Newburyport Micro Brewery Festival

Hello Friends, Family, and Beer lovers,

On Wednesday, George/Kat/Ian and I ventured over to the Microbrew festival in Newburyport. It was organized by the C-10 Research and Education foundation and held downtown by oldies flea market.. (And no Ryan, they don't sell fleas).

It was an outdoor festival and in a perfect location by the waterfront. Participating in this event were the following breweries:

* Allagash * Berkshire * Cape Ann
* D.L. Geary * Gritty McDuff * Ipswich
* Magic Hat * Redhook * Smuttynose
* Stone Mill * Tuckerman * Unibroue * Wachusett

It cost $25 dollars to get in and we received a passport with 8 different spots on it. This allowed us to receive 8 samples. The sample size was approximately 4 ounces (1/4 of a pint).

We scoped out the joint. Most of the offerings were lighter summer beers. Awe shucks... where are the IPA's... Initially, I was disappointed, but after we dove in it didn't bother me anymore. (There were 4 IPA present and accounted for: Ipswich, Stone Cat, Smuttynose, and Wachusett)

I started my adventure with a Magic hat #9 and chatted it up with the sales folks. I was excited to tell them about my Vermont adventure. Then I ventured on. (Not in this order) I tried a Pear offering from Unibroue, an Smuttynose IPA, a Stone Cat IPA, Wachusett Blueberry, Gritty's Vacationland, another #9, and a Allagash White.

We were quite pleased to chat it up with some of the sales folks. I was very impressed that each brewery had someone from the brewery. I have been to similar events where the beer was there and a clueless volunteer was serving the beer.

The highlight of the night for me was meeting the folks at Allagash and Gritty's. After mentioning that one of my favorite Gritty's beers was their Scottish Ale, I quickly learned that the gentleman that I was speaking with was the Scottish man on the bottle. I don't think he's really Scottish, but he just plays one on tv. I then remembered that I have that Scottish Ale shirt and that he was on my shirt (I wasn't wearing it at the time). AND Yeah, George has a friend that's in sales for Gritty's. THANKS FOR KEEPING THIS A SECRET!!!... HA, George didn't know, but knowing is half the battle.

I am not sure what everyone else tasted, but I know that they enjoyed the Fisherman's brew by Cape Ann.

I had a good time. I am on the fence in saying if it was pricey. There could have been more value to the event, but we weren't sad to bring home a pint glass. Overall, it was definitely fun to get back into the swing of things and get our name back out there.

Maybe next year we can get involved. This is something that I would like to get into organizing.