2beerguys beer blog

Event Recap: 2011 Amesbury Brewfest showcases local breweries (MA)

#craftbeer, #brewfest

On July 1st, the 2nd Annual Amesbury Brewfest kick started the 10 day Amesbury anniversary celebration, along with the Fourth of July weekend.  The brew festival, which was revived 2 years ago, was a staple in the 2011 celebration.

According to Wikipedia (with commentary)…  Amesbury, which formerly was a part of Salisbury, was settled in 1655 and separated from Salisbury eleven years later.  Amesbury became an official town in 1668 and a city in 1996.  Currently known as Carriage town, Amesbury was a former farm and mill town.  The angry powwow river was used to power the mills — angry because at different times of the year, the water can be quite powerful.

As a child, growing up in Salisbury, my family attended many firework celebrations during past Amesbury days.  Back then, the beer festival was not even a twinkle in Amesbury’s eye.  Then stepped in Julian Thompson, with his team at Heat Events Management LLC (http://www.heateventmanagement.com/, who created a local craft beer festival  – for the people, by the people.  With short time to finalize the planning and the assistance of a local distributor, the 2010 event was a great success.    Unfortunately, I was not able to attend, but spoke with others who gave praise about the event.

While breweries started popping up all over the place,  Amesbury became the new location for Cody Brewing Company and a thriving beer community.  Sean Cody, who started in 2005 as a BYOB (Brew Your Own Beer) in Danvers, transformed his compnay into Cody Brewing Company in 2007.  Then, in 2009, Sean moved his business to market sqare in downtown Amesbury, MA. Learn more at http://www.codybrewing.com/.

In 2011, Amesbury doubled the number of local breweries – 2.  The dreams of aspiring brewer, Steve Sanderson, came true this year.  With a passion for homebrewing, Steve took a chance and entered the homebrewing competition hosted by The History Channel’s History on Tap TV show.   His hard work and perseverance has paid off.  Steve has been able to fulfill his dream and open RiverWalk Brewing in his home town of Amesbury, MA. http://www.riverwalkbrewing.com

Sounds pretty awesome, right?  That’s because it is.

Now that I have set the mood (enough already), lets talk about the FEST!

The 2011 Amesbury Brewfest is like none other  — this is because Julian has set his goals to promote small and unknown breweries.   This is a difficult (but admirable) approach, because many of the breweries are understaffed and have small marketing budgets.    Julian was up to the challenge and found 17 of the smallest, local breweries.

“We were extremely pleased with the quality of our local micro and nano brewers present as well as the reception the public gave them. Our goal was to highlight the lesser known brewers, the start ups and in many cases these folks self distribute”, said Julian.

The festival, located in downtown Amesbury – adjacent to the police station, included 19 total breweries with over 650 craft beer lovers in attendance (250 higher than the 400 participants in 2010).

Notable beers include (but are not limited to), Notch Session Saison, Mayflower IPA, ALL the German lagers from Prodigal Brewing, the Maple-Kissed Wheat Porter from Throwback, the British IPA from No Name Brewery, the Gnomad from Riverwalk, the 20th anniversary ale from Ipswich, Bluehills Watermelon Wheat, and more… (I could go on and on)

Here is the amazing list of breweries:

• Cody Brewing Company
• Riverwalk Brewing Company
• Notch Session
• Cape Ann Brewing
• Ipswich Brewery
• Mayflower Brewing
• Throwback Brewing Co.
• Prodigal Brewing
• Berkshire Brewing
• No Name Brewery
• Cottrells
• Clown Shoes
• Haverhill Brewing
• Pretty Things
• Magic Hat
• Ommegang
• Kennebec River Brewing
• Blue Hills Brewing
• Berkshire Brewing

Overall, the Amesbury Fest was a huge success.  I highly recommend getting tickets in advance for next year and be ready to be amazed by the local flavor of it all!

Sean
2beerguys.com

Drink Craft Beer, You’ve Earned It!

2011 Amesbury Brewfest	Throwback Brewery – Annette and Nicole
Souvenir Pint Glass	Prodigal Brewing – Paul Davis
Cape Ann Brewing – Tom’s Dad & TJ	Clown Shoes Brewery
Ipswich Brewery	No Where Brewing – Chris Dynia
Notch Session Ales	No Where Brewing

These wonderful pictures are courtesy of Chris from No Where Brewing Company, from Salem, MA.  No where brewing company is currently building their brand and looking for investors. They aspire to brew in the North Shore. If you’re an investor and you’re looking, please contact Chris. http://www.nowherebrewingcompany.com/

Thank you very much and good luck Chris.