This past Saturday was a big day for beer festivals. While it would have been easy for me to stay in Monterey and hit up the festival hosted this year by Chris Nelson, aka the Beer Geek, I wanted to be at home for Beerfest here in Santa Rosa.
I arrived at the Well Fargo Center early enough to get a lay of the land and do some talking before the gates opened up. While everyone was setting up, I made sure to peak at kegs and tap handles to help scoop the folks waiting in line via Twitter. All of this running around sure did build up quite a thirst, and I was ready for the handle to open.
With a lay of the land etched in my brain and a list of beers I wanted to try, I headed outside to the Sierra Nevada tent. This was one of the first tents I saw when I came through the gates that day and saw they brought a few bottles of their new Kellerweiss. Sierra Nevada uses a shallow open fermentation to build the complexity of flavors in this beer, similar to the processes used in Bavaria. The result is a flavorful hefeweizen that is easy to drink. In the end, Kellerweiss fits somewhere between the aggressive yeasty flavors of Bavarian Hefweizens and the muted flavors of many from this side of the pond.
With the new beer out of the way, I began a general scouring of the festival, grabbing my favorites as well as a good selection of new beers that were available for the day.
I have to say, my impression of the festival were nothing but positive. The crowd was big and loud, but there weren’t the drunken horror stories that typically dominate some festivals. In general, it was a bunch of people having a good time.
Also, there was the beer selection. Not only did the organizers make sure an impressive list of breweries showed up, but they also showed restraint. There were no Budweiser, Corona, Miller, etc to be seen. At times it feels as if some festivals bring in fizzy yellow beers simply to boost the numbers of breweries in attendance. Without these breweries, the festival didn’t feel overly crowded. As usual, quality beats out quantity.
On the topic of quality, there was the food. I didn’t come close to tasting all the food available at the event (I’m not sure it would have been possible) but what I did try was fantastic. It started with a grilled lamb chop and parsnip puree from Hopmonk and went on to include homemade cheese from the Beverage People, BBQ pork and beef sandwiches, bratwurst, and even a whole produce stand full of fresh fruit.
At the end of the day, I was full of some fine beers and tasty food. The weather proved to be wonderful despite early forecasts for a few rain drops. I have to say, Beerfest has stepped up as one of my favorite beer festivals thanks to a commitment to bringing in quality components.
Enough talking already, here are the pictures.
