At the end of it all I love beer. I love beer festivals. I love chatting to others who love beer. Even more, I love people that are this passionate about their hobby of brewing beer even if it is at great expense and no profit, but for pure enjoyment. That is where the money is at and that is where you will find the best beer! C'mon, you have no excuses and an entire year of practice and brewing to get through so you can showcase your brew at next year's fest! I plan to enter and have an interesting brew or two up my sleeve...let's hope for the best!
This was the first year that I attended the Southyeasters Summerfest mainly because my mate, Dom, managed to win a set of double-tickets from the kind folks over at League of Beers. At the outset I was not sure what to expect, but kind of readied myself to taste some probably okay tasting beer and drink beer out of bottles with some of the original brewery's labels still stuck on them (this is based on my home brewing career up to this point)...upon arrival, I was proven so badly wrong!!! Hosted at the South African Breweries in Newlands the energy and vibe was palpable as everyone was bouncing around in high spirits. The event is organised by the local home brewer's club, The Southyeasters, and aims to connect some ambitious home brewers with a thirsty audience. This festival involves meeting down-to-earth brewers going through great trials and tribulations to show off their pride and joy and tell you a few cool stories along the way. As is par for the course you can expect some food trucks to help fill that hole in your soul, some seats for when the tent gets too crowded and of course a massive tent “beweging” for shading and carbo-loading. This year even had some guys roasting an entire animal (for TV apparently) on this beautiful, beer-weathered Sunday afternoon. Most of the stalls far outshone my expectations with their branding, marketing and most important of all, exceptional tasting beer! Some of the guys I met have only been brewing for as little as two months and showcased what was basically their second or third batch, but still tasting pretty good considering. Of course there were some “seasoned” brewers who have been at it for more than 12 years showcasing their talents and aspirations to become more commercial brewers. Every single person at the festival was extremely approachable and open to discuss their recipes, brewing techniques and some of their struggles and hope-to-haves. Some highlights for the day included the IPA from Bad Dog breweries - the most popular beer of the day with some crazy fruity character. I also really enjoyed the experimental Chocolate and Chili Porter which had a handful of de-pipped green chilies added to the secondary fermentation making for a very interesting beer. It had a nice smokey porter up front and ended in somewhat of a "green" pepper flavor, not offensive at all I must admit. The guys promised some more chilly in the next batch to see what happens...would be keen to try that, I won't lie. The guys from Three Anchor Breweries produced an exceptional Weiss and their flagship English IPA also seemed to be quite a hit. Liam from MAC homebrew had some great beers on trial, my favorite being the Mocca Brown Ale - pure rich and creamy goodness! I must give him credit for going all out with branding - even selling some Oak chips for the experimental few among us. I picked up two bags to see what I can get out of it as I am quite keen to try it in my Black Rye recipe... One of my favorites was the Red Rye IPA from Oakfields Brewing which had a very smooth, full flavor to it with the perfect balance of bittering and aroma hops to make it a pretty remarkable beer (got one of my votes). I found myself going back for a couple of tasters of this brew, although the Festive IPA was also pretty good. The last beer that I enjoyed was an IPA from Triggerfish (one of the few commercial guys on the day) that was made from actual whole cone hops that were freshly picked and shipped all the way from George for brew day. It might be my imagination or just a great recipe, but it did give the hoppiness an extra punch that I enjoyed. There were so many guys representing and so many different styles and beers to try and I would honestly love to give you all a nod of my cap. Well done chaps! I think any home brewer should definitely make an effort to attend this festival to get a sense of what the possibilities are if you were to make a real effort. I would recommend it even more if you are not already home brewing and are wondering how hard it is. Just try one of the beers and start chatting to the guys - I can guarantee that nine out of ten times you will get the same story about how they got started with kits and buckets and how the brewery (or kitchen as the wife probably calls it) has progressed making you feel the urge to rush home and get started right away! At the end of it all I love beer. I love beer festivals. I love chatting to others who love beer. Even more, I love people that are this passionate about their hobby of brewing beer even if it is at great expense and no profit, but for pure enjoyment. That is where the money is at and that is where you will find the best beer! C'mon, you have no excuses and an entire year of practice and brewing to get through so you can showcase your brew at next year's fest! I plan to enter and have an interesting brew or two up my sleeve...let's hope for the best! Check out some more pics of the fest and once again a massive thanks to the guys over at League of beers for the tix. Mash appreciation my fellow beer brethren!
3 Comments
Barry O'Donoghue
4/17/2014 05:20:22 pm
Very cool piece!
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4/18/2014 10:20:35 pm
Keep an eye on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/AtlanticStormBrewery. We hope to be full up and running by July. Would love to invite you to taste more of our beers then.
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About me
Recently enlightened by the exciting world of craft beer I have been falling in love with new flavors, colors and smells. I do not consider myself a professional brewer (yet), but I am an enthusiast and passionate about beer and that is all that matters... Archives
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