What beer fests do you miss?

I think we worked EBF 2014 and really enjoyed it. Was that the juice machine and toppling Goliath year?

 

Monk's, a local taproom, holds two small beerfests on site, and I hope they'll resume by next fall. They usually have a few hundred attendees and manage to get 50 to 75 incredible selections, some of which are new releases or one-offs.

 

Firestone Walker
SFBW (DIPA Fest/Sour Sunday)
Bistro Barrel Aged/Wood
Eclipse Party (been to every single one)
Bruery Anniversary

And I dunno, basically every vacation I take is pretty much like a beer festival.

 

Borefts (De Molen) in Bodegraven, NL (September). Always well-run, with a great selection of eclectic breweries and a wonderful crowd. I go almost every year and it broke my heart to see it (understandably) cancelled this year.

 

Locally:
Witchstock at Bellwoods
Cask Days
Sourpallouza (they did a virtual but it too pricey for me)

Miss not having an EBF in Feb.
Nucleate was in the plans for this year.
GABF & Wakefest are on my ToDo list.

 

Beervana Fest a few miles down the road from me which was scheduled for 4 weeks ago I believe, the best part was having my SIL as designated driver. The most laid back fest you can get with all the great beers the brewers bring annually.

 

A lot of the larger beerfests that hit my area have fallen out of favor with me because it ends up being mostly beers that can be found on the shelves in the area. That said, I was very excited to go to Voodoo's Good Vibes fest this year before it had to be canceled. It always hosts a great assortment of breweries that mostly only distribute near their respective areas. It's a great fest to try new stuff, and some of the breweries break out some truly spectacular beers.

Also, last year Hop Culture relocated their operations to Pittsburgh. They put on some really fantastic smaller fests that only consist of 10-15 breweries serving 3-4 beers each. When I look at the menus for those fests I typically want to try 90% of what's on tap.

The current state of things is unfortunate for fest goers, but I do love the idea of virtual fests and I'm very excited the Extreme Beer Fest coming up early next year.

 

I attended GABF for the first time last year and was looking forward to it again this year.

Firestone Walker Invitational and FOBAB have always been bucket list festivals for me that I've yet to attend. Hoping these both become a thing again once it's safe and appropriate to do so.

Definitely looking forward to Virtual EBF!

 

MWBBF. Side Project and Perrenial showin up!

 

The Casper locals.

 

There was only about a year Around 2009 where I was really into beer and went to fests but they were all fun.
*GABF (release of Black Tuesday) + A couple side events, one was called rare beer tasting in Denver.
*Woodshop #2 In Anaheim?
*Bistro ipa fest in Hayward, ca
*Christmas in July at Lost Abbey (release of duck duck gooze)
*an Oregon festival. Forget the name, but was on the waterfront section of Portland in summertime.

would definitely like to get to the other fests some time, FW invitational, Hunaphu day, DLD, ba extreme. It’s hard that these are so popular it’s difficult to get tickets.

 

Another vote for Borefts. Always a fantastic collection of incredible beers showcasing a wide variety of styles, a wonderful setting under the old windmill next to the canal, and really awesome people. Damn I miss that festival.

 

Only for ones I've been to:
Snallygaster
EBF
All of CBC's fests
Zwanze
All of Notch's fests

 

FOBAB for sure (I live outside Chicago). I also miss all of the local 'anniversary' parties for breweries- Solemn Oath, Penrose, Alter, Lagunitas Beer Circus etc all usually do something really fun.

 

The list of what I miss is to long and painful to get into on this forum. But, I'll tell you one positive thing to come from it: I'm going to Extreme Beer Fest at the beginning of February. Thanks BA.

 

TapNY

 

Blue Point's Cask Ale Festival. This was the first year since 2009 I didn't go to one.

 

But wait! Do you consider Woodshop a beer festival?

Always thought of it as a very special bottle share.