2beerguys beer blog

Event Recap – Drink Craft Beer Summerfest

Story and photos courtesy of Hilary Graham (@h_grahamcracker), 2beerguys.com correspondent.

Drink Craft Beer Summerfest | A Celebration of Farmhouse Ale

With over 70 Farmhouse Ales and Saisons available from local brewers, and NO LINES, Drink Craft Beer’s Summerfest was a great opportunity to talk to local brewers and sample everything from traditional Saisons, gluten-free beer and cider to champagne-style beer!

I always feel like a little kid in a candy store walking into beer festivals, and this was no exception. I brought my roommate, who originally suspected she didn’t like Saisons, which I of course set out of to convince her she did… mission accomplished.

After taking in the rows of brewers, the sweet live tweet screen, and delicious looking B. Good burgers, I ran over to Night Shift Brewing. Based in Everett (hey we’re neighbors!), Night Shift never fails to serve up unique and interesting flavors. The Rose Au Poivre (~8%) is everything I love about Saisons, spicy, herby and flavorful while still being light and refreshing. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Somer Weisse Berliner Weisse (5%) is extremely tart and lemonade-like. To round out their beer selection they had Viva Habanera, made with habanero peppers, which I can only describe as nachos in beer form. Try it if you’re feeling adventurous, you might need some guacamole.

Next I ventured over to Somerville-based brewery, Slumbrew.

I’ve been a huge fan of Slumbrew ever since I tried their blood orange hefewiezen, Happy Sol (which I fell in love with after originally buying based on the bottle packaging… admittedly as a Graphic Designer I tend to do that often). Their Flower Envy Saison was delicious but I really loved their Triple Trekker. As per recommendation from Caitlin from Slumbrew who prefaced the beer with, “Do you like white wine?” I immediately noticed the white grape flavor and fruity/spicy complexity of the beer that wasn’t too sweet for it’s high alcohol percentage at 9.5%. The Triple Trekker might arguably be my new favorite beer from Slumbrew!

Another standout was the new brewery Enlightenment Ales which brought their Champagne de Biere.

My roommate is a champagne fanatic (I think half of the reason she decided to join me was the promise of a champagne-style beer) so needless to say we were really excited. Owner and founder of Enlightenment, Ben Howe, claimed the Biere was “best enjoyed with caviar and a hot tub.” We settled for Taza chocolate samples (delicious! try the sea salt) and prime seats for reading #DCBsummerfest live tweets. Based on a Belgian strong ale, the Biere was bubbly and dry with fruity notes and also packed a pretty hefty punch at 11%. Considering I’m a huge beer nerd and my roommate prefers wine and cocktails, we decided that we’re going to need to get a bottle in the event of any future celebration.

On a non beer related note, and also new to the scene, Down East Cider brought their Down East Cider Original Blend. Made from locally grown, fresh pressed apples and never from concentrate. I got to meet two of the founders of Down East who said they started the company after traveling abroad and seeing how underrepresented quality hard cider is in the United States. The cider was an excellent palette cleanser in between beer samples and you could really tell they used quality ingredients.

After my cider sample, I was thirsty for more beer and right across the way was Hill Farmstead. I was lucky enough to try Hill Farmstead’s beers before they ran out fairly early in the night. The brewery’s beers are made up of two categories: the Ancestral Series, all named after the founder’s ancestors and the Philosophical Series, all based off of philosophical readings. It was easy to tell why they ran out of beer so fast. My favorites were the Vera Mae Dandelion Saison, made with dandelions from the brewery’s farm and the Society and Solitude, hoppy deliciousness. They also had their What is Enlightenment? beer on tap, which I can only imagine if you drank enough of, you would find out.

I’m not going to lie, I was kind of disappointed The Alchemist only brought their new Gluten Free Saison, Celia. I’ve been pretty
skeptical of gluten free beers after an unfortunate experience trying Redbridge, Anheuser-Busch’s take on gluten free beer. However, I was pleasantly surprised by Celia. I can’t fathom how tough it is to be gluten-free in a delicious gluten-filled craft beer world, but this is a step in the right direction for anyone with Celiacs disease. (Disclaimer: This was also the last beer I sampled of the evening, so don’t quote me on that.)

My recommendation list in no particular order:

1. Society & Solitude #4 – Hill Farmstead
2. Rose Au Poivre – Night Shift Brewery
3. Fuzzy Logic – Portico
4. Trekker Trippel – Slumbrew
5. Senchual Green Tea IPA – Watch City Brewing Co. (MA)
6. Enlightenment Biere de Champagne- Enlightenment Ales

Another pro of this fest compared to others is that the food samples (all local!) were top notch. One of our favorites was Quinn Popcorn which brought samples of their organic non-gmo microwave popcorn. We loved the Parmesan & Rosemary! As I mentioned earlier, Taza Chocolate was also there with four different kinds of dark chocolate samples ranging from orange to chipotle. And of course B. Good was there with gourmet burgers which made a great conclusion to our evening.

I left with plenty of beer swag, a few new additions to my coaster collection and some temporary tattoos that we proudly represented for the remainder of the night.

Overall, Drink Craft Beer put on an excellent event, full of great people, awesome beer, and delicious food. Looking forward to their next event!

Cheers!