Stoudt's: wrapping up shooting, and a nice little festival

Wish I had some pictures for this, but...we were busy!

Cathy and I went up to Stoudt's last night to wrap up shooting for American Beer Blogger. It was low-key; just the two of us and two of the guys from Green Leaf Productions, Mike and Dave. We got there at 4:30, had a quick talk-through about what we were looking for (during which Cathy was volunteered to handle releases, which she did -- of course -- with style and efficiency), and hit the bar. While the guys got the equipment, Cathy and I settled in at the corner of the bar with a glass of American Pale Ale and Karnival Kölsch respectively, and started looking around for likely subjects for the shoot...and came up empty at first. These were mostly folks who were just there for a couple beers and some dinner.

Then, just as Mike and Dave were getting set up, we ran into a younger couple, Brian and Lauren from Queens, who were on the last day of a five-day beer tour (a birthday present from her to him): Dogfish Head (the brewpub in Rehoboth and the big brewery in Milton), Burley Oak in Maryland, Max's on Broadway (where they caught the leftovers -- about 60 taps worth! -- from Max's huge Belgian event, which I have got to get to one of these years), Lancaster Brewing...and now Stoudt's, for the Winter Fest that night.

They were excited, they were big on craft beer, they were articulate: they were perfect. Cathy got releases, Mike and I prepped them for what we were going to do, Dave flipped on the light...and away we went. Great, and then we did another take with a different trajectory, and that was great, too, so much so that as we walked back to the bar from our "Let's go to the fest right now!" walk out of frame, Brian said, "Let's do another take!" It can be fun, for sure!

As I was settling the tab, Mike got to talking to a couple of men, one an older guy, and said he wanted to talk to them as well. Okay, we set up, loosely blocked out what we'd talk about, and we rolled...and about a minute into it, the guy drops the bomb that he's former Stoudt's brewmaster Mark Worona's father! How cool is that! Mark's a great guy, a good friend, and I still run into him at places like GABF. So we had a good chat, and wrapped that one up...and then we really did head over to the fest.

The Winter Fest is smaller than the other fests they do; about 550 people, and eleven breweries were there, and a pretty hot blues band. Cathy and I did a quick recon of the breweries represented at the event, and picked Mudhook and Evil Genius as our two best, most interesting breweries to talk to (partly because they're pretty new, partly because the brewers were actually there...and partly because the light was really good there).

I talked to Kate and Tim Wheeler at Mudhook; Tim had brought his Deep Sea Stout, and I was taken by it: a big (7%) stout, kind of in the export stout vein, with a lot of flavor, and real ale yeast esters, a beer that hadn't been sanded and polished to the point of effeteness; I liked it, and told him so.

Then we wandered over and talked to Trevor and Luke at Evil Genius, where I sipped a glass of their Good and Evil kölsch. They were really enthusiastic about brewing, and why they do it, and how they're getting ready to jump from contract brewing to getting funding together to do their own place. That was good stuff too.

We wrapped up at the bandstand, a big "Hey, that's our show, we'll be going to more breweries, bars, and festivals, watch for us, I'm gonna go blog now" and a big wet kiss for craft brewing and the folks who love it. Then Mike got his laptop from the car so we could get some shots of me typing away, and...well, I promised I'd blog about it, so I'm blogging. And the show...will be on air soon. More about that shortly. Cheers!

Finger Lakes Craft Beer Festival next week

Hey, I got a post from my friends at Finger Lakes Distilling (distilling's a hot job, you need a beer at times!) about the Finger Lakes Craft Beer Festival next week. It's on June 16, a Thursday, starting at 6 PM -- and if that's not a perfect excuse for a long weekend in the beautiful Finger Lakes, be damned if I know what is. It's an environmental benefit: "The festival is a benefit to increase awareness and facilitate monies to be donated to “Gas Free Seneca,” a local non-profit group dedicated to stopping LPG gas storage in the Watkins Glen area."

Here's a partial list of the breweries involved:

• Rooster Fish Brewing
• Keuka Brewing Company
• Cortland Beer Company
• Two Goats
• Bandwagon
• Ithaca Beer
• Finger Lakes Brewing
• Naked Dove
• Middle Ages
• Rogers Brewing
• Wagner Valley
• Seneca Lodge Craft Brewing

I mean, there's at least six breweries on there I've never been to! If you've got the time, you oughta go; it's a beautiful spot, and bound to be some excellent beers.

Washington Crossing Beer Fest!

Washington Crossing National Historic Park -- Washington saved the Revolution in this small Pennsylvania town over 200 years ago; on a freezing, snowing Christmas night, he and his men crossed the Delaware River in Durham boats, slogged down to Trenton, and surprised a force of Hessian mercenaries. He followed up this surprise victory with a quick raid on Princeton, knocking the British troops back to winter quarters in central New Jersey and setting the morale and spirit of the army and the Continental Army ablaze.



We've apparently forgotten how important this was to our history. In the fall of 2009, budget cuts forced the closure of Washington Crossing Historic Park. Interpretive tours of the park’s historic buildings ceased. Bowman’s Tower -- Washington's lookout up the river, with a commanding view of the valley -- was shuttered. And the reenactment of George Washington’s crossing of the Delaware River – held without interruption since the 1950s – was cancelled. Local citizens took on the challenge, raised money and volunteered, and not only did the reenactment take place on Christmas Day, but the educational mission of the park has carried on.

In less than three weeks, you can help preserve this historic site, a hallowed part of American history, by signing up for the Washington Crossing Beer Fest!  Check out the breweries that will be represented here. It's May 14th, 12:30 to 4:30, with live music and food (the music's free, food is extra), and beer samples from breweries far and near: $40, and that's going to benefit this historic park, a true landmark of American history. (It's a great place to start a trail ride, too, down the canal path to Bristol, or across the river and down to Trenton, take a look-round for Hessians maybe?) Get your tickets here!

I Just Had a Great Idea!

I just had the best idea for a beer festival! You know how it usually goes, right, the brewers get (okay, buy) tables, and set up their kegs and pint glasses and such, and then we buy tickets and wander around from table to table, drinking beers, which is pretty sweet, really, except there's always some dipshit who didn't read the damned memo and when they get their beer they just keep standing there in front of the table gassing with their buddies about what boring crap they've been doing in their boring stupid lives when they should be getting the hell out of the way so we can get beers, and there's a line for the bathroom, and the brewer runs out of the super-great beer just before you get there, and the hot chicks behind the table don't like you (don't like you, I mean, I don't ever have that problem because I'm old and harmless), and the band's too loud, but otherwise...it's pretty sweet, right?

But wait, but wait, but wait -- here's my great idea! Instead of tickets, WE buy a table! And we get comfy there, and we could decorate it, and bring our own chairs, and a sound system so we don't have to listen to the damned stupid band, and food we want to eat instead of more hot dogs, and have a quick getaway to the bathroom out the back, and lots of fun party stuff -- and here's the cool part -- and the brewers (or hot chicks they hire (okay, or hot-bod guys, too, for you cool womens who like good beer)) wander around and bring us beers!

They could have their kegs on like a hot-dog cart, only it would be a cold-beer cart, and they'd say, hey, man, want some of my excellent beers, and we'd say, dude, whatta you have there? and they'd say, Double IPA and Imperial Barleywine, bitch! and we'd say, yeah, fill 'er up! And then they'd fill us up and get away from the front of our damn table because brewers always read the damned memo and we'd flip our Brazilian steakhouse disk-thing to 'Full right now, come back a little later, brewer' and drink our beers and chill and love it, and eat steaks and crabcakes and salads (yeah, yeah, and some kinda soy thing too, you're such a pain in the ass), and then we'd get thirsty and realize we were out of beer, see, here's the genius -- we'd flip the disk to the side that says 'READY TO FILL, BRO!' and brewers would wheel up their slick little beer carts and service us.

I'm a genius. Someone get to work on this, it's gonna be huge.

I wrote that in three minutes. Why does it sound so much like this?

20 years of Harpoon Octoberfest celebration

Ah.... 'PoonFest.

Back in the early days of our marriage, Cathy and I lived in Waterbury, Connecticut. We were young(er) and in love, and we took pleasure in simple things. We had to, they were all we could afford. At the time, one of the cheap simple things was gasoline, and we traveled around New England as much as we could. Which is how we wound up in Boston for what was, apparently, the first Harpoon Octoberfest. Who knew?

We had a great, great time, drinking, whooping it up, and grinning like idiots at having found a beer event that was bigger than three brewers standing at tables talking to 50 people. Needless to say, Harpoon Octoberfest has grown to be quite a bit more than that...they expect 14,000 people this year. Well, you know, Harpoon just keeps growing!

Here's what they've got:

Two massive tents will be erected at Harpoon, transforming the brewery’s parking lot into a Bavarian-style beer garden. A wide selection of Harpoon beers will be poured on draft featuring the brewery’s Marzen-style fall seasonal offering, Harpoon Octoberfest Beer. Live oompah bands will entertain with traditional waltzes and lead the crowd in the beloved chicken dance. Sauerkraut-stuffed bratwurst and knockwurst will be served alongside mustard-covered pretzels.

20 years of Harpoon Octoberfest this weekend, October 2 and 3. Get to the website for details.

Long Trail Coffee Stout at Jenkintown

By the way, about the beer at the brunch I'm doing before the Jenkintown Brewfest... I assume you all know what the Erdinger Oktoberfest Weizen is like by now -- if you don't... -- but the Long Trail Brewmaster Series Coffee Stout is relatively new and rare, so here's the deal. It's an imperial stout (on the lighter side, 8.0%) with coffee added, a special roast by a roastery local to Long Trail.

If you've had Long Trail beers before...well, it depends on the Long Trail beer you've had. Some of them can be kind of bland. Some of them can be flippin' awesome, and I put Double Bag solidly in that category. You'll have to categorize the Coffee stout yourself, but I don't think you'll be putting it in the bland bag.

Brunch and a Beerfest, this Sunday

Wanted to remind you about the beer brunch I'm hosting this Sunday in conjunction with the Jenkintown Jazz & Brewfest. It's a nice time at the West Avenue Grill, right on the square where the fest is going to be (so you'll already be parked, primed, and ready to go when the fest opens).

Join me for french toast and vegetable omelettes, and glasses of Erdinger Oktoberfest Weizen and Long Trail Coffee Stout. We'll talk beer and breakfast, drinking culture, the latest stuff I'm turning up on the research for the new edition of Pennsylvania Breweries, and some tips on throwing a beer brunch.

It's $25 as part of a Brewfest ticket, which is an additional $25: it's like 5 hours of beer festival and two great jazz acts for $50, a steal. Tickets are available here. Come on out, it's supposed to be a gorgeous fall day in Jenkintown!

Beer and Bacon Fest selling out fast -- what a shocker!

Just this afternoon it hit me that I was about the only person left on the Internet who hadn't posted the Bacon Bra picture, so when I got the e-mail from Clipper City about only 40 tickets being left to their Heavy Seas Beer & Bacon Fest -- ARRRGGGHH!!! -- the synchronicity was too much to ignore.

It's for real -- the fest, not the boobs, though I guess they're real, too -- and it's September 19, noon to 4. 300 people only, $40 tickets (available here), and over fifteen kinds of bacon from around the world, used in bacon donuts, bacon salt, bacon explosions, bacon candy, bacon mac & cheese...and maybe bacon bras, who knows? Bacon rules, these days. Oh, and there will be beer, too, plenty of that big, robust Heavy Seas stuff, maybe even from the Mutiny Fleet line. Hugh Sisson is embracing his inner pyrate these days...

Pirates, Pig, and Pints. What more could you ask for?

Join me in Jenkintown for a beer breakfast

The Jenkintown Jazz & Brewfest is another of the delightful gaggle of small beer festivals that have sprung up in the Philly 'burbs: others are in Kennett Square, Newtown, Yardley...it's happening. And thanks to self-aware brewers, most of these events are paying for beer, either through a fee or direct payments.

But Jenkintown's fest is different, for three reasons. First, it's smaller; the beer fest part is only a few hundred attendees (the jazz fest is free, and draws about 3,000). Second, there's jazz, with jazz vocalist Denise King and alto sax jazz icon Richie Cole and his Alto Madness Orchestra. Serious stuff. Finally, Jenkintown's got me for breakfast.

I'm presenting a beer breakfast at the West Avenue Grille in Jenkintown just before the 1:00 festival. It's not formal; we'll be having a vegetable omelette and french toast along with full glasses of beer (I'd tell you which beer, but to be honest, we haven't decided yet: breakfast beers take a little more thought!), and I'll be talking about why beer is a great brunch drink (and breakfast, too: God knows, I've been there), what beers make good choices for brunch and why, and how you can throw your own beer brunch with just a little thought. It's going to be a fun hour in an intimate setting, with plenty of individual tableside discussion, the kind of event I love to do. If you've got copies of my books, bring 'em along, I'll be happy to sign them for you.

Tickets are available here; the breakfast is a package with a brewfest ticket. There are two seatings, at 11 and noon; the fest begins at 1 PM. The $25 ticket for the breakfast may seem a bit steep, but when you put it together with a $25 ticket for the fest, it's a steal. Think about it: you'll get there an hour or two early, get good parking, and be nice and relaxed for the fest, with a little something in your stomach before the tasting starts. Hope to see you there!

Hot Times at Manayunk

I helped judge the Best of Show beers at the Manayunk Brewfest on Saturday. Once again, it happens just as allergy season is hitting me, so I loaded up on Sudafed (the real, sign at the counter stuff) and Chlor-Trimeton, kept my nose clear for the fest, and paid for it with dopey drowsiness later.

I got to the fest about noon, grabbed one of the last free staff spots, and got down into the show. I met up with my fellow judges (four very experienced homebrew judges who I thoroughly enjoy tasting beers with; it's a very nice give-and-take, making this one of my favorite beer events of the year), grabbed a quick lunch, and settled in to start tasting.

Wide range of beers this year, and a much higher level of quality. The brewers represented at the fest each sent one beer, their choice, over to our table. There were a couple eye-rollers, but only a couple (we're tasting completely blind (or were after the first two pitchers, which a new steward labeled with the brewery name!) and only found out what the top three actually were, so don't bother asking: we don't know (and didn't wanna know!)), much fewer than in the past four years.

After two hours of serious, note-taking and discussion-style tasting, we narrowed it down to seven beers, and sent the stewards out for more samples to refresh our memories. Two of the beers had already run out (proving the crowd agreed with our palates!), and since none of us had those two beers as our number one picks, we decided to drop them. Once the five beers were in front of us, we came to a consensus rather rapidly: about 90 seconds! The winners, by unanimous consent:

3rd -- Erie Railbender, winning with a beautifully pure malt character, easily the very best batch of Railbender I've ever had (and I've had my share).

2nd -- Victory Baltic Thunder, nipping out General Lafayette's Chocolate Thunder Porter (a close #4) by virtue of smooth complexity and (scary) drinkability.

1st -- Triumph Simcoe IPA, rocked us all with its beautiful balance and integration. Billowing hop aroma, great hop flavor, trenchant but not overwhelming bitterness, and a smooth, solid malt basement made this the beer of the day, and we all went looking for more.

I wandered off with Chris Fiery at this point, and we did a little sampling of his Manayunk beers. He'd sent his Maibock to our table; I think he should've sent the California Dreamin', a powerfully-hopped beauty. And if you haven't had the Schuylkill Punch lately -- I hadn't -- it's all Oregon fruit puree (red and black raspberries), no extracts or essences, it's bumped up in ABV, and it's pretty good stuff.

A nice fest, not as crowded as previous years (last year I could hardly move), one of the best M/F ratio fests going -- always has been, don't know why -- and a GREAT band, Holt 45 (with an appropriate name for a beer festival, eh?). Usually I don't give -- pardon me -- a rat's ass about the band at beer festivals, because they're just getting in the way of my beer enjoyment and talking to people about beer. But these guys were NOT too loud, they were way into the music, and they were real musicians.

So then I left, and unlike other years, made no stops on the way home. We went out for a diner dinner (bluefish...I love broiled bluefish), came home, watched some tube...and I crashed out, done in by drugs and allergies. The first week is always like this: dopey, drowsy, and stupid. I'm fighting it off with coffee and air-conditioning this morning. I hate May.

All Session Beer at the Kennett Brewfest Connoisseur Session!

That's right, people: the Kennett Brewfest just announced that their acclaimed Connoisseur Session, the extra session before this great beer festival starts that is usually non-stop BIG beerBig BeerBIG BEER...is going to be a Conn-o-session. Get the whole story here (where it should be).

Brewers Deserve to Get Paid -- and they are

I posted this back in January, complaining that brewers should be paid for beer at festivals. I won't repeat the reasons, go read them.

Apparently, it's working. I got an e-mail from a local fest organizer recently, telling me that they were getting a poor brewer response for their fest, and asking me if I could help. Yeah, I said, I can help: pay for the beer. You should, it's the right thing to do. Then tell the brewers you're paying for beer; I'll bet you get some immediate responses when they find out you're showing them some respect.

I figured I'd never hear from them again, but lo and behold, I get an e-mail the next day: the guy took my e-mail to a committee meeting that night, read it to them, explained the problem, and they voted to raise the ticket price $5 and pay the brewers a "beer honorarium" that should cover their wholesale cost. All right!

Then I just found out Wednesday that another local fest is now paying for beer. And I got two e-mails from brewers thanking me for talking the first fest into paying for beer. As Hannibal Smith (George Peppard) used to say on The A-Team, "I love it when a plan comes together."

The Session #16 -- Beer Festivals

It's The Session, beer blogging on a common topic, and this month it's "beer festivals." See all the links soon here.

I just told someone last week that beer festivals are pretty much work for me anymore. I was at the Mondial in Montreal, and while it was enjoyable, and the weather was great, and there were plenty of good beers -- new beers! -- and brewers -- new brewers, to me, anyway -- and pretty girls and grilled and smoked meat and all dat... I left before the session was over, and I only went back for an hour or so the next day. I would never have done that in the past. What happened? What stole my fun?

I used to enjoy beer festivals, and I'd stay till the last minute. I'd taste everything new that I could safely hold (I used dump buckets, I drank water, I'd eat, anything to try more beers), I'd talk beer, I had a great time. I met John Hansell at a beer festival, which led indirectly to my current position as managing editor for his magazine, Malt Advocate (which in those days was a beer 'magazine,' about 8 pages stapled in the corner). I met any number of brewers, including David Geary, who recently showed me the "business card" I gave him at a Stoudt's festival back in...1994? "I figured you'd be back," he said, "and you were."

It wasn't the working that was the buzzkill, though. I worked fests and still enjoyed them; hell, I even worked taps for brewers on some and had a fun time. I think what killed it for me was the Falling Rock Syndrome. People who go to GABF often enough, serious types (serious about beer, anyway), quickly learn that the Friday and Saturday night sessions are crazy, often given over to drunks. They head out to other, smaller venues, like Denver's beer bar supreme, Falling Rock, or a brewpub, or someone's hotel room.

That's what festivals have become for me: the meeting-up place for the after-party, and it seems like the "after" part gets earlier and earlier. I LIKE going to the after-parties, they're a lot of fun, they're usually people I know or people who know people I know, and it's all very convivial.

And they're not wall-to-wall people, packed in so tight they can't move. Some of the problem is like Yogi Berra said: "Nobody goes there anymore; it's too crowded." Blame the festival promoters: stop selling so many tickets. I'd happily pay $10 more if I could move. Turn down the band's amps; I can't tell you how many times I've yelled to someone at a festival "If I'd wanted to hear blues, I'd go to a blues festival: I'm here to talk to brewers and I can't even hear myself think!" Better programs would be great: give me the brewery names, their websites, their addresses, what beers they have, and a little room for notes. Give me food options, give me some education options, give me no smoking and good ventilation, give me a beer garden to sit for a bit. Give me shuttle-to-lodgings/transit options.

I think beer festivals need to be re-worked. For our benefit, the fest-goers, and for the benefit of the brewers. Some of them are better, but craft beer -- and let's be honest, that's really the only kind that generates festival-going interest -- is hot, and people are interested. Give them a good experience. Maybe I'm just a crotchety old bastard. But if I don't think it's that fun anymore, maybe I'm not the only one.

Fun in Montreal: me and Jack at the Mondial

I took an opportunity to visit the Mondial de la Biere last week, and I traveled there with Uncle Jack Curtin (as Uncle Jack has been recounting -- more or less truthfully -- recently). Credit to UJ, actually, because it was his idea. I called him to see if he wanted to go to Pittsburgh to check out the wonderful new places that have opened there recently (the Rivertowne Pourhouse, Point Brugge (new to me; I keep trying to get in, and keep hitting it when it's closed, terribly frustrating), Bocktown Grill, a new D's, Marzoni's West, the new beer engine at Piper's Pub, and a new breakfast joint run by an old friend of ours, the Hot Metal Diner (most of which I do intend to visit in about 10 days on the way to Kentucky...)). There was a bit of malice in the invite, since Jack was apparently traumatized by our last road trip to Pittsburgh (page down, it's there, and worth a couple chuckles), the great weenie, but I did want to go.

But Jack said, no, what he really wanted to do was go to the Mondial. Good idea! Even better, I had a lecture lined up for Wednesday of that week in New Paltz, with a room and a fee that would easily cover my costs for the trip to Mondial. Perfect became perfecter when Jack found lodgings in Montreal that were a 15 minute walk from the fest, clean, secure, and only $45 a night. (Nice work, Jack.) We were on.

Getting over to the Beer Yard to pick up Jack was a traffic horror, getting through NJ was almost as bad, and when I found myself happy to be paying $4.69 a gallon for diesel, I knew things were screwed. As it turned out, I was wrong. The lecture went smoothly, and we also fit in a quick visit to the Gilded Otter brewpub in New Paltz (excellent alt, as always; a bit overly chocolatey to be classic, but not a problem when it comes to good drinking), the Tuthilltown Spirits distillery (more on that in another post...maybe, because I might be able to sell that one -- meanwhile, that's a picture of the stillhouse on the right.), and an excellent -- huge -- German dinner at the Mountain Brauhaus (highly recommended, great German fare and beers). Things got even better when I forced a visit to the Miss Albany Diner for breakfast, one of my top ten breakfast spots, a classic Silk City diner with house-made sausage and a MAD assortment of specialty omelettes and waffles (the Irish whiskey waffle is just nuts).

Okay, enough prelim. We slid up through the Adirondacks (sedately; I've discovered the zen of mileage, and got 43 mpg over the whole trip (I think Jack was somewhat chagrined by the calmness of my driving)), smoothed down onto the flats outside of Plattsburgh, and just before the border, yes, I did realize that my cell plan was stupid expensive in Canada, and called my family and asked them to only call me for emergencies (something Jack would twist cruelly at every occasion into "He told his family to stop calling him."). Onward to the border, only...

Jack and I got stopped at Customs. We were detained. After a long chat with the woman in the booth, who seemed quite pleasant, she suddenly started asking questions. Did we have any firearms? Did we have any firearms at home? (I do, one antique shotgun that was my grandfather's, but why that's a concern of Canadians -- or any of their business -- is beyond me.) Where else have you lived? (A fairly long list of different states for me.) Do you have any alcohol? (A flask of whiskey for personal use only.) Jack wisely said "No" to most of these questions, but I just couldn't help being truthful.

And she gave us a yellow card and told us to go park in the detainee lot and give our passports to Immigration. This didn't sound good. But it was just hand over the passports, watch the woman we gave them to stand around doing nothing while holding them, and then her calling Jack -- I'm sorry, John Curtin, and who the hell is that? -- up, and giving the passports back, along with a secret code number (*4050, and I'll probably never get into Canada again now) to get out of the parking lot. Stupid silliness; I can't imagine what 'profile' me and Jack Curtin headed to Montreal for two days would fit. It really pisses me off when government folks pull this screwing with you and never saying why crap. Ah, me.

So we headed up the AUT 15 with me in a somewhat foul mood, but the beautiful day soon got me over it. Things are pretty flat in this part of Quebec, which only makes the rearing backdrop of the Mont Royal all the more striking. My GPS was practically useless in Canada, so I'd fired up the laptop with Streets & Trips, and Jack was balancing it on his knee as we tried to figure out where to go.

The expressway part was easy, but once we got onto the surface grid, things were moving too quickly, and the street names on the screen were too small to read fast in the bright sunlight. I beat the directions into some kind of usable thing and found our lodgings...and then took about 10 minutes trying to get pulled over in front of the building so Jack could go in and find out where we were supposed to park (at least Canadians drive on the right side of the road...mostly). We did that, checked in, and headed down the Boulevard René-Lévesque to the Mondial.


It was a breezy mile and a quarter walk, and we bobbled around a bit finding it, but it was quite the thing once we did. It's an indoor-outdoor fest in a large restored train station and the outdoor courtyard. It's big, and fun, and free admission/pay for beer (which got expensive at times and stupid cheap at others: $2 for a big 12 oz. pour of St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout -- yum -- but $3 for a niggardly 4 oz. pour of La Route des Indes IPA from Au Maître-Brasseur that tasted nasty and off). It was a thoroughly enjoyable festival, with cider and cheese and spirits to boot, which of course would be illegal as hell in most of the U.S., God help me.

I'll leave Jack to give the blow-by-blow (except to add my admiration for the drop-dead beauty and friendliness of the Unibroue serving women and their cute as hell lace-up vests) and move on to overall impressions. There were some absolutely outstanding beers at the Mondial, Canadian, French, and the usual American suspects (the "Petit Pub" had a wide assortment of non-represented beers, including some Sly Fox that Jack was quite exercised about). I had my first Unibroue Eau Benite in way too long, and it was exquisite, as were pretty much every beer I had from Dieu du Ciel, (where Jack and I would retire for a long, very enjoyable session that evening), Ferme Brasserie Schoune (where we were led by Tony Forder to meet the brewer and Tom Peters, who was already arranging for them to do a beer dinner at Monk's), and Benelux-Brasserie.

But I was struck by the number of inferior beers I also got. We've pretty much gotten used to the idea that beer festivals in the U.S., craft brewers in the U.S., have reached a certain level of competence. I remember ten years ago sampling beers at fests and remarking to friends that the brewers must not be sampling them, because they were all too obviously flawed and often infected. That's gone away, and I have not had a flawed beer in quite a while at a U.S. fest. I had at least three dumpers at Mondial.

I don't really think this is attributable to anything but the atmosphere and culture. Canadian brewing/drinking seems even more dominated by big breweries -- MolBatt, the Canadian equivalent of American beer geeks' BMC -- than America, and the impediments to cross-provincial beer sales haven't helped. It's not chance that the very best Canadian breweries seem to be either brewpubs, breweries with strong export sales, or new. There is acceptance of craft beer in Canada, but it seems to be behind the curve a bit.

I'd say it's rapidly catching up, though, and the experimental stuff, like the hibiscus amber at Dieu de Ciel, is equivalent to the stuff American brewers are doing, with its own direction. Canadian brewers, and particularly Quebecois brewers, explore things with less fear of having the results labeled as "girly beers," and I think that's a very good thing. There seemed to be less of the embrace of the EXtrEme beer, which I also think is a good thing.

That was about it, except, yes, I did go to Hard Rock Cafe Montreal. I'd never ever been to one, and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. To be honest, I still don't know. It was perfunctory service, all MolsonCoors beers (the Molson Export I was served almost brought me to tears: I drank a lot of Ex in the 1980s, and this was a pale, sweet shadow of that beer), and stiff prices ($6.50 for a shaker pint of mass-market beer seemed extreme (please note my stupidity...I've since realized that this was NOT a shaker pint, it was actually a larger beer; my apologies)...especially since Jack and I both left 2/3 of our beers sitting on the bar (he'd got a Rickard's Red, which he repeatedly said was the worst non-infected beer he'd ever had). I guess I just don't understand what most people want from an evening out. Which is okay with me; I know what I want, and usually see that I get it.

Kennett Square Brewfest does "the right thing"

Kennett Square Brewfest is not taking free beer from brewers any more...kinda. Uncle Jack the Homeboy got it up first, as it rightly so: he is Da Kennett Square Boy. KSB is paying brewers an honorarium for bringing beer to the fest (they're also cutting down on the number of tickets sold, so less crowding, hurrah, hurrah).

I got an e-mail on this today from Jeff Norman, one of the organizers of the Kennett Square Brewfest who I've been harrassing about the beer festival taking free beer from brewers for a beer festival. For the record, Jeff's been working on this, and he's been hampered by the non-profit status of the group and the "community" image (which pisses me off; the "community" can't be seen to be making money off selling beer? They're doing it, aren't they? It's better because they're selling beer someone gave to them? But don't get me started...). But this is another feather in the cap for Kennett Square's beer festival. They're Doing The Right Thing. Here's to other festivals getting the right idea, and brewers holding them to it.

Speaking of which...as I noted over at Uncle Jack's site, The Cystic Fibrosis benefit beerfest in Harrisburg (largely done by Tröegs) is also doing this, and providing hotel rooms to brewers as well. Nicely done.

Brewers deserve to get paid

Don't worry, this isn't a screed about beer prices being too low. It's about beer prices being non-existent. I'm talking about brewers being asked -- forced -- to donate beer to beer festivals.

Folks, if you're unaware of this, it happens all the time. There are parts of the country where beer festivals do regularly pay brewers for the beer that they pour, but there are also places where that's not how the game is played. Brewers are invited to festivals, some of which are for charities, some of which are not (and as one brewer I'm friends with says, "Just because it's your charity doesn't mean it's my charity."), and then told how much beer they're going to be bringing and not getting paid for. People are paying for tickets, people are paying for food, people are paying for breweriana, t-shirts, pint glasses, and everything else, but the brewers aren't getting paid for their beer.

Why do they do this? The festival promoters know that for the larger brewers -- craft and not-so-craft -- it's a write-off, a promotional expense they're more than happy to pay. I know it's the case for large spirits companies: they're happy to bring booze to festivals because sampling is the most effective way to sell a good product.

And let's be deadly honest: larger breweries often give free beer to retail accounts. It's illegal in the U.S., but it happens every week: bars order three kegs and get four, they take a competitor off-tap and get X number of free kegs. I've talked to brewers who've seen it, I've talked to retailers who've had it offered. It doesn't get prosecuted because no retailer is going to rat it out...and kill the goose that lays the golden kegs. Is this news to anyone? The same kind of spending drives free beer at festivals.

Smaller brewers are working on much smaller margins and overall budgets, and four half-barrels means some real money to them. Why do they do it? They feel they have to. And festival promoters -- charitable and profitable alike -- will tell them about the "exposure" they're getting. As Jerry Bailey, the former prez of Old Dominion once told me, "exposure" is a bad word when you're talking about getting caught outside. I've had people ask me to do events for free because it would be "great exposure!" Hey, you know what? I'm so damned exposed already that I'm naked and shivering, I don't need more of it!

What really torques me about this is how many times there is entertainment at these events, and they're getting paid! No one ever suggests to the band or DJ that playing at the beer festival will be great exposure so they should do it for free. Because they wouldn't do it.

There are responsible festivals. Jim Anderson's events in Philadelphia were always paid-beer events. The Alström Brothers have told me that their BeerAdvocate events are all paid-beer events. There are also some fests that are put in a tough position by screwy local laws, where buying the beer would jeopardize or cancel their permit: the better fests of this type compensate by throwing the brewers free room and board. But some fests don't even give the brewers free parking, fergodssake.

You know what? There are a LOT of festivals out there these days. Beer festivals are popular. Wanna bet you and I now know one big reason why? Low overhead. Do yourself and your local brewer a favor: start asking questions the next time, before you buy tix for a beer festival. "Is the beer at this fest paid for?" "What's the charity? What percentage of the take do they get?"

And if you're a brewer? Look, if you like the charity, or if the venue's a really cool place you like visiting, or if the festival really is right smack-dab in the middle of your target audience (and they haven't already all tasted your beer), okay, you're an adult, make your decision. But think about that "naked and shivering" line. How "exposed" do you want to be? If they're not going to respect you...why respect them?