Friday, July 5, 2013

Hyper-Local Craft Brewfest


Last month, I went to the Hyper-Local Craft Brewfest at the Arts at the Armory in Somerville.  This event was put on by Sustainable Business Network of Massachusetts.  I am currently a festival blogger for Boston Local Food and had the opportunity to write about two of the vendors, High and Mighty Beer Co. and Valley Malt.  This is a great event to try unique beers by local companies some of which use local ingredients. And I love their motto: Eat local. Drink local. Be local.

I am not a beer connoisseur by any means, I tend to gravitate to light, fruity beers.  In fact, my Dad, who I consider to be a beer connoisseur, will give me fruity beers that he gets in variety packs so he doesn't have to drink them.  With that being said,  here are some vendors that stood out to me.  The very first (and very best in my husbands opinion) was Mayflower Brewing Company.  I like my summer beers so I went with the Summer Rye Ale and my husband went with the Porter.  And he loved it!  He loved it so much that we stopped at the store and bought some on the way home!  I tried this rich tasting beer as my last beer of the night and was very impressed.  Another vendor that I enjoyed was Portico.  I tasted the Fuzzy Logic which was a refreshing beer with some fruity hints to it and was perfect for me!  You can find it at a few bars and restaurants in the Cambridge/Somerville and Allston area.  Another fun, fruity beer was the Pomegranate Wheat Ale by Peak Organic Brewery.  Made with local wheat, this beer is light, but not too sweet.  Of course I had to stop by Fisherman's and convince my husband to try the Sunrise Saison, which I love, but he wasn't into it.  I have found that not everyone likes the combination of strawberry and rhubarb as much as I do.  Since the Sunrise Saison has been my drink of choice lately, I choose to have something different which was the Great Wit Whale, a light beer with a citrusy taste, great on hot summer day.

One of the coolest parts of the event was the home brewers.  I tried a chocolate orange wheat wine, which was outstanding and my husband tried the special barrel age apple jack which was 48 proof.  I had a sip of it and that could be one dangerous drink!  These beers were brewed by Alastair Hewitt and after a google search, I now know he is working with Mystic Brewery.  His beer was great and he had the longest line, so it was no secret that he makes good beer.

I was pretty impressed with my first beer festival.  I enjoyed seeing the beer geeks with pretzel necklaces and trying beers that I normally wouldn't try.  This was a great way to raise awareness about eating and drinking local and have some fun trying beer and talking to vendors.  I'll be back next year!

The festival!!



The beers on tap from Alastair Hewitt


Mayflower Brewing Co.

    


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