Extreme Beer Fest: Boston 2017 (Survival Thread)

They usually have little handbooks around in the area ahead of time. I grabbed one at a pub up the street last year. I am not sure if this is happening this year though.

 

You'll get a guide inside. They also post a booth map on the site beforehand. Good to do some game planning.

 

If you're going with a group of friends, make sure you all wear matching shirts. Those guys are always the coolest people at the fest.

But seriously, drink water, eat a waffle or two and be open minded. I tend to avoid the longest lines, but they can also be a good break. Sometimes the best beers are the ones know one knows about prior to the fest and thus have no lines. If you're at a brewery without a line, chat up the brewer. If there's a line behind you, get your sample and move out of the way.

Also, absolutely no shame in calling it a day before the fest ends. This will be my 8th EBF I think and I've only stayed till the very end twice.

Finally, keep an eye on the bathroom lines. Be opportunistic for when to take a break.

 

To add on to what other folks said:
Don't be compelled to try something from every brewer. I wouldn't bother with anything you've had before or have easy access to. And while it's not terrible to try beers from styles you don't care too much about, I wouldn't advise trying something just because it's there. This will be my third BA Beer Fest and my 4th in total. I make the mistake where I try beers in styles I don't really care too much about just to try another beer. But there's a lot of beer in a short time span and these are usually heavy beers. Any unnecessary beer is taking up time and space that could go to another beer you'd REALLY enjoy and also adds that much more work for your liver.

So, in my case, unless I hear people raving about an IPA, I'm not likely to try too many of them. I like IPAs but not as much as I like stouts and other heavier beers. And I won't try any beers with chili peppers in them this year. I have at every fest and it's just not a taste that's for me. So I'll save myself a marginal impact on my BAC and move on to the water station or something.

 

yea i saw that, I was wondering if there would be a list of what's pouring session 1, session 2, and session 3 specifically. Or will all beers be poured all sessions?

 

All beer is designed to be poured at all sessions. This is of course subject to brewer availability, but I would say 95% of the time all beers listed are available for all sessions. The brewers will allocate an amount for each of the three sessions. With very minor exceptions you'll taste all the same things at all 3 sessions

 

The DFH list is up, is your collaboration there or is it a surprise?

 

My first EBF was maybe 11 (12?) years ago and I had no idea what I was doing. Tried a ton of stuff I don't remember, mostly looking for hoppy beers with high ABV.

The next year my friends and I made a point of trying to hit each brewery in attendance, going clockwise (for those old enough - remember the Cyclorama setup?). We got through at least 80% of the booths before we ran out of time / were kindly asked to remove ourselves from the fest since they weren't going to serve the four of us any more beer (a solid 15 minutes before last call). Good times.

With the fest now including dozens more breweries than back then, I feel that it is a physical impossibility to drink one full sample from each booth over the allotted time, even if you wanted to.

 

Every year a small handful try (a few do succeed) but I have my doubts that any that even get 75% of the way through individually (1 pour per person per brewery) remember any of it. I have seen some groups of 4 divide and conquer but do you really get to enjoy the beer then?

 

Is NERAX going to have a booth again this year?

 

Nothing better than those waffles after trying a few pours. (though I assume they are great sober as well)

 

KO Pies is the truth. Don't miss out on them.

 

The absolute truth!

 

I can never eat a waffle cabin waffle again, not because they aren't delicious, but because my brother used to work for them and bring home leftovers by the trash bag.

 

I didn't mean literally every brewery. I just mean that you don't need to try to hit some high number. When you're in the mentality of wanting to visit X% of the breweries, or at least when I did, I didn't get to enjoy the beers as much because I was constantly rushing to the next booth and finishing off the samples quickly which meant less time actually tasting and appreciating.

Not saying it's the same for everyone. But I'm thinking it'd be that way for most.

 

Getting cut off at EBF is impressive.