There were somewhere between 30 and 40 breweries, which is variable based on what was listed on the program and what was actually there. Once we got carded and let in (where I was stamped rather vigorously by the girl with the blue stamper thing), we were given our tasting glass, a list of the breweries on a heavy-duty sheet, and a pencil for taking notes. I held on to my glass, but the sheet and the pencil quickly found their way into a nearby trash can. I don't have enough hands to hold a glass, hold a paper and write on it with a pencil. Looks like my phone is going to be in charge of keeping track of what's good and what's not.
Brew Woo is an unlimited event, which is nice since you don't have to worry about wasting a ticket on something sketchy, but not as nice for some people who don't know how to manage their drinks. I ended up trying 15 beers, 14 of which made it into my tummy and 1 of which made it into a garbage can. More on that later.
Let's get to the beer.
We didn't really follow the layout of the place (it was set up into 10 "pods" of 4 breweries each), but instead just ran off toward whatever seemed interesting from wherever we happened to be standing at the time. It actually turned out to be an effective strategy, and I feel like there weren't any breweries I missed because of our path.
First up was Woodstock Inn since it was the nearest to our entry point. I chose the Pemi Pale Ale, hoping that it was going to be an American pale ale. It was not, as it was an English pale ale. The main difference here is that American ones are nice and hoppy, and English ones are more mellow and easy to drink. This beer was fine, but nothing great.
I then saw a place called Baxter Brewing, which I had not heard of before and therefore needed to be visited. I went with their Stowaway IPA, and it was pretty good. It wasn't super hoppy though, which isn't my ideal IPA. It was, on the other hand, very drinkable, so I gave another of their beers a shot, the Pamola Xtra Pale Ale. As opposed to being anything I was expecting, this beer was very sweet, with a nice light flavor. I also got a free can koozie for Kate by telling them a "bad" joke that I stole from the infamous Greg Loesch. All in all, this station was a winner.
Did you know that Waltham, MA is known as "Watch City"? I did not, but I learned this factoid when we moved over to Watch City Brewing Co. to give their Fenway Fungo a try. This is a Scottish Wee Light, and therefore probably going to be a malty beast. As expected, this beer was super smokey, with a heavy mouthfeel and sort of a meaty maltiness to it. It worked well as a sipper, although most of the group disagreed with me.
Continuing our meandering, I hit upon Revival Brewing and went for their Double Black IPA. I found it be be a lot more "black" than "IPA," which was kind of disappointing.
When I turned around, Wormtown was directly behind me, and they had their Be Hoppy IPA, a beer that was on my list to try. I figured that this was as good a time as any, and I was immediately rewarded for my decision. This beer ended up winning my award for Best In Fest, as it had a delicious hoppiness without being too bitter. Since no one was waiting behind me, I got to talking to one of the servers and ended up trying their Turtle Boy Blue, a blueberry beer. It was delicious, with a nice blueberry flavor that didn't go too far and become cloying. Along with my newfound Thirsty Dog raspberry, 21st's Hell or High Watermelon, and maybe a little Sea Dog and Hooker, this is going to be a good summer for fruit beers.
Next on my list was Offshore's IPA. Apparently I got distracted by something, because all I wrote down was that this beer had a strong flavor. I'm not sure where I was going with that, so I guess I'll give myself minus points for this one. Sorry.
Nearby, I saw Sierra Nevada, and they had their Ruthless Rye IPA, a beer I've wanted to try for a while when I see it over at Ryan & Casey's, but for some reason I've never picked any up. Maybe I will next time I'm there, as this beer was very strong, very hoppy and nicely enjoyable.
At this point, we were past the halfway point for the session, which meant it was time for a snack. Kate and I both got delicious pulled pork sandwiches. It's not a brisket, but they were delightful.
I was excited to give the Whitewater IPA from Sam Adams a try, until I took a sip. It turns out that this is like some sort of weird combination of a white beer and an IPA, which meant mine got about 2 sips and then ended up in the trash. Goddam white ales...
In an attempt to scrub my palette, I went over to Wachusett and got a Black Shack Porter. This beer wasn't bad, but it didn't seem like a porter in any way. There were no smoked flavors, and the color was super thin. Maybe I got a different beer than what I asked for.
A brewery called Backlash caught my attention with their brass knuckle motif, but their beer varieties were distinctly foreign styles. Out of the two, I chose their Belgian-style IPA, Declaration. I don't really want to say anything good or bad about it, as this is just not my style of beer, but I will say that it was like a slightly bitter hefeweizen. If that sounds like your cup of tea (or pint of beer), then this one seemed like a good one, maybe?
The next place I hit surprised me, because I didn't realize that it was a brewery. I thought it was one of those little kiosks that are always at brewfests offering something else, in this case white-water rafting. Turns out that I was actually at the table for Kennebec River Brewing, so I went with their IPA. This was a nice IPA, with a good amount of hoppiness and bitterness without being too bitter.
It was getting close to the end of the session, but still had a couple spots that I felt needed to be hit. I was having a really hard time reading the choices over at Ithaca Brewing (the names of the beers were nice and large, but the styles were super tiny and behind the server), so I just went with their Apricot Wheat. This is a really apricotty beer, and very good if you don't mind a feeling like you're drinking soda.
We closed out the event with Koko Brown from Kona Brewing, which was only possible through Kate's guilting the girl serving the beer (who wasn't going to open another Koko Brown until the next session) by lamenting how it was so delicious and she wanted to make it her last beer. What a sucker! She opened one last bottle, and I tried some as well. It's a coconut brown ale, and it's quite nice to drink. I believe this one was Kate's Best in Fest winner.
This was a nice event, and one I would gladly attend again next year. Well done, Worcester.
-Jon
