Brewing Network Winter Brews Festival: Recap

Sometimes a festival is so hyped that when the day comes, it just can’t live up to the image you’ve built up in your mind. The Brewing Network’s first annual Winter Brews Festival was not one of those festivals.

The hype came from knowing the guys that put together the Brewing Network. They’re connected with the local brewing scene and know everyone, so I could only imagine the beers that would show up. In addition, Sean Paxton was making our mouth water with announcements of his menu for the event.

The ‘Jipper’ Pig Sandwiches

Whole Hudson Ranch Heritage Pigs injected with Lagunitas Brown Shugga’, Dry Rubbed with Brown Sugar and Spices, Roasted in a La Caja China, Served with Caramelized Onions Deglazed with Beer, A Winter Beer BBQ Sauce on a ACME Roll

Crossley’s Cassoulet

Sonoma Duck Legs Confited in Russian River Consecration, Barley Cured Local Pork Belly,

Cherry Wood Smoked Pork Shanks, Simmered with Beans, Organic Vegetables, Herbs and Stock and Garnished with a “Tasty” Wild Arugula Centennial Hop Pesto

‘The Crazy Dentist’ Sausage

Local Pork, 21A Monk’s Blood, Thyme, Dried Figs infused Sausage served on a ACME Bun and topped with Caramelized Fennel and House-made Mustard

“The Jamil Package’ Sausage

Local Pork mixed with Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale, Topped with Caramelized Onions, Arugula Centennial Hop Pesto and House-made Mustard

To get the food out of the way, I tried them all. Well, almost. I had “a” sausage, but I’m not sure which. Either way, everything was great, as would be expected. Much better than you’d find at any other beer festival. Plus, Sean fed the pigs a bottle of Brown Shugga each before they started on the path that lead to my stomach and there’s just something so right about feeding an animal beer before cooking it in beer and serving it with beer.

As for the beer, these guys showed they know what they’re doing. With such a big emphasis on home brewing on the shows on The Brewing Network, there was a Tasty’s Homebrew corner where local homebrew clubs were serving samples of their brews.

For commercial brews, there were a couple places to grab some beers. Towards the front of the festival area were a selection of strong ales. Highlights here included casks of Arrogant Bastard and Hairy Eyeball. My personal favorite was Valley’s Decadent Darkness, a blend of barre-aged imperial stouts and barleywine that was dangerously smooth for 10%+.

For sour fans, Odonata brought a keg of their Rosa, which I was extremely excited to try. Extrtemely tart, this beer uses yeast cultures from Russian River’s Beatification. There was also the classic La Folie from New Belgium which I had to have at least a small taste of.

The one beer I had to search out immediately though was Uncommon Brewer’s Bacon Brown. This is an English Nut Brown Ale brewed with real, honest bacon. I’m going to tease you a little on this one as I will be writing more about this beer later this week. Stay tuned.

Where the selection really pleased me was in the variety from big bourbon barrel offerings all the way through complex session ales. When given an opportunity to hand pick your beer selection, sometimes people go a little wild and have nothing but 10% imperial stouts and bourbon-barrel aged barleywines. Not the case here. There were IPA, ESB, lagers, and a wide selection of porters, all which played into the 7 hour length of the event.

In the end, I spent a total of 4 hours at the festival and had to head home. Thankfully, the rain stopped for a day as this was an outdoor festival and everyone had a good time. I think the best way to recap the festival is with a selection of photos. So watch what happened below and make sure to catch the next Brewing Network episode as well as look forward to their next festival.