Esk Beerfest 2016 The Hangover/ Debrief

This was the feeling for day two of Beerfest

The local beer drinking event of the year came to an unfortunate end Saturday night.

I was one of the first in the gates on Friday afternoon and left at close, similar to Saturday I didn’t miss much and gave it a good effort.

Four Beer Sampler from Double Head Brewing

Even though I took notes along the way I had to piece together what I got up to so I could be as accurate as possible.

Esk Beerfest by the numbers:

How many drinks were advertised:          250+

Actual number of ‘drinks’:                     155? (give or take a couple, this figure includes spirits, wines, mead, non craft beer etc)

How many drinks I had on Friday:          13

How many drinks I had on Saturday:       22+

How much I spent:                                 $350~

I can’t believe it myself when I crunched the numbers and will probably be on water only for the next week or so…

Moo Brew, classy as always

Red Duck had a lot to choose from

The Beer: This event is the Holy Grail of beer drinking and I tried to make the most of it. There were around 23 different Breweries, most with a variety of their best brews on offer. Red Duck from Ballarat had a large selection, including Hodor – an 11% Imperial Porter, did you get the Game of Thrones reference? Morrison Brewery had six of their amazing beers on tap and Devils Brewery were back in fine form.

BEST BEER AWARD: Wow, this was a tough one. I started the event with my favourite from last year and have now found a new one – Sunny With a Chance of Awesome by Last Rites Brewing Company. Not only did I try this in its natural form I had a hopinatored version as well. Until yesterday I had never heard about a hopinator, I was very curious! This website explains it better than I can:

“They’re glass cylinders of various shapes and forms through which beer can be diverted on its merry way from keg to tap to glass. They’re designed to hold whatever a brewer or barman thinks would add to / alter / screw up their beer to change the taste for the drinker. And, as one of the enthusiastic, knowledgeable staff points out, they’re a great way to educate the punter about what does what in beer.” http://craftypint.com/news/109/Hopinators-Hit-Hobart

Sunny With a Chance of Awesome is a summer pale ale using citrus hops. The hopinator version is unlike anything I’ve ever tried before, which is why it wins this year’s award.

The Cider: I actually drank quite a bit of cider over the two days, trying different brands and flavours. Apple Cider is of course the original kind of cider but I prefer to try different fruits, Coal Valley Cider had the most variety with Lemon, Pear and Cherry to name a few. Red Brick Road were also there, with their Mean Green hop infused cider still on tap, I had a couple of those.

BEST CIDER AWARD: 4 Brothers Cider Co were amazing, their products were also fantastic. A mainland group that had four ciders available, their best was the Passionfruit which wins the award.

The Food: As I mentioned earlier I believe that there was less food on offer and my favourites from last year weren’t there either. I still had some amazing food from the Pie-O-Matic, including the Pyengana Steak and Cheese and the Mexican Pie. Dapper Dogs Mobile Kitchen had some amazing Bratwurst looking hot dogs, I had the Booze Hound – the sauce was made with Morrison’s very own Smoked Chilli IPA. The Burger Junkie Van had hamburgers and fries. The Boag’s Container Bar even had pizzas they were making, having a mushroom pizza at the end of the night was an amazing way to finish the event.   

Awesome hot dogs!

BEST FOOD AWARD: The Best Food Award goes to Burger Junkie for their Beef, Beer Mustard and Crispy Pancetta Burger, this was one of the best items I got to eat at Beerfest, a burger is usually a good companion with beer.

Boag's made pizza, delicious

There is beer in the sauce!!!

Boag's stall

The Stalls: This year I was very impressed with the stalls, more so because of the souvenirs that were for sale. I love spending money on alcohol branded things – especially stubby holders. T-Bone Brewing Co had hats and Growlers, The Boag’s Bar had stubby holders and hats, there was even a Beerfest T-Shirt up for grabs.  

BEST STALL: The clear winners are the Iron House Brewery, not only did they have the biggest selection of items to buy (plus a lot of amazing beer to choose from) but the staff were super friendly and happy to chat with people. I already had a t-shirt from Festivale but this time around I added a stubby holder, coasters and Growler to the collection.  

My first time drinking mead, it was interesting

The taps for Wanderer Mead were awesome!

That finishes the Esk Beerfest for 2016. Thank you to the people who joined me and shared their drinking experiences, I’m going to start saving for next year.

Good times with great people =)

Cheers

Dave

Trying out my new shirt

Esk Beerfest 2016 Day One

The time has come to drink beer

The time is upon us, the Esk Beerfest has opened in Launceston, dust off your stubby holders and lather yourself in sunscreen, it’s time to drink some beer!

Officially I was one of the first in after the 45 minute delay in opening and was quick to scout around for what drinks were on offer.

The first beer.

I started the event with my #1 beer from last year – not another f$cking pale ale by Devils Brewery.

After 13 beers and ciders I had a great first night and have now had time to collect my thoughts on what it’s like.

Many of my favourite brewers were there some with merchandise for sale and there is some amazing food to get into – gourmet pies and hamburgers.

Pyengana Steak and Cheese Pie - amazing

Stout I think....

But there were a few things that are missing:

# Saint John Craft Beer do not have a spot this year which is sad because they bring a different kind of beer to the festival.

# Henry’s (non-alcoholic) Ginger Beer was AWOL as well, I will also make a point that non-alcoholic options were few and far in between, I couldn’t even find where to buy a bottle of water.

# Tornado potatoes are nowhere to be seen… I had four or five of these last year and they didn’t show this time…

# The food in general appears to be lacking, no roast rolls or salt and pepper calamari, all amazing things to have while drinking lots of beer…

# There was a promise of whiskey this year, at this stage I’ve only located one whiskey stall, I was hoping there would be more of a variety.

This year the organisers have boasted they have 250 beers and ciders available, 50-100 more from last year even though there seems to be less vendors. I will spend day two counting how many there actually are because I’m already calling myth busted.

Overall I’m excited to take part in Beerfest and wish it lasted more than a night and a day, it comes once a year so I will make the most of day two.

Reminiscing about the past in the Boag's Bar

Once again I will be awarding the ‘best of’ in several categories (best beer overall, best stall, best food item, best cider etc), if you come upon something that stands out amongst the rest today let me know!

Kicksnare Brewing hard at work

Kicksnare 5-pack sampler!!!

Hope to see you there today!

Dave

Cheers!

Festivale 2016

Photo supplied from Google

This has been known to locals as an expensive food and culture festival in Launceston since 1988 (a good year).

It has gone from humble beginnings in the street to filling up the City Park, now it’s busy with people visiting the many beer, cider and wine stalls, they probably go to try the food as well.

Tempura Mushrooms

I haven’t been to Festivale for more than fifteen years, I now see that I should have gone every year since I was 18 because it is a miniature beer fest – or a good practice for one.

Long story short I spent around $150 to take part in the event and sample as much as everything as I could.

What did I get for my money though?

I was in fine form.

Tasmania’s best craft beer and cider companies had tents to sell their product and some even had merchandise. To help with the drinking there was a lot of good food to pig out on.

From what I can remember I did enjoy myself and was impressed by the amount of beers available.

Starting with a Smoked Chilli IPA from Morrison Brewery and finishing with a Pale Ale from Iron House Brewery I indulged in the craft masterpieces that I only get to try on occasion.

Here is a rundown of the products made by the usual suspects:

• Van Dieman Brewing: An outstanding example of what Tasmanians can do. I love their beers and at Festivale got stuck into an unusual drink – Raspberry Cheesecake, a mixture of two of their drinks, Summer Berry Grisette and White Hills White. 
• Two Meter Tall: Based in the south, I had never heard of them until I spoke to some of their employees and sampled the Cleansing Ale. They experiment in different ways to get different products. I can confirm this because their apple cider has a very distinct after-taste of CORN CHIPS!!! How do I get my hands on more of this awesome stuff?
• Iron House Brewery: Coming from Iron House Point, an area known for great surfing and beer too of course. Iron House has a great range of beers, I have tried most of them over the years but think their Pale Ale is the best. They even had T-shirts for sale.
• Morrison Brewery: This very local brewery had a great selection to try, my first drink for the day was the Smoked Chilli IPA. It was good to try but it was my first for the day and took a little while to get through.
• T-Bone Brewing Co.: Another one which I have never encountered or know about. This tent was the only one to offer a four-drink sampler of their products, watch the video on Facebook to see what I think of the beers. Bear in mind this was towards the end of the day when it was filmed.
• Seven Sheds Brewery: I don’t think I got to try one of their beers, I’m sure I’ve have one or two at Saint Johns before though. I took a picture to show you their range of beers – I’m really curious about the willie warmer.

I wonder what the Willie Warmer tastes like?

• James Boag’s: Not a craft beer company but always my favourite local company. I didn’t get around to having one of their products but they were selling stubby holders so I stocked up while I could.
• Red Brick Road Cider: Believe it or not I don’t always drink beer. I do like to have a cider from time to time. Red Brick Road (formerly known as Dicken’s Cider – insert joke here) is still local and make amazing drinks. I was glad that the cider man Corey had made more of his Mean Green – a hop infused cider. I look forward to visiting Red Brick Road again at Beerfest.
• Lost Pippin – Cider:  Another popular Tasmanian Cider company. Great cider as always, I tried the Randall – a cider infused with cherries.

These do not cover every tent there but the ones I did try reinvigorated my passion for drinking good, top quality beer and is good practice for Beerfest 2016 which is less than two weeks away.

Photo supplied by Google