Lots to cover about Oktoberfest

This year's Oktoberfest was pretty fun, well organized and featured more breweries than those of previous years. DuClaw certainly cleaned up the field taking several bronze, silver, and gold medals for the brewery competition. A big congratulations to Red Brick Station for winning the Governor's Cup for the first time, with "Something Red". (Clipper City won the cup each of the past two years.)

Alas, I did not place in the homebrew competition, but I can say I tried! One thing that ticked me off about the contest was the fact that none of the winners were present to claim their trophies. It was explicitly written on the entry form that the winners had to be there to claim the goods. - As a matter of fact, let me step up on my soapbox for a minute - When the emcee took the mic and broadcast that it was time to announce the results for the homebrew competition, he asked for all of the contestants to step forward toward the stage. I did as the man asked, and found myself standing, alone, in front of the stage. Everyone else was in a line 20 feet behind me. Was I embarrassed? Hell no, I participated! I am proud that I gave it a shot - so are all of my friends and family! And I was certainly proud to stand in front of Volker Stewart, the main man behind Brewer's Art, as he read the results. However, I am very upset that the winners seemingly trivialized this contest. Screw you! If I can make it to a 12:30 Saturday meeting, you can too. I personally fell they should have forfeited and given the trophy to the next person in line. I'm not saying it was me or should have been me, and I am certainly not jealous. I honestly believed I had a fair shot, which is why I entered! Just don't be a jerk and assume that, at the end of the day, you'll get the prize if you aren't there. <sarcasm>A great example of conradery was felt and experienced.</sarcasm> Thank you.

We continued walking around and began the tour of taste. I'm pretty sure we made our first stop at The Wharf Rat. :) I had a strong dark ale, and our friend Erica tried a beer that was brewed with either honey or maple, I can't recall. What I do remember is it was tasty and refreshing!

We moved on to Clipper City, the Balto-MarzHon was fresh and on target! With a mug of Marzen we walked out to the track and watched the "Carry your wife contest". I'll tell you what, it was ridiculous. There were a couple of wicked face plants and I hope the young ladies are feeling better.

After the race was over, we retired for a few minutes for some food. I'll tell you what, as always G.T .Roadsters had some of the greatest sandwiches around! They have a tow-behind smoker that is loaded with wood, ham, beef, and turkey. Man, that was goooooood stuff!

The food was even better when washed down with Brewer's Alley cask-conditioned New Moon ale. Hoppy, smooth, and fresh. Quite possibly one of the best beers I have had in my life. Top 10, at least.

Erica tried the Pumpkin ale from Growler's. I sipped and enjoyed it, but she thought it was a little too spicy.

We walked over to DuClaw for some Misery, a wheat wine (which they were out of). So, we tried the Frambroise - a funky Belgian brewed with raspberries. For the first lambic-style beer, I was very, very impressed.

We continued walking around for a few minutes more and I ended the day with a fine sample of DuClaw's BlackJack Imperial stout.

Aside from my personal rant, the event was overall enjoyable.

Oh, the Sea of Humanity...

Well, we just got back from the 2nd Maryland Microbrewery Festival held at the Union Mills Homestead, and let me tell you that today's weather could not have been scripted - it was absolutely perfect!

However, HOWEVER, compared to last year's event, there was probably about twice as many folks. (I heard from one organizer perhaps 5,000 people.) Which is great for growth of the event, but the nine breweries that were there were caught a tad off-guard. First, the setups were struggling with the lines. There was a desperate need for more taps and more folks manning them. Second, and more important, they were running out of beer. They were running OUT of beer! It all began with The Raven, and starting drying up from there...

That aside, it was pretty damn fun. They had some crafts, vendors, plenty of food, live (albeit bad) music and a bunch of happy people.

I started with my local favorite, Clay Pipe's Hop-ocalypse. I have to say, I actually prefer this from the bottle. It left a wonderful resin coating on the tongue, very citrus-y.

We moved on to Clipper City and I had Loose Cannon Hop³ (hop-cubed, 3 pounds per barrel). This beer, on tap, was much better than Clay Pipe's Hop-ocalypse. It was very spicy, tangy and smooth.

My next venture was to The Raven. Where, after waiting 30 minutes for a new keg to stop foaming, they ran out. They ran out of beer. They ran out of both of the beers they were serving. What a pain in the ass!

So, we switched lines to Johansson's with a German Alt on tap. It was brown, foamy and completely devoid of flavor. I take that back, it had flavor, of sour and cardboard. I doubt they would have used any acidulated malt, but maybe.

I will note that DuClaw had Euphoria, Misfit Red, Sawtooth, and Funk on tap. Jim, head brewer, generally has something special up his sleeve at events like this (like the 21% ABV Colossus at last year's Maryland State Oktoberfest) but we didn't bother sticking around.

I finished our venture back at Clay Pipe for some Backfin Pale Ale. What can I say, I'm a sucker for what I know. It's not that I didn't like the other breweries (I have been to them all), but when things are dry and it's getting late in the day, go with something easy.

All in all, very well done. There are improvements to be made, for sure, but we're just there to have fun.

2nd Annual Maryland Microbrewery Festival

Hey Everybody!

We are going to be at the Maryland Microbrewery Festival tomorrow afternoon. The party starts at 11 AM and ends at 7 AM. The festival is located at the historic Union Mills Homestead, right off of MD route 97.

If you plan on coming up for it and staying the entire day, might I suggest you bring a sweatshirt or a light jacket - it got mighty cold up there last year!

We hope to see you there. If you want to find us, Nick will be wearing a black hoodie with a keg embroidered on the front and the words "brew crew" around the top of the keg.

SaB