Haverhill Brewery Brewfest Shenanigans

It occurs to me as I sit here with feet up and Dr. Who on the tube with a Dogfish Head 60 minute by my side that if we'd gone to the evening Brewfest session, we'd be getting home around now. Late, tired, and full of beer.

As is, I did get home tired and full of beer, had a nap, and now I have gone through my pictures and can do a write up of the event.

I'll preface the whole write up with the fact that this was our first visit to the Brewfest and we'll be back next year for sure. We ran into several friends who had been to previous Brewfests here and they all said this was the best run, most organized, really delicious event. So thumbs up to the Haverhill Brewery and Tap staff. I hope the evening session went as well as the afternoon session did. 

Dave, my husband Doug, and I headed down  to town, and had a heck of a hard time finding a place to park. We knew this would happen... Haverhill is notorious for little parking and with an influx of a billion beer fans things would be even tighter. We finally got a place to park at about 1pm, and headed in to feast.

The Tap restaurant, the basement, and the former antiques store next door were all transformed into beer heaven with brewers from all over the area. As the host, the bar was pouring all of the Haverhill Brewery favorites from Leatherlips to Gestalt, and some special new tastes.

We started off with the ciders, Original Sin and Woodchuck.  Original Sin had a lovely pear cider that is probably as close to the British "peary" that one can get here in the US. Very nice, crisp and light. Woodchuck's Fall Cider was delicious as well.

We immediately opted to eat, because the food was right there. They had a small roasted whole pig that they were serving on portuguese rolls with caramelized onions and gravy. Outstanding.

They had grilled sausages with fixin's, a nacho bar, and chicken wings with three or four different awesome coatings. Full up with deliciousness, we headed downstairs to the cask area. Casks were being pulled, from Jack's Abby, Haverhill Brewery, Notch, and Martha's Exchange.

 Dave and my husband were very into it though, and went through the line a couple times over. Cask beers are normally warmer than I like, but they were all very tasty.

We headed upstairs to the main room, where Clown Shoes, Frosty Knuckle, Sam Adams, The Beer Works, John Harvard's Brewhouse were serving up their beers.  Cisco from Nantucket had beautiful vodkas, and Doug tried out their Triple 8 blueberry vodka and loved it. He'll be picking up some of that for sure.

Clown Shoes had Eagle Claw Fist Imperial IPA and their Muffin Top beer, as well as their Clementine on tap. Eagle Claw and Muffin Top were delicious.

But I did hear two women talking about how they hated the name "Muffin Top" and didn't think it was funny. I kind of did. It doesn't bother me. But as I've written before about Clown Shoes, how you market your beer makes a difference.

John Harvard's best offering was sadly named Farewell to Summer. It was delicious. And sad. All at once.

 A volunteer pulls for Frosty Knuckle, and I liked their pulls so I took his picture.
Love the mural work in this room. It is often unnoticed but not today...
Be sure to go to the Frosty Knuckle website, and learn about some local Gloucester Lore.

Heading over to the bar area, the host brews were all being served up. 

Seeing as we drink beer here all the time, it wasn't a big draw for us. But they did have a surprise on tap. The Beerstand Berlinerweiss is bitter, sour, lemony almost. Looks almost like pee, to be honest. 

Straight up, it is kind of gross. But they put two cool additions into the glass when they pour it, a raspberry syrup or something called Woodruff syrup. This transforms the sour brew into a happy brew. A very happy brew. I think I had several samples of the raspberry version and Doug loved the Woodruff. Dave didn't care for it and stuck with the pilsner in cask.  

I'll be back at the Tap sooner than later for a full glass of this fun drink. 

Back over to the former antique shop for more beers. Representatives from Cape Ann Brewing Company, Narraganset, High & Mighty, Mayflower, Martha's Exchange, Ipswich and others were there. 

Two highlights from this room stood out. 

First, Cape Ann Brewing Company had a Pumpkin Beer. Now, I know I've stated in previous entries that I'm done with Pumpkin beers. Hardly anyone brought pumpkin beers, which was great... the cool thing about CABC was that they were tapping an actual pumpkin. The pull, the tap, the whole set up was in the pumpkin.

Pictured here is TJ with the setup. Ten points to Gryffindor for the great thinking and creative display!

We had met Tom at the Newburyport Brewfest in the summer, and he recognized me. I told him that I didn't like pumpkin beers and he said they don't either. It's messy to make, smelly (even for beer) and just no fun. But they made theirs a stout, instead of an ale. And this made all the difference. 

I can honestly say after trying this pumpkin beer "This Didn't Suck." And you an put that in the marketing campaign for sure.

Next, we spent time with High & Mighty Brewing Company, who refer to themselves as beer-vangelists, "the Clergy of Zymurgy, the Priests of Yeasts..." which cracked me up.

They had three beers to sample, and the best was their saison, "Pas De Deux" which was very similar to the Brooklyn Sorachi Ace that I enjoyed this summer. Light, champagney, delicious. It was a beautiful beer. On top of everything they were wicked cool guys.

 We met Abby and Jack of Jack's Abby Brewers, and it isn't every day you get to meet a guy in Lederhosen. Their Saxon Son's Pilsner was lovely. Dave and Doug both thought the Smoke and Dagger was too "smoky"for their likings.

Ipswich Ale Brewery is local, and the four beers they had on tap were great. The 20 Year was great and I'm a fan of their Oatmeal Stout. And, they had a guy with a handlebar mustache which is another thing you don't see every day.

 The afternoon's entertainment was provided outdoors by The Flip.
They were fantastic!

And inside, this guy. I didn't get his name. Sadly.
He had a lovely voice and gave the room a lot of joy.

We ended up back at the bar, enjoying the host beers... Dave and Doug both were like kids in a candy store all day - I spent most of the time chasing them around from brewer to brewer...