Beervana Fest in Cranston, RI

Always such a great event. Quality all the way!

 

Bummed they don't have any DD tickets or I'd be joining in on the fun.

 

It's my first time going, bringing the wife and a beer buddy, def looking forward to it, my buddy had a good time last year. I'm def looking forward to trying Grey Sails barrel, I know it was barreled with some Brett and they have been talking about it since I took a tour in like May

 

I can't wait for tonight! I'm particularly psyched because I managed to get drop-off/pick-up service from the wife

 

Had a good time, but advertising BCBS vanilla and BCBS bramble rye, and then bringing coffee and cherry rye instead was not cool at all.

 

Wow. Considering those were easily the best 2 brews listed in the lineup, then yeah, that's not cool at all.

 

Yeah, that's not exactly an easy mistake to make if you know what you're talking about. Oh well.

 

Had a great time as always. Victory Throwback Lager was excellent. I also really enjoyed Green Flash' serrano stout. Brooklyn's Greenmarket Wheat also impressed me. The Double Dose IPA collaboration was also very good. Great stuff all around.

I do wish people understood that getting your pour and bullshitting with the server for minutes on end, not allowing others to get a pour, is horseshit. There were a lot of people doing this. They'd get to the front of the line and start jawing with server about every little detail related to each of the beer selections. Kind of frustrating.

One small suggestion I do have is to up the amount of food vendors. I wasn't personally impacted by this, but my friends were stuck in the line for Julian's forever. If you're going to throw a beer fest in the evening, when a lot of people are coming straight from work (and thus probably not eating), it may be wise to have more food vendors available. It was nice to add the Waffle place (wasn't there last year), but I think one or even two more vendors would have helped the situation.

Nevertheless, a great time. It's an organized event and my friends and I enjoyed it very much.

 

Great Fest as usual. I was a little bummed that Smutty didn't have Baltic Porter on Utopias Barrels, but just a really good time regardless. The Wild Turkey Hel & Verdoemensis was probably my favorite of the night.

 

Wow that is a bummer no vanilla and bramble I almost went just because of those. Usually still a great time this was first one I missed. Did they pour utopias

 

Overall a good time.
I went up for the Cantillon Lamvinus right at the start and was told there was none and given Mamouche instead (the guy said 'elderberry' - flashback to Holy Grail.) Very disappointing. Avoided their stand for the rest of the night - only saw they added more things when I went to try the Allagash Curieux (which was very good).
Even though I had the Vanilla BCS and Bramble Rye high on my list to try, I didn't mind getting to taste the Coffee and Cherry BCS - thought the Cherry was outstanding - one of the best of the night.
Agree on the Frangelic Mountain Brown - tasted like someone put out their cigarette in the cup. Also tried the Mango Magnifico - saved me from buying a bottle to try. However, their Imperial Stout was terrific.
They did serve Utopias (counted at least 14 bottles that were taken out - probably more).
They should have more food options - but the waffles were delicious! Finished off the night right with the Sam Smith Strawberry Ale/Chocolate Stout combo.

 

I wanted to add that I was pleasently surprised with Yoko from Newport Storm Brewery. It was a dark ale with coconut. I really enjoyed it. I had kind of written Newport Storm off, this may bring me back. Also, I finally tried Sam Smith's Stingo. Even though I have seen that beer on a million shelfs, I always pass it by. Not any more, , that beer was awesome. Massive raisin/dried fruit taste. Great stuff.

I've seen that waffle guy at a number of fests. He must be doing something right, because people love them, but pairing sweet stuff with beer disgusts me. Beer is so sweet as is and I don't have much of a sweet tooth to begin with. They need someone selling hunks of hard cheese and cured pork products! That'd be just right with that stingo!

 

Disappointed that Bramble & Vanilla weren't there along with Lamvinus. Those were my top three in the lineup before the fest.

 

Great great time, I thought. My favorites of the night were Sebago BB barley wine, Allagash Jim Bean, Victory Throwback Lager and the Coffee BCBS. I had both vintages of Old Gnarleywine and was very impressed as well. While the list wasn't quite as it turned out in reality, I was not disappointed at all with the replacements or all the other options. I was able to get a pour of everything I wanted to and more.

I thought the event was well organized, and the crown (for the most part) was good natured and courteous. I met some nice folks and enjoyed the night out with my wife very much. I'm looking forward to going next year.

There should be some more food options there. I stuck with the popcorn stand because I don't like sweet things with beer and the Julian's line was too much.

 

I had to leave by 8:30 so I didn't get to try as much as I would have liked, but I thought it was a well run event. There was a bit of a wait to get in at 6:30 but they managed it as well as I have seen. I do agree the food options were limited, although I did enjoy the hell out of a sugar waffle. The layout of the space is a little odd and there were some line confusion on the upper levels. But all of these are pretty minor compared to an overall well managed event with a ton of beers to try.

I didn't have a lot of standout beers. A lot of the things I tried were pretty extreme and were interesting but not something I would want to have a ton of. The only timed option I tried was BA Bigfoot, which I was glad to try but I still find too hoppy for such a big beer for my taste. Some of the favorites in this thread - like Midnight Brett and Sebago's barleywine - were among my least favorite which I think just shows how when you get into these styles they can be pretty polarizing.

My favorites did include Otter Creek's Maple Whisky RIS (I thought it was a lot like CBS, but the sugar waffle might have helped) and Grey Sail's Ciel Rouge a Nuit. I was sorry to miss St. Lam but I did like Mamouche and Geueze. I thought the Prasada was good.

 

I couldn't agree more. I'm all for getting to know the brewery but saved your chatting for when it's slow, not when you've got 20 people behind you that want a sample. I saw it a lot. I also got behind a bunch of folks asking for a rundown of all of the beers at the booth - look in the program!

 

I liked this a lot as well. I never had CBS so I don't know how it compares but I thought it was very nice nonetheless. And Prasada wasn't too bad at all, I wasn't sure what to expect with that one. Beer in general is polarizing. I think that's some of what makes the whole scene cool.

 

A great fest, one of the better I've been to (and I've been to a few).
Never thought I'd try KBS and I got to go back for seconds. Madame Rose was nice. Otter Creek Maple Whiskey Stout was interesting. Their Double Dose IPA was reeealy good. Rum Barrel Shabadoo was nice. I'm not from Rhode Island so I've never seen it before but Trinity's Redrums were among my favorites.
First world beer geek complaints. The glass rinsing stations didn't get refilled enough.
Thanks for the heads up on this event. That's one of the best things about this site.

 

It was a pretty wicked event. Met cool people and drank tons of cool beer. Rob Tod from allagash gave a talk and poured a surprise cerise. I drank my face off when the server kept coming back with it because half the people left to taste bcbs and utopia. I missed those, but got to chat with rob (who is a pretty awesome seeming guy) and "taste" a ton of that delicious coolship.

Juliet was good but lolita was one of my favorites. Was happy to have mamouche and relly enjoyed its funkiness. The hel ver-whatever was friggin amazing. Better than bcbs any day (Although I can't speak to the variants). Disappointed with the barrel aged la fin du monde.

Overall so much fun and glad I stumbled upon it in this thread. Plus the after party at julians had cantillon st gilloise on tap (f yeah!), along with world wide stout. Plus I had lunch there and the food was amazing not to mention a bottle of cantillon kriek and allagash merv. highly recommend julians.