What were your Top 5 EBF Experiences?

Pretty sure "hubris" and "arrogance" are the last words you could use to describe anyone from Tree House.

They just opened a new brew house, and are canning now, which is bringing more and more people out each week; there's usually nearly 100 people waiting in line each day at opening at the brewery. They're still brewing on a 5 BBL system and still managed to bring beer to EBF, even though they've been selling out of everything they have for the week in just a few hours. Maybe they could have pulled out due to "production issues" like another brewery, but they did what they could to make sure they made it to EBF.

You really can't hate on a local brewery, who can't even produce enough beer to supply their local customers, because the only brought one beer and compare them to a brewery who bottles and distributes in over a dozen states. Compare Tree House to some of the other breweries who kicked early. TH had a bigger line than most of them during every session, and their brewery is smaller than just about anyone else who kicked early.

 

Yeah, calling Tree House or even the actual act of only bringing one beer to a fest arrogant is just silly. Entitled much? Can you honestly not envision any scenario in which they may have wanted to bring more beer but just weren't able to due to a variety of factors?

Anyway, great fest despite the outrageous egos of breweries who didn't bring enough beer to please every single fest-goer ten fold.

 

ok maybe arrogance/ hubris was a bit strong...but....Just seems like they took a spot away from another brewer that could have showcased their brews. just sayin.
I've been wrong before and I'm not saying they aren't good guys But can you honestly say it wasn't a bad move? Cmon. I really don't care , there was enough beer for everyone but look at it objectively and forget you are from Mass . ...avatar tells me you may not be looking at this objectively. Again, I've been wrong.....alot...my wife will tell you!

 

I can't be sure, but I don't think they took a spot away from anyone. BA had to scramble to try and find someone to take over when Toppling Goliath dropped out. But even if Tree House did take a spot away from someone, take a look back on this thread and realize that hundreds of people got to try one of, if not their favorite beer of the night, who could have taken that spot? And of all the super hyped beers (Hunahpus/CBS/Funky Buddha stuff) Good Morning lasted way longer, at least when I was there.

Call it a regional bias, but I truly don't believe that having someone else there instead of Tree House could have made the fest any better, even if they brought 20 beers.

 

Tree House: Good Morning
Lost Abbey: Veritas 15
Funky Buddha: Last Buffalo
Rare Barrel: Map of the Sun
Other Half: All Green Everything

Honorable Mention
Lost Abbey: Track 10
Jackie O's: Dark Apparition - Almond
Rare Barrel: Ensorcelled

 

Wait Kane was pouring ANTEAD Coffee?! I've had all the ANTEADs multiple times, but that's my favorite! I didn't even bother checking because they listed online that they were pouring regular ANTEAD, and since I've had it many times I skipped it to get other stuff. If I had known it was ANTEAD coffee I would have had to get a pour though!

 

I do think its amazing how people think that people expect the brewers to be able to anticipate how many people are going to show up at their booth and drink their beer. Every brewer does the best job possible to make sure they bring enough beer for everyone, but no one can predict how many people will be in line (or even how many people will go through the line twice because they liked the beer so much.) The fact that they were able to pour for three sessions and last through substantially all of the three sessions says a lot. And the lesson to be learned is that the quality of the beer produced by Tree House is on the same level of Funky Buddha, Founders, and others commanding long lines that people "need to get to earlier". I don't see anyone yelling at Founders for not bringing enough CBS for everyone.....

I don't think its arrogance bringing 1 beer. I think its more likely a result of a number of factors such as: not having enough time due to the fact that they were moving into their new brewery, the delays of doing this as a result of the massive amount of snow we've received, the fact that they had to wait for the new brewhouse to come in (and I don't believe it came in time), and finally the fact that Good Morning takes a long time to brew. The fact of the matter is they showed up and provided one of best beers of the night.

Let's also not forget that many of the other brewers have a much bigger scale than Tree House, so brewers like Against the Grain have the ability to bring more.

 

in no particular order, Madagascar, Oro Negro, Green Diamonds, All Green Everything, Valley of the Heart's Delight

 

TH had one beer but it's on like 2/3rds (or more?) of the EBF top 5 lists in this thread (and no I didnt actually count Seems they made more than an above avg contribution to the fest.

 

Ha yea someone said the same to me. I might just be dumb and wrong about it, but when I stopped by, the sign said brewed with coffee, so unless that's the regular antead, I would think it was coffee. It was much better than the reg or other variants I've had so I think it was.

 

My top 5 were:

Funky Buddha - Last Buffalo In The Park
Tree House - Good Morning (after letting it sit in my cup for about 15 minutes, was definitely too cold!)
Lost Abbey - Veritas 015
Bruery - Tart of Darkness with Cherries and Vanilla
Rare Barrel - Map of the Sun

Honorable Mentions:

Kane - ANTEAD with Coffee
Kane - Sunday Brunch
Rare Barrel - Ensorcelled, Forces Unseen, Apropos of Nothing
Jackie O's - Oro Negro
Green Man - Snozzberry

Biggest Surprise - Proclamation - Loved all of their offerings, especially Harper I with Apricots

I thought Rare Barrel was the best table at the event for me for the combination of having 4 of my favorites of the night and for having a relatively shorter line than others making it easy to try all 4 multiple times. Funky Buddha was my favorite of the weekend for having my top beer of the festival and for having my favorite beer for the entire weekend on Thursday night (Wide Awake It's Morning).

Great event and even with the long lines, not nearly as crowded as I expected. Still having a hard time believing that was over 2,000 people! I went in worried about standing in long lines but quickly realized that there were times I needed to stand in a line to both catch my breath and enjoy what I had in my cup. Lines moved quickly and people were very respectful of others. Would definitely do this again! Just need to figure out a way to try a higher % of the beers next time!

 

I didn't go to the fest this year, but reading through the responses I can't help but think that there should have been more beers make people's top 5. Same combination of 7/8 beers over and over and there were literally hundreds of beers that could have made the grade.

 

Funky Buddha- Last Buffalo
Against the Grain- 70K Coconut
FW- Browniewine
Rare Barrel- Map Of The Sun
Revolution- Mineshaft Gap

(I skipped the Good Morning, since I've had all the other batches. Just went over to chat with Dean once they kicked.)

 

Funky Buddha Last Buffalo in the Park
Jack's Abby Bride Maker
Tree House Good Morning
The Lost Abbey Box Set Track 10: Bat out of Hell
Jackie O's Cucumber Ginger Berliner Weisse

Didn't have Hunahpu or CBS because I've had both before, otherwise they would certainly make this list.

 

I don't think any complaints about Tree House deserve the time of day. So dead wrong in so many ways.

My 5
4 Hands Madagascar
Lost Abbey Veritas 015
Tree House Good Morning
Rare Barrel everything
Other Half All Green Everything (biggest surprise of the night)

I frequent OEC way too much to have them on this list, but yeah Tempus is baller

 

Sams Kosmic Mother Funk. Super Funky. You wouldn't want a glass of it, but it was extremely interesting.
Dogfish Head Sick cider: I am not at all a cider person, but this is the best balanced cider I've ever had. Fermented with Brett.
Night Shift El Lechedor. They call it a Horchata Stout. I can't think of a more perfect descriptor.
Other Half All Green Everything. Hoppy and delicious.
Anderson Valley Blood Orange Gose: Very well balanced and I love blood oranges.

 

A lot of my favorites were beers I've had before so I'll focus on what I tried for the first time at EBF
In no particular order:

Everything Rare Barrel
Other Half is killing it. All Green Everything and Green Diamonds were incredible!
Kane- A Night to End All Dawns, really awesome BA imperial stout
OEC, particularly Tempus. These guys surprised me with their originality
FW- Bretta Rose, no surprise Firestone Walker brought some kickass brews. This one was so tasty

All in all, such an amazing festival. Hope everyone had as much fun as I did!

 

Agree on Dark Apparition. That was excellent, and the pourer had us wait to drink it. Said it was better at 50 degrees and made us hold it for 10 minutes. He was right.

 

While there were a myriad of amazing beers there were definitely a few that just floored me and everyone else I was with. Last Buffalo and Veritas 15 simply are just that good that they should be on everyone's top 5 list, assuming they got the chance to have them! Good Morning would probably have been on mine as well if I had gotten it, but I skipped it because I'd had it before and had a growler of it sitting in my car!

 

The Rare Barrel-Map of the Sun

Other Half Brewing Co.-All Green Everything

The Lost Abbey- Veritas 015

Jack's Abby-3x Dry Hopped Hoponius Union

Funky Buddha- Last Buffalo in the Park