Ben & Mo - The NEWBD Crew
Beervana is an exciting time of year for the NEWBD crew. Mo and I love the beer festival season and Beervana is the most intimate setting to get your hands on some great beer. The venue is easy access for most on the south coast of MA and RI, right off the highway and plentiful parking allows for an enjoyable arrival and departure to the event. Beervana is very well organized with great advertisement, ticket information, availability updates and site map all released in plenty of time for attendees to take full advantage. I really enjoy the two tier setting which gives you open air and a good sense of being in the middle of all the action without being to crowded. Unlike most beer festivals, the Rhodes at Pawtuxet venue gives you a chance to have a conversation with your peers and the brewers at a relatively normal volume, which is great.
Ben's Thoughts:
Different in 2017 was the reduced timed releases. I enjoy the first come first serve setting and feel it gives a real advantage to the beer drinker who knows what to look for. Many brewers had a good supply of beer as well, lasting well into the night, which can not be said for most beer fests. The line up was fantastic and allowed fans of all styles to dive into a bevy of different brews. Here are my top 5 beers at 2017 Beervana Fest: 1. Dead Sea-rious - Carakale & Arizona Wilderness Collab - A gose made with sea salt from the Dead Sea and a cool story behind this beer as it was the first of it's kind brewed in the country of Jordan. 2. Softly Spoken Magic Spells - SingleCut Beersmiths - DIPA that packed subtle and soft flavors behind 8.6%. A true delight. 3. Didgeridoo - Long Live Beerworks - Stout that was available on cask for the event. The cask being on the tabletop helped provide a good temperature for drinking the stout. Coffee and chocolate are prominent through an oily body. 4. Birthday Bomb - Prairie Artisan Ales - A stout brewed to mark the anniversary of the annual Prairie Bomb releases was surprising smooth and chocolatey for 13% but had great back notes of chilies that shined through. 5. Cuvee D'Industrial 2015 - Allagash Brewing - A great sour by a great brewery. Really nice to see some aged beers at the show as well. Honorable Mentions: Nomenclature by Proclamation, Cantillon, Mexican Hot Chocolate Stout from Crooked Current, Deciduous sours, Boats and Dogs by Beer'd, Finback Whale Farm IPA Mo's Thoughts: This was my second Beervana, with last year having been my first. What I like most about this event is that it is so well organized. From the introduction of the participating breweries early on, to the ticket sales, communication with the organizers, and even the map of where everyone will be… Beervana really is a classy beer event. This year I had my wife as my own personal designated driver since she’s about 7 ½ months pregnant. She also did a great job making notes for me as I tried some of the more than 250 beers that were there. In addition to trying all of these great beers, I also got the chance to talk with several of the brewers as they walked around mingling with guests. The camaraderie within the beer community is on full display at an event like this. Some highlights for me included Proclamation, Long Live, Beer’d, and Deciduous but there were really some fantastic beers at Beervana this year. With that being said, I’ve come up with a little list here of some of my favorites: Best Sour: Kiwi Melon Gose, Kent Falls Brewing Company I really loved how this one wasn’t sour all the way through. You can definitely taste the kiwi and watermelon, and then it finishes tart and dry. Even without separate categories, this was one of the best beers of the night. Best Stout: Mexican Hot Chocolate, Crooked Current Brewery This was really a 3 way toss up for me, with the other two being from Long Live (Vanilla Wallaby and Digderidoo (cask)). I just felt like the peppers in this beer really stuck with me and made me remember the beer even after I was a little in the bag. It gave it just enough heat at the end, for just a little spiciness. Overall, it was very enjoyable. Best IPA: The Punk with the Stutter DDH IIPA, Singlecut Beersmiths In a world where IPAs dominate, this beer reigns supreme. This was definitely the best beer I put in my mouth all night, with the second best being Wale Farm, Finback Brewery. The Punk was smooth, hoppy, juicy, and dangerously drinkable at 7.3%. This honestly made me think of Treehouse a little bit, and I don’t usually like to compare beer to them. Best Import: Dead Sea-rious, Carakale/Arizona Wilderness A Jordanian Gose with sea salt from the Dead Sea? Who would have ever thought that Jordan even made beer at all? This was a truly surprising beer…and to be perfectly honest, I probably wouldn’t even have had it if I hadn’t been waiting for the Geuze, Cantillon. I would’ve missed out big time – this beer was perfectly balanced between salty and sour, and the grapefruit gave it a beautiful acidity. All in all, it was a really fun event and I’ll definitely be joining the party again next year. Although next time I won’t have a pregnant wife to serve as my designated driver, but who knows… maybe my kid will learn to drive a little early. About the writers: Ben and Mo host NEWBD (New England Weekly Beer Discussion) a weekly beer podcast that can be found on ITunes, Stitcher and many other podcast sites. The podcast highlights New England craft beer with local releases, current beer information and funny beer stories from the world of craft beer. Read More 990WBOB
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