NERAX North Cask Ale Festival

If you're looking for a specific beer lineup, you probably won't see that until next week, but otherwise it's pretty straightforward: Great cask beers, run by people who know their stuff, held at the Barking Dog Ale House. If you're into cask beer, you should go. NERAX events are always well done. The info on the website has a pretty good overview: "We will serve over 50 firkins of Real Ale and Cider, comprised of approximately half British beers and ciders from England, Scotland, and Wales; and half American beers, ciders, and meads mostly from New England. All are cask-conditioned, served by gravity or hand-pump."
http://nerax.org/nerax-north.html

 

I'm hopefully going Friday night ...

 

Always an excellent event. Hard to predict what will be served. Sometimes the cask doesn't drop brite, sometimes the brewer with send something other than scheduled due to time constraints or brewing schedule. Great to see the local brewers really set it up with some one offs or never been on cask before. The taps will vary from day to day. Pace your self and get some smaller pours. They do 1/4 and 1/2 pints and full pints, British imperial.

 

NERAX served beers are excellent. I think I had some of their stuff at EBF last year, if my memory serves me right.

 

they seem to slowly be announcing beers on their twitter

https://twitter.com/NERAX?original_...tw_p=embeddedtimeline&tw_w=354023982686670848

 

I'll be there on Saturday. NERAX and NERAX North are my favorite festivals. Great beer and laid back. As @Leebo mentioned, the taps vary day to day but they are usually very responsive on Twitter if you want to ping them regarding whether a specific cask is pouring.

 

Is this a ticketed event, or you just show up?

 

This is a ticketed event but I've never had a problem getting a ticket at the door (sometimes with a short wait). Here is the link to purchase advance tickets - http://nerax.org/nerax-north/nn-tickets.html

From their website "Advance tickets sales for NERAX North 2014 are now on sale. There will be a Large Number of admission tickets available at the door for every session. Even if you miss your chance to buy advanced tickets, come on in any time!"

EDIT: Tickets are $8 in advance or $10 at the door for each session - Thurs evening, Fri evening, Sat afternoon, Sat evening. In the past there has been a $5 refundable deposit on the glassware. Pours are $6 for an Imperial pint, $3 for a half pint, $2 for a quarter pint. High ABV beers are an extra $1 and limited to smaller pours.

 

I would totally go if it didn't take me two hours via MBTA/commuter rail from Somerville.

 

I'll be going Saturday as well. NERAX is probably my favorite beer event every year. Great, laid back vibe, not loud or obnoxious like some other fests, and great beer.
Like others said, it is a paid event, plus fay as you drink - the up-front is for rental of the space and so forth, bar is for the beer.

 

U can buy in advance but they don't usually sell out at north -- so just show up

 

I would not think there is much difference other than a slightly bigger crowd. Looking forward to it ...

 

Anyone taking the commuter rail to Haverhill for tonight? I might jump on the 3pm train so I can pre-game at The Tap. ;-)

 

Tap had 5 variants of Joshua Norton earlier in the week. Good pregame right there.

 

Went last night. Great crowd. My best in shows
1 Iriving's the iron duke. Juicy 5.3 UK ipa.
2 two roses Galaxy pale -- also UK.
3 foolProof rain cloud Porter. 6.5 abv -- my buddy commented that it tasted like Bosco -- and that's a good thing.

Congrats NERAX team -- another great real ale event !!!

 

Another incredible NERAX event. A big thank you to the entire team! Great venue, laid back vibe and a fantastic lineup of UK and US beers. My tops were

• Clarence & Fredricks - Oud Bruin
• Far From the Tree - Roots cider
• Harpoon - Rye IPA dry hopped w Galaxy
• Allagash - Interlude

 

Attended Friday and Saturday.....good time and some great beers!! Franklin's - Old Miser and Twickenham's - Tusk really stood out.