ACBF 2011 Recap
Last weekend, some 15,000 beer lovers descended on Boston’s Seaport World Trade Center for two days of American craft beer. Beer Advocate’s annual American Craft Beer Festival was on June 3rd and 4th, and I headed down to Beantown to see what the brothers Alstrom had in store for us this year.
This is the fourth year of the fest, and the event has seen solid improvement every year. Since moving to the SWTC in 2009, each year has meant an increase in floor space and in tickets sold. This year, the floor expanded beyond the space used last year, but attendance remained capped at 5,000 people per session. A bit of expansion might not seem like much, but the crowd was noticeably more spread out than last year. I suffered no accidental beer showers or stepped-on toes this year, which may be a beer fest first.
All my observations are for the single afternoon session of the ACBF. It’s arguably the most mellow of the three sessions, so notch up the rowdiness a bit when thinking of the two evening sessions.
The beer selection, always a high point of ACBF, offered a bit of something for everybody this year. All said and done, there were 106 breweries present, pouring over 500 beers. There was a great mix of high-octane andsession brews, and brewers didn’t seem afraid to break out the rare stuff at such a big event. There were, according to beer pro Norman Miller, some 18 breweries that didn’t even have distribution in Massachusetts. That number was significantly higher if you ask about beers lacking distribution in Maine. Rest assured, every attendee could find something they couldn’t find at home.
That said, I was happy to see Maine well-represented among the 100 brewers. Allagash, Atlantic, Geary’s, Gritty’s, Kennebec River, Peak Organic, Sebago, and Shipyard all had booths set up, as did relative newcomers Baxter and Maine Beer Co. My little state made up a good 10% of the brewers represented – not too shabby!
It’s a list that I’ve fiddled with since leaving the ACBF, but I think I’ve nailed down my five favorite beers on tap. In no particular order (with my scribbled tasting notes);
- Martha’s Exchange C-Dah Pilz; A pilsner aged on cedar. Crisp, light and flavorful. Slight lemon citrus flavor. Clean palate cleanser mid-fest.
- Lawson’s Acer Quercus; A collaborative brew between the Bruery and Lawson’s. Brewed with oak cubes, Vermont maple syrup and maplewood smoked malt. More maple than a pancake. Rye spice. Absolutely unique.
- Surly Five; All-Brett dark ale aged in wine barrels. Loads of flavor – cherry, plum and wild Brettanomyces funk. craftycarl21 nailed it in his review.
- Franklin’s Tennessee Tuxedo; Stout aged in Jack Daniels. Totally scratched my whiskey itch for the fest. Chocolate, vanilla and, of course, Jack Daniels flavors. I’ll be trading for a bottle of this one.
- Boulevard Brewing Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale; Saison, dry-hopped with Amarillo. Spice and citrus. Super-balanced. Wonderful dry finish.
Lines for the booths remained a sticking point for some attendees, but I can’t say I ever ran in to any problems. The big name brewers like Dogfish Head, Stone, Surly, and Goose Island had the longest lines, but even these moved at a good clip. A pleasant surprise was how short the lines for some brewers remained throughout the festival. Some breweries with fantastic beer but perhaps less-known names – Boulevard, for example, and Franklin’s and Martha’s Exchange and a host of others – were easy to approach throughout the fest. A couple of the brewers looked like they could use an extra hand or two pulling taps, but staffers filled in where they were needed for the most part.
Even the bathroom situation was a marked improvement in 2011. Last year, drinkers were funneled into scores of (frankly, overwhelmed) Port-o-Pottys outside the trade center. This year, there were a number of bathrooms open inside the venue, and a bank of portable toilets outside proved to be much less noxious. It’s still a beer fest with plenty of libations pumping though people’s bodies, so bathroom lines did pop up. Compared to last year, though, they were non-existent. Short of forcing the SWTC to install more bathrooms, I don’t know how the lines could be managed any better.
Usually, I end these event recaps with a couple things I think organizers could do to improve things next time around. This year, I can’t really think of anything. If next year’s American Craft Beer Festival is a repeat of 2011, I’ll be thrilled.
Though I do have one question for my fellow attendees; what’s with all the “WOO!”s? Really? Every single year?
Check out the gallery for all my shots from the festival. They are, no doubt, of the sterling quality you expect from an iPhone in a fluorescent-lit convention center.
2 Comments to “ACBF 2011 Recap”
Leave a Reply
[...] my most recent column on RateBeer’s Hop Press, I take a look back at this year’s American Craft Beer [...]
[...] of the other review sites out there do a great job of representing in their hometowns. While RateBeer has held gatherings around the country, these have mainly been grassroots efforts. [...]