The Beer-hemoth VI

Yup, the Beer-hemoth is back, and has now been upgraded with Roman numerals. They're so much fancier than those Arabic ones.

This will be my most poorly written Beer-hemoth yet, for a multitude of reasons. Most importantly, it was raining, so I couldn't take notes on my phone without risking water damage. And I don't think that is covered by the insurance. In addition, I forgot 2 of the beers that I tried, and I can't find them in the little brewfest booklet. You don't have to be ashamed of me; I am ashamed enough for the both of us. Finally, the event was several days ago, so this should have been done on Sunday. Er, I mean, of course I wrote this on Sunday. Just look at the date up there!

This past Saturday (um, I mean yesterday) was the 2nd annual Brattleboro Brewers Festival, so Kate and I took a trip up there after my track meet. You might recall that the original Beer-hemoth was inspired by last year's BBF. You can go back and read that one to remind yourself how awesome I used to be.

I know what you're all wondering, and the answer is no, I did not see any pregnant women drinking at this brewfest. Yes, I'm as shocked as you are.

And now for the beers! At the BBF, you get 8 tickets, but I managed to try 9 beers. One guy was pretty cool and didn't really care about the whole ticket policy. Thanks, Bro Montana! Unlike the other Beer-hemoths, these ones are not presented in order of consumption. Deal with it. I also didn't spend any of my tickets on beers that are easily acquired in Greenfield, so there won't be anything from BBC, People's Pint, Element, etc. I'll just buy the beer straight from them if I want it.

We'll start off, ironically, with the beer I finished the festival drinking: South Mountain Stout from Bobcat Brewery. You are going to notice a theme of stouts. I did not have a chance to ask the brewers if they used actual bobcats in their brewing process, but this beer did not taste like it. This was a pretty good beer, and since it wasn't an imperial stout, it was a nice change from all the stouts I've been drinking lately. It was a good beer to finish the day on. You never want your last beer to be a dud.

Another good stout was McNeill's Brewery's Reagin's Stout. This beer was the beer I had 2 beers before the previously mentioned beer, even though I am discussing it after that beer. That last sentence makes my head ache. I enjoyed this beer more than, say, McNeill's Dark Angel, which was good but a little hoppy for a stout. Reagin's Stout is a lot mellower and easy to drink.

In between those beers, I drank Northshire Chocolate Stout from Northshire Brewery. Surprisingly, I didn't really enjoy it. How can a beer with chocolate go wrong? I just don't get it.

During one of the periodic downpours, we found ourselves at the booth for The Shed, a brewpub and restaurant. I decided to have their Sanity IPA, which was an excellent choice. It was nice and hoppy, but not overly dry or bitter. Mmmm!

One of the places I had to try a beer from was Trout River Brewing Company. That is an amusing name, and made me think of Chloe. I decided to go with the Knightslayer Imperial Stout, strictly based on the Knightslayer part. Hey, I've got a weakness for all that medieval stuff. At a hefty 10.5% ABV, you'd think this beer would be a major kick in the tongue, but it wasn't at all. It was super smooth, like drinking velvet. Good flavor as well. It took me a long time to finish though, because it really felt like a huge event for each sip.

Victory Brewing Company had their dog with them, so I wanted to try a beer from them. Just kidding. Not about the dog, but about the dog being the reason I wanted one of their beers. I really wanted one because the Headwaters Pale Ale sounded delicious. And it was! I am absolutely getting a bottle of this next time I'm at either Ryan & Casey or at Table & Vine. If you like pale ale at all, try this one. You will be happy you did. Or you can give it to me. Win-win!

And finally, we get to the only beer I tried but did not finish. I have bad memories of Woodstock Inn Brewery's Kane Country Maple Porter. This is a porter beer brewed with real maple syrup. And for me, that just resulted in a sickly sweet flavor that I simply did not enjoy.

There were 2 other beers I tried, but I can't find them in this pamphlet. I am almost positive one of them was a porter, and I have no idea about the other one. Sorry about that! But overall, I would say that the beers I chose made a good showing, and it was good for Kate to get out of her house for a while. I think those pugs are starting to drive her crazy.

-Jon