A few weeks back more than 140 Breweries from around the US and an estimated fifteen thousand people including myself made the trip up to the Seaport World Trade Center for Beer Advocate's 7th annual American Craft Beer Fest to sample from over six hundred and forty craft brewed beers. At $47.50/ticket it was both a great opportunity for a craft beer enthusiast to sample many hard to find beers in one place and an "all you can drink buffet" for the "enthusiast" who just enjoys many beers in one place.While many of the Breweries represented were local craft and micro breweries, larger nationally distributed craft breweries such as Stone, Lagunitas, and Rogue were also on hand. The crowd proved to be just as diverse as the vast selection of beers with attendees of all ages and experience, many of whom made it very easy to distinguish the "craft beer drinkers" from the "beer drinkers" as the crowd became a little more lively and rowdy about halfway through the sessions. In all fairness to the crowd though, I encountered more than a few brewery tables in which representatives were intoxicated, unapproachable, and impolite. The common theme; none of those tables were local or micro breweries in which brewery personnel were doing the pouring. Instead they tended to be larger craft beer breweries with tables manned by regional reps or hired help.
While many of the attendees made their way down the aisles visiting one table after the other and trying as many beers as possible, I decided to take my time strategically making sure to visit the brewery tables I had a strong interest in while having the time to interact with brewery personnel at each. This was made easy with Beer Advocate's program each attendee received on their way through the door. Composed half of brewery and beer offerings and half advertisements, the program offered a list of breweries in attendance along with the beers each had on hand for the public to sample. I began with Lawson's Finest Liquids, Maine Beer Co, and a personal favorite Tree House. Other notable brewery tables I made sure to visit were Nighshift, Trillium, Wormtown, Jack's Abby, and Pretty Things Beer and Ale Project. While all of these are Northeast regional craft and micro brews, I also sampled specialty beers from larger breweries like Oskar Blues, Dogfish Head, and Stone. Personal Favorites were Maine Beer Co.'s Lunch and Mean Old Tom; An ultra clean and fresh IPA and a stellar Stout aged on a vanilla beans. Trillium, Lawson's, and Tree House all offered some of the freshest, cleanest IPA's I've ever tried, including Tree House's renowned "Julius" and the Tree House/Lawson's Finest special collaboration IPA "YAHHHRRRGGG!". Jack's Abby offered what I believed to be the best lager beers there, and Wormtown had a couple of excellent Hop Bombs for the hop heads.
It was a great time for me personally as I had the opportunity to hang with Dean and the guys from Tree House, the guys from Jack's Abby, and finally meet and spend time with Dan and Martha Paquette of Pretty Things Beer and Ale Project. I was able to form what I hope to be long lasting network connections with other great people in the craft beer industry from small breweries all over the Northeast before ending the night with my "neighbors" and the guys from one of Queen's newest breweries, Finback.
Aside from the amazing beers, what stood out to me was the sense of community that has made the craft beer community envied by other professions. It was refreshing to see brewers and personnel making their way to other tables to talk brewing and sample offerings from other brewers. The mutual respect and camaraderie that exists in this profession of brewers was on display throughout and in between the sessions as brewers spent time in and outside the venue throughout the weekend.
In Dick Cantwell's Starting Your Own Brewery he writes "Brewing was a club, and everyone belonged. Information was shared - with willingness, and with beer. The collegiality and conviviality of our industry is in fact envied by those in other artisanal industries who value individual over collective success. Coffee? They don't trust each other. Chocolate? Forget about it. If we have a legacy, this is it. It is something to be preserved and cherished, passed along as strongly and as often as can be managed". This generation of brewers continues to carry on these traditions and legacies at events such as this one and others across the country.
