Finding the Finest at ACBF

I had bought tickets a while back to the American Craft Beer Festival (ACBF), and before I got a chance to talk to some friends about going, the festival sold out.  No worries, Jenn gave me the go ahead to spend the day in the city and experience some great new beers.  I got on the road on a scorcher of a day, and needed a place to stop to get some brunch.  So I headed over to Allston’s Deep Ellum (http://www.deepellum-boston.com), to get a bite to eat.

Deep Ellum became one of my favorite restaurants when I attended the ACBF three years ago, a pub that specializes in great food and a fantastic selection of brews.  This morning I chose a Ballast Point Fathom Imperial Lager on draft to go with my breakfast burrito; a great combination of scrambled eggs, Kentucky sausage, the house hot sauce, pepper jack cheese, green onions, and tomatoes.  A breakfast fit for a beer king.  I considered hanging out there in the air conditioning and ice water, but knew I wanted to get in line for the event (2-1/2 hours early).  The Boston Seaport was hosting the event, which was to have 5000 enthusiasts attending, and I wanted to be sure I got there early not to get my beer of choice.  I was about the 40^th person in line (it wrapped around the building and down about 5 blocks), and it sure was hot (I’m glad I had picked up some Gatorade), but I sweated it out and was one of the fortunate first folks to enjoy the festivities.

My favorite part of the ACBF is that they advertise in advance what beers they have available.  For a beer geek like me, that allows me to be selective on trying to find the new and rare beers that I wouldn’t have the opportunity to get otherwise.  For this festival, the belle of the ball was Lawson’s Finest Liquids (http://www.lawsonsfinest.com/), a small brewery in VT that advertised bringing their Double Sunshine IPA to the event, #28 on Beer Advocate’s top 250 list.  So I made a beeline to their booth and began to sample their wares, getting back into line all afternoon (about 100 strong all day long).  I got to try the Double Sunshine, as well as their Finest Smoked Maple Lager (a collaboration with Jack’s Abby), and finally their anniversary beer Peril, a delicious Imperial IPA that scored a 95 at Beer Advocate and weighed in at 11.1% ABV.  There were other beers available, a lot of other beers, and at 2oz a sample, I could try quite a few.  For light beers I concentrated on Berliner Weisses; Tap brewing offered Intergalactic Acid with woodruff syrup, Prodigal offered their Effinghamweisse, and Amherst provided the Das Boot.  Dark beers were also widely available; Port Jeff had the Big Boy Birch Stout, Watch City offered the Breakfast of Champion Milk Stout, and Left Hand provided the Week Sauce Coffee Porter.  I tried 30 beers from 20 breweries, all welcome additions to my beer book.

I didn’t stay to the end, having my fill and still having to make the trip home.  I did stop by Jack’s Abby on the way and tried their Private Rye, a spicy Biere de Garde at 6.2% ABV.  I got a bottle of the Smoked Maple Lager to go, and headed over to Julio Liquors.  They had several bottles of the Pretty Things’ Once Upon a Time beer collection, a great chance to taste beers replicated from recipes from different ages.  Finally I needed some dinner, and went over to Armsby Abbey (http://armsbyabbey.com).  Another great gastropub, I passed on their cheese slates and went for a gourmet spring onion grilled cheese sandwich to go with a Pretty Things Magnifico, a Belgian pale ale at 3.4% ABV on draft. 

I got to visit two great gastropubs, an up and coming new brewery, and a festival that featured great beers.  I would say that was a pretty good day. – 6324/14114

 
“Good people drink good beer.” – Hunter S. Thompson