Homebrewers and established breweries alike came together for one great cause, to bring great beer to craft beer enthusiasts and raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Ok, so there were two or more reasons that brought these people together but one thing is for sure, everyone celebrated their love for great beer together and kicked off Craft Beer Week with a KaChhhh! You see what we did there?

We drank, we ate, we wandered, and we befriended not only other craft beer lovers but the beer reps and brewmasters themselves. Each tent provided a cold drink in your mug and a knowledgeable rep or brewmaster to pour it while talking about their beloved crafts.

Alright,enough chatter! Let’s dive into some of the crowd favorites from the festival!

In random hat order (pulling names out of a hat):

• Brew Hub’s Unmatilla Coffee Barleywine was one of my absolute favorite finds at this festival. Aged in Wild Turkey barrels it packs a flavorful punch with 11.4% ABV. This baby is a rare find so definitely buy it if and when you see it!
• Oyster City Brewing Company’s MANGrOve was a sweet surprise to our palates. It was a mouthful of mango flavor and paired extremely well with delicious pulled pork sliders. 5% ABV.
• Idyll Hounds Brewing Company’s Papaya & Habanero Divide & Conch’R packs a mean punch when it comes to flavor and ABV which is 8%! It is surprisingly not as hot as you’d assume which makes it that much more enjoyable since your taste buds remain intact.
• Our friends from Props Brewery were on the scene with their seasonal Lucky O’Neill Vienna Lager. We were lucky to get a taste of this slightly sweet, malty lager while it lasts. 5.6% ABV.
• Covington Brewhouse’s Strawberry Ale is a delectable cream ale that has a sweet strawberry front that ends dry so it doesn’t leave you with the sticky sweetness you’d normally get from a sweet beer. 5% ABV.
• 21st Amendment’s Back in Black IPA is one of the few black IPAs you can find year round. It had a great hoppy taste without the overwhelming bitterness you’d expect from a bold brew like this. 6.8% ABV
• Mudbug Brewery’s Cafe Au Lait had an incredible, strong coffee flavor that resembled an espresso and gave us the boost we needed to continue our journey. 5.5% ABV
• Trim Tab Brewing’s IPA is exactly what it claims to be, a traditional IPA serving up a mouthful of hoppy, citrusy flavors with plenty of bitter to chase.
• SweetWater Brewing Company’s Take 2 Pills with Blood Orange Juice was more of a mouthful than its name. This crisp, blood orange flavored pilsner is the perfect beer to beat the summer heat. 5.5% ABV
• Grayton Brewing’s Salt of the Gulf Gose was a real zinger. It whips the tongue with its tart/citrusy flavor that left us puckering up for more. 5.3% ABV.
• Urban South Brewery’s Holy Roller IPA is an IPA lovers dream, full of hoppy goodness with a crisp citrus finish.6.3% ABV.
• Bell’s Two Hearted Ale is an incredibly well-balanced IPA. It’s hoppy, citrusy, slighly bitter taste make it one of the BEST American style IPAs out there. Get you some! 7% ABV
• Good People’s Bearded Lady is a nice, crisp, not overly wheaty ale with light lemony notes. It is incredibly easy to drink! 4.2% ABV.
• Sierra Nevada’s Otra Vez was the most unique find of the day! Made with fruit from prickly pear cactus paired with grapefruit, this light bodied beer is the perfect refreshment for a hot summer day. 4.5% ABV
• Rogue’s Sriracha Hot Stout is an extremely dark stout with a mild chile aroma and light coffee/chocolatey flavors that flow smoothly across the tongue just before the pepper bite hits the back of your throat. Yowza! This one was surprisingly good! 5.7% ABV.

 

We wish we could’ve touched on all the breweries that made it out for such a great event. Just know, every brewery that came out on Sunday had more than one option to choose from. They brought their absolute best and favored us with some of their highly sought after or brand new craft brews. That was, after all, one of the requirements to get into the festival. How do I know this? Well, not only did we have the pleasure of meeting some brew masters at this festival, we got to pick the brains of the masterminds behind it!

Want to know more? Like, how much money did they raise for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation? How many people were in attendance? Will they make this first time event annual?

Stay tuned for the last and final part of our thirst-quenching adventure…

Boardroom Beach Craftathon Part Tres