Beervana Fest Oct 17th

Beervana has published the fest map for Friday. For any new folks, this may be helpful to get a feel for the venue. Importers always on the mezzanine level (which is like two steps up).

 

Last year I found the tables located at 31, 37, and 38 hard to get to navigating around the crowd when it really got going. When Shelton Bros. pop that Fou Foune it could get ugly up there. I hope not though.

 

Last year Shelton was pouring Lou Pepe Framboise at 9pm, which was the same time as Sam Adams was pouring Utopias. Basically the entire room was lined up for it and I was able to get 4 pours of Lou Pepe. Look for something similar to happen again this year.

 

Do they typically bring enough so you have a shot at getting some if you are in line?

 

Depends on what "it" is. KBS was poured at an announced time and there was plenty for everyone. I wanted to try the 30 year old Ola Dubh, was like 5th or 6th in line and it was gone. One bottle evidently. They already listed that for some of the old stuff this year they have just two bottles. Older vintage beers seem the most limited. Hope I don't have to choose between Fou Foune and Utopias.

 

Utopias lasted. They brought tons. There was no reason to stand in line for it to hit the timed release. I waited until the line died down and got 2 pours and my wife got 2 pours, no waiting at all.

 

@Rekrule - good to know, thanks for the insight.

 

KBS was the same. Better off not waiting. Somehow I cluelessly missed that the Utopias were even there.

 

My wife won't like KBS or Utopias so I'll have her wait in the line to grab some for me while I explore...

 

Great fest!! Proclamation and OEC Brewing were great as well as many others.

 

OEC shined for me. I was very pleased with most of the Gray Sail offerings too. Good time!

 

Fest was fantastic, even the long lines moved fairly quick (and gave me a breather to sip down the stronger beers). Glad I finally got to try utopias, my wife's favorite was the Death by Coconut which kicked quickly. Just wish I could have hit all the tables but that was damn near impossible without getting blackout drunk!

 

Great time. OEC did impress me as well. I will say there were a few other breweries that might want to give up on brewing sours for the time being. I really enjoyed the DFH Burton run through the citra Randall. Fou Foune was incredible as expected. Shelton bros table was awesome in general, they had a Czech Pilsner that was one of my favorite beers of the night.

 

Do you remember the name of the Czech Pils? That's my favorite style and I'm always looking for something new to try.

 

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/14991/33612/

The rating doesn't do it justice but that's the case with a lot of great lagers on the site.

 

Cool, thanks. I've neither seen nor heard of that beer before. I'll keep my eyes open.

Agree on the ratings being anti-lager. I would never hold a rating on this site against a beer. Enjoying beer is way too personal an experience and is dependent on far too many variables. I'm just as likely to trust a beer rating as I am a stranger telling me what women I should and shouldn't be attracted to.

 

Agree on the Burton Baton through the randall, I got there just as the final samples were being poured and went through the line twice.

 

Also neglected to mention I also had the Derivative by Proclamation and loved it! Had it late in the fest after assaulting my palate with non - stop whales but it still hit the spot and stood out for me...

 

Great fest! Missed a few I wanted, like Death by Coconut. Missed OEC altogether. Finally got Utopias and Fou Foune. Brooklyn table was very impressive. Crowd was great, no issues that I saw.

 

Did you happen to get the Konrad 14 that they opened up later on at the fest? That was not advertised as going to be there but they opened it after the 11 kicked.... and it was amazing!