now, only brewing as time permits. The folks over at the Portland based beer blog www.blogaboutbeer.com did a nice post on the brewery and the beer, so be sure to check that out.
Maine Beer Company will also be at our first ever Brattleboro Brewers Festival this May, in Brattleboro Vermont. So if you are looking to meet Dan and David or to try their newest brews, be sure to swing by the here for the beer tent at the fest.
On a side note, sorry for the delay in getting these out there. We have some really exciting news (that we can’t share until the end of the summer!) that has kept us from being able to upload anything for a few weeks. We appreciate your patience (and the couple of “are you guys ok?” emails!) as we get back in the swing of things here.
We were lucky enough to score a few bottles of Spring Peeper Ale so I think we will be popping one open this evening in celebration of our getting back to the blog :)
Beer Advocate defines extreme beer as a beer that pushes the boundaries of brewing. Their 6th annual extreme beer fest was held in Boston, MA on February 20 & 21, 2009. Those who were able to attend found some intense offerings.
Sadly for us, we missed the EBF this year as it was a busy weekend at the inn. Fortunately another beer advocate captured some footage of the event. So in this video you can follow Buzz (Yesac at BA) as he goes unscripted into the world of extreme beer. Interviews of attendees, breweries, and founder of Beeadvocate.com, Jason Alström.
This is the first of our “guest” videos and we hope to find and post more beer video as we find it. You can help by emailing us your links!
