Is Kennet Square Brewfest worth the trip?

I only attended this beer festival once and I very much enjoyed it. Lots of tasty beers and I never felt 'crushed' by the other attendees.

You made mention of "I tend to Belgians, Saisons, rustic beers, pilsners etc.". You will likely see plenty of Pilsners since local craft breweries do a great job here (e.g., Sly Fox, Root Down, Von C, Troegs, Sterling Pig, 2SP, etc.) but I would suspect that Belgians/Saisons would not be in great abundance.

If you are very particular about drinking only 'traditional' beer styles this may be a hit or miss event but if you like tasty beers and having a good time I would encourage you to attend.

Cheers!

 

Never been, but my my guess is it'll be a lot of IPAs.

If you'd rather focus on Quality over Quantity, these are probably the most well regarded Philly area breweries for excellent "Traditional Styles":

Human Robot (German & Czech Lagers) https://www.humanrobotbeer.com/
Forest & Main (Saisons, Lagers, English Cask Beers) https://forest-and-main-brewing-co.myshopify.com/
Troubles End (Lagers, Saisons, Cask beer) https://www.troublesendbrewing.com/house-taps

If by rustic you mean mixed culture or spontaneous fermentation barrel aged beers:
Fermentery Form https://www.fermenteryform.com/
Free Will https://www.freewillbrewing.com/perkasie-cans-bottles
The Referend (Lehigh Valley) https://www.thereferend.com/

 

I too am a fan of Saisons.

Later this week I will be homebrewing my annual batch of Saison. The recipe is included in this article: https://www.morebeer.com/articles/Saison_Beer

Cheers!

 

John (@JohnInOhio), if you enjoy lagers maybe a return visit to Philly next June (or the following year) would be something for you to consider. The annual Lager beer festival (Logjammin’) sponsored by Human Robot occurs then. I posted a short ‘trip report’ of this year’s event in a NBW thread:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/new-beer-weekend-150.673044/page-4#post-7782522

Cheers!

 

Hopefully they will bring their Dinkel Lager to the festival:

“Dinkel Lager - 4% Spelt Lager. This beer is so damn nice. Brewed with a double decoction of German barley and lots of German Spelt malt, hopped singularly with Saaz, fermented slow and cold with our favourite lager yeast, and spunded at the end of fermentation to capture lots of beautiful tight bubbles and extra flavors. We’re getting notes of lemon verbena, Nilla wafers with royal icing, homemade pasta and homemade white bread, and maybe a whiff of white pepper. Very guzzleable, indeed.”

https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...e-breweries-in-your-area.673091/#post-7784604

Prost!

 

if you're only in Philly for the weekend, I'd skip the festival. Philly is a cool city with a lot of great bars (lots with plenty of craft options). you'd probably have more fun and try just as much bar/ brewery hopping.

fwiw - I've never been to the festival and kind of grew out of them a few years ago.

 

Assuming Wayne, PA is not too far off the beaten path from where you’ll be staying, then I recommend visiting Teresa’s Next Door (https://www.teresas-cafe.com/).

Or if you are only looking to grab to-go options, then I’d recommend the Beer Yard in Wayne as well (https://www.instagram.com/thebeeryard/?hl=en)

Although these two recommendations do not give you a taste of local only breweries, they both will provide you with plenty of styles that you mentioned.

 

And they are two blocks from each other.

 

Haven't thought about that site in a number of years, an excellent bunch of folks. Used a couple of those yeast offerings when I still homebrewed.