Vermont Brewers Festival: The Beers

Complete list sampled at this years beer festival in Burlington included;

67. Long Trail Blackberry Wheat
68. Long Trail Traditional IPA
69. Pennichuck Engine 5 Red Ale
70. Rock Art IPA (II)
71. Rock Art Jasmine Pale Ale (RA)
72. Stone IPA
73. Stone Arrogant Bastard
74. Stone Coast 420 India Pale Ale
75. Switchback Unfiltered Ale
76. Wolavers IPA
77. Vermont Pub & Brewery Forbidden Fruit
78. Woodchuck Draft Cider Dark & Dry
79. Woodchuck Draft Cider Pear
80. Woodstock Inn Pemi Pale
81. Zero Gravity 07 Nights (Belgian Pail Ale)

Thats it.

And the winner? Well the best new brewery for me was probably "Rock Art" and then it comes to the IPA. Plus that I really learned to enjoy the ciders from Woodchuck, that is really a great cider that we should get to Sweden. A second great beer and also a new brewery for me was "Switchback" and the Unfiltered Ale

New England Report VII:2008-07-19

At 17.00 it was finally time for the "Vermont Brewers Festival" that we had all been waiting for. After having some problems getting a cab from the hotel (seems everyone in Burlington was heading for the Waterfront Park at the same time) we finally managed to get there almost on time.

The park was packed with people in very long queues and the sun was extremelly hot. So it was really a struggle for the wait before we actually go into the festival area. But it went quite smoothly and it was organized very well.

Each brewery we located in different white tents and also a lot of food were provided. Talking about beers almost every known Vermont brewery were there, plus a good selection of external breweries like Stone and North Coast.

Getting to the list of sampled beers included; (you got 10 beers included in the price if you had the more normal beers, all connected to the ABV so some of the stronger counted as 3)

"Long Trail Brewing Company"

*. Blackberry Wheat
*. Traditional IPA

"Pennichuck Brewing Co"

*. Engine 5 Red Ale

"Rock Art Brewery" (a new favorite that I have not heard about before)

*. IPA
*. Jasmine Pale Ale

"Stone Brewing Co"

*. Stone IPA
*. Arrogant Bastard Ale

"Stone Coast Brewing Co"

*. 420 India Pale Ale

"Switchback Brewing Co"

*. Switchback Unfiltered Ale

"Vermont Pub & Brewery"

*. Forbidden Fruit

"Woodchuck Draft Cider"

*. Woodchuck Draft Cider Dark & Dry
*. Woodchuck Draft Cider Pear

"Woodstock Inn Brewer"

*. Pemi Pale Ale

"Zero Gravity"

*. 07 Nights (Belgian pail ale)

"Wolavers"

*. IPA


Scene outside the festival area, quite nice huh?

Närke Beer Festival at Akkurat

(Quote based and translated on information from bk);

"Akkurat as the first bar in the world will have a small "Närkefestival" and will have up to 12 draft beers with up to 7 different served simultaneously. This will start on Thursday Jan 24 at 17.00 & will continue as long as beers is available.

The beer from Närke Kulturbryggeri will be;

1. !
2. Anders Göranssons Bästa Rököl
3. Black Goldings
4. Närke Sim-Ko
5. Kll’n v f n d’vill
6. Riktigt Jävla Mörker (Cask)
7. Riktig Örebro Styrian Bitter (Cask)
8. Örebro Bitter
9. Närke Slättöl
10. Närke Mörker
11. Max Goldings 2007
12. Stormaktsporter 2005!!! "

This seems to be a great initiative from the world famous beer bar in Stockholm and with a brewery that is getting better and better during the years. Örebro Bitter is a classic beer now, anyway feels like it. And the latest US-inspired beers of Sim-Ko and Kll’n v f n d’vill are both really quality and fun beers.

Damn, of course it seems that I will miss this event due to work and a planned trip to Åre. Well I hope those that can get there on Thursday will have a great time.

Spring US Beer Festival 08: The result

I reported earlier (What about a beer festival in 08?) that we were planning a spring beer festival somewhere in the US. It was a bit difficult but mainly due to the exact timing and a reasonable distance from Europe during a extended weekend we finally came up with a suitable place. Yes, I know there are plenty of great beer and breweries on the west coast (like Portland that has been mentioned in some of the comments I got) and other places in the country but this year the journey will take us to;

The Spring Craft Beer Festival, Uniondale, Ny; March 29 + that we are also planning a short stop over at the 1st Manhattan Cask Ale Festival@Chelsea that I just stumbled upon a few days ago.

This will be great, a couple of beer festival and then the rest of the time heading for some beer journeys to my favorite places like;

1. Barcade, at 388 Union Avenue, Brooklyn, ******

2. Blind Tiger Ale House, at 281 Bleecker Street, *****

3. Mugs Ale House, at 125 Bedford Ave, Brooklyn, ****

4. Ginger Man, The, 11 East 36th Street, ****

5. CB Six, at 252 East 51st Street, ***

6. Spuyten Duyvil, at 359 Metropolitan Avenue, Brooklyn ***

Sadly the earlier number 3 spot; The Collins Bar, at 735 8th Ave. @ 46th St., as I earlier reported is no more so we can not start the trail anymore over at this amazing little place close to Times square.

But I guess we can live with House Of Brews - W. 51st Street close to the hotel. And hopefully some other places can be included that we have not visited in NY before.

My Own Beer Resolutions for 08

Just read a nice little entry over at "The Beer Retard" regarding his resolutions for the new year. And inspired by this I had to create my own.

2007 was also I great beer year for me. I finally got myself together and actually started to write at least something here at my blog. I visited all the major beer festival that I got the change to attend, meaning Copenhagen, GBBF, Stockholm Beer and finally GABF in Denver. I will not forget those experiences.

Plus that a few smaller festivals or happenings like a small real ale fest in London in april and the Swedish\Danish challange in June. Even visited New York over the weekend and visited the favorites pubs plus a few new ones, among the amazing Barcade bar that is now on my top 5 list of favorite pub all categories.

Continued my stupid habit of taking a photo of each beer I drink and publish it on the web!, yes I know it is very geeky stuff.

I had amazing beers and really got stuck with all the IPAs, IIPAS, Imperial Stouts etc that I sampled both in the US, but also got the opportunity to drink them back home over at Oliver Twist (thanks Jugge). Discovered new breweries like Green Flash, Moylan, The Tap, Laughing Dog, Oggis.

Best beer experience all categories;

"Drinking a draught Oak Aged Gordon in Lyons and OB during a very sunny day and the GABF week, we never wanted to leave!".

To add something to that experience it was also the same day that they released "Ten FIDY Imperial Stout" on a can!


Anyway based on that, how about 2008?, well here is my own Beer Resolutions for 2008:

1. Continue to buy a read more beer books and to learn more.

2. Several beer trips but this will hopefully be the smaller festivals year and I will not focus only on the big ones. The smaller are often more pleasant and you have the possibility to actually enjoy the beers and the breweries.

3. Plan and hopefully also get to New England for a longer beer travel experience during the summer.

4. Continue with the blog and trying to expand my thoughts and writing, meaning not just about all the beer I drink.

5. Pay more attention to less hoppy styles of beer (copied from the beer retard)

6. Try more beer styles and find new beer countries that I have not experienced so much before, has been the case before but the last 2 years I have been stuck so much with US beers. This years I recon that I will give a new try with German beers, but also maybe check some beers from Argentina and even Japan. The German experience has already been started in smaller scale.

7. Try to actually drink beers from my beer collection that I bring home, and not just store them, that can be done by others, meaning pubs and other establishments.

8. And finally come back to Barcade!

Thats it.

What about a beer festival in 08?

UPDATED 08013

We have no fixed plans for a beer festival in the US next year. This year we visited the extreme beer fest in Boston and the GABF over at Denver. But next year is still blank.

So I have tried to find a bunch of festivals that sound OK and fits suitable days (spring or the fall). So far I have also created a shortlist.

But what do you think out there?
Am I missing something?
Do you recommend a certain festival?
Or is something definitely no idea to attend?

What we are looking for is a good local festival with a large amount of US-craft beers (does not mean huge like GABF) in a calm and civilized arrangement. Last year the extreme beer festival was definitely something we enjoyed and the type of festival we are looking for. So something that is different from for example the extreme big festivals as for example GABF represents. It is also a plus if it is located in a area where you can have some additional days to explore; meaning with breweries, pubs and other beer related activities.

So what do you think? What should it be?

Top 4:

1. The Spring Craft Beer Festival, Uniondale, Ny; March 29 (*****) + a short stop over at the 1st Manhattan Cask Ale Festival@Chelsea Brew Co.

2. Beer Summit April 2008, Boston; April 18 & 19 (***)

3. Philly Craft BeerFestival, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; march 1 (*)

5. NY Brewfest, New York; September (**)

(*) Means what the current status looks like.


Outside the list:

5. American Beer Fest, Boston; June 15, 16 (*)

6. TAP newyork08 New Yorks Craft Brew Festival, Hunter, NY; April 26,27

7. 25th Annual San Francisco International Beer Festival, Fort Mason, San Francisco ; April 26

8. Great International Spring Beer Festival, Providence, RI; May 5

9. Brooklyn Pigfest; May 12
.