Beervana Fest 2016

I loved the expansion to the full second floor as well as the first. There was so much room to move around it was never an issue. Beer list was still excellent of course and I had a great time.

 

Great fest, but I found the beer list way too heavy on sours, saisons and other wild fermented offerings. I still view those as a niche category and they were probably half the beers at the fest. Not surprisingly, what I observed was that most people were trying the IPAs and stouts.

Honestly, if we are looking for diversity, I'd rather see some additional traditional styles than such a heavy emphasis on sour beers. A well made Scotch Ale would be nice for a change.

 

I think sours are quickly becoming mainstream, definitely not super niche like they were just a few years ago. I love the variety of wild ales everyone is pumping out. It's a welcomed change from "what hop combo should we do next?" Or "how many hops can we fit into this beer?"

I also think that many wild ales are much more approachable to non craft drinkers. My mom for example, absolutely hates anything hoppy or bitter. She likes some stouts and porters, but they are too heavy for her to drink more than one or two. I've recently gotten her into lambics and other wilds and she loves them.

 

I see them sitting on shelves and I know very few people, even among several BA type people, who enjoy them. Even in Belgium, they aren't very popular and are a niche product. I think they are being overproduced at the moment, but we'll see.

 

Wait, you're saying people don't like sours or saisons?

Have you looked at a trade forum recently?

 

I like the array of saisons and wilds that they have there each year. Its the main reason I go.

 

As if beer traders are more than 1/10th of 1% of the market. Even on BA they are a minority. It's a niche market, even in Belgium. I know more BAs are getting into sours and Lambics. Most of those I've talked too don't care for them and none of the non BA people I've provided them to have not really liked them except for the sweeter fruit driven ones.

I expect and welcome them at the fest. I just thought that they were over-represented this year. Belgian styles in general were. Brooklyn had two sours, a Belgian triple and Belgian strong golden ale. That's not very diverse. I had no interest in their table at all, while last year it was among my favorites.

 

The sours and wilds are the main attraction to any beer festival for me, since they are so expensive and hard to buy regularly.

I've actually had a lot of success introducing non beer people to sours. My 55 y/o mother, who is pretty much a bud light drinker, has had much more positive reactions to sours than any other beer she tries, except maybe coffee/chocolate stouts.

 

someone should do the stats, I think that there were a LOT of IPAs and hoppy beers there, I think its nice to balance it and have some of all kinds of beer rather than 75% hopped beers which can be seen in many bars these days. It felt very balanced to me and I saw a lot of people clustering around drinking the sours and wilds.