September 19th, 2012
6th Annual Amesbury Brewfest . Amesbury Sports Park . North Shore Beer Week
6th Annual Amesbury Brewfest will be kicking off the 2012 North Shore Beer Week (MA)
Amesbury, MA – The Amesbury Sports Park will be hosting the 6th Annual Brew Fest on Saturday, September 22, from 2:00 to 8:00 p.m. at its facility at 12 South Hunt Road. The Brew Fest, sponsored by Dos Equis, will feature well over 100 microbrews, barbecue, ZORB rides and Sumo Wrestling, Beer Olympics as well as live music on an outdoor stage.
The Park’s Brew Fest attracted over 5,000 people last year, and they are expecting up to 7,000 people to attend the all day event this year. The Amesbury Sports Park has partnered with Merrimack Valley Distributors who will be showcasing their entire portfolio of microbrews. Representatives from Dos Equis, Angry Orchard, Innis & Gunn, Fatty Bampkins, and Rising Tide as well as many others will be onsite and available to discuss the history, brewing processes, and subtle nuances of their favorite brews. While the focus of the Brew Fest is on craft brews, there will be a handful of more mainstream beers like Coors Light for the slightly less adventurous.
“This is our favorite annual event,” said MaryCarol Fowler, President at the Amesbury Sports Park. “The first year we held the Brew Fest we had 300 people attend in the rain. But it has grown exponentially every year. It’s just a great atmosphere outside with fabulous live music, tasty cold brews, and scrumptious BBQ. It’s kind of our farewell to summer party, but also a great way to usher in autumn. We’re planning a great new event around Halloween this year – a haunted obstacle race at night -so our entire team is really fired up and ready for the fall to come.”
Fowler’s favorite part of planning the event is selecting the beers that will be offered. “We have our favorites that we bring back year after year like Lobster Ale, Smashed Pumpkin and Double Bag, but we’ve added a few new fun ones this year, including Stingy Jack Pumpkin, Backlash Groundswell, and Monkey Fist IPA. It’s great to be able to promote some great breweries like Slumbrew, Baxter and Boulevard that are consistently bringing interesting brews to the craft scene.”
New this year is the Sam Adams official Stein Hoisting Competition, in which guests hold a full stein of Sam Adams’ Octoberfest out at arm’s length – the one who can hold the beer the longest qualifies to win a trip to Oktoberfest in Munich Germany in 2013. The Amesbury Sports Park is also introducing Beer Olympics to the event for the first time. Guests will be able to participate in a variety of fun challenges that involve beer in unique ways.
Aside from beer, BBQ and bands, the Brew Fest will feature Zorb rides and summer tubing. The Zorb is an 11 foot inflatable transparent sphere with another inflated sphere suspended inside it. Riders enter the orb and strap themselves into a harness, or enter the Zydro with up to 3 people and 5 gallons of water and are pushed over the edge of an 800 foot long grassy slope.
Entry to the Brew Fest is just $12. Once inside, sample tickets are available for $1 per sample. The sample tents will be open to the public from 2 pm to 6 pm, and the festival continues with beer and live music until 8 pm. Tickets are available online at www.AmesburySportsPark.net and at the gate the day of the event. Guests must be 21 with a valid ID unless accompanied by a parent or legal guardian.
