Steve Koenemann

ACBF 2010 – My Final Thoughts

Thanks to the benevolence of the folks at Beer Advocate, I was fortunate to be able to attend all three sessions of this year’s American Craft Beer Fest held at the Seaport World Trade center in Boston. This is, in my opinion, a perfect setting for this event. This large conference center sits right on Boston’s waterfront with easy access to mass transit with plenty of hotels and restaurants nearby. The weather last weekend was also perfect; sunny and warm.

Last week I relayed to you my initial impressions (ACBF 2010 – First Impressions) of this, my first big beer festival. Earlier this week Josh Christie provided lengthy insight into his experience at ACBF ( ACBF 2010 – The General Stuff). Josh and I were also joined at the festival by our fellow HopPress writer Carla Companion.

Saturday’s activities began with a nice brunch on the waterfront. Carla joined my son, Jamie, and me at the Atlantic Beer Garden, which sits right next to the Trade Center and offers dining on a deck overlooking the Boston harbor. Carla and I had never met, though clearly we know of each other, and it was really nice for the three of us to sit in this beautiful setting and talk about beer (of course) as well as our past experiences in life. The great food provided an excellent buffer to all of the great beer that we would be sampling soon.

From the beginning it was obvious that the Saturday afternoon session was going to be different than what I experienced Friday night. The crowd was much larger and exhibited a much higher level of “energy” than the night before. While the crowd filled the very large hall, you did not have that feeling of being in a can of sardines as there was plenty of room to navigate around the hall. I am sorry now that I did not take a picture of them, but there was a group of about 20 guys there for someone’s bachelor party. They were easily identifiable by the Kelly green t-shirts they were all wearing. The front of the t-shirt was adorned with what appeared to be BP’s beleaguered company logo (without oil stains on it)… the only visible difference being a line of lettering near the beltline of the shirt that said “BP – Bachelor Party”. The group traveled around the venue en mass, appeared to be having a great time and provided plenty of comic relief for the crowd. I wouldn’t exactly classify them as beer connoisseurs though… their goal for the afternoon seemed to only be one of “inhaling” as many 2oz samples of beer as possible and, from my observations late in the session, they seemed to accomplish their mission pretty well.

I have to admit that I did not make it through the entire Saturday evening session. After more than 9 hours (in the same 24 hour period) spent standing in lines and sampling “gallons” of beer 2 ounces at a time, I had had enough for one festival. Of the 80+ brewers at the show, I had the very great pleasure to visit about 60 of them; not a bad showing, if I do say so myself. In talking to these beer folk, you would be surprised at the variety of impressions/reactions that I received. Most booths were manned by people that were not only willing to talk about their product, but were very friendly and enthusiastic about what they were doing. I was really surprised that there were some brewer’s booths, particularly some of the smaller ones, that were manned by people that really had no interest in talking and simply were there to fill the cups. There was at least one booth that was manned only by one of the event volunteers, who knew absolutely nothing about the beer that they were serving. I hardly think that these brewers (some with fairly well known names) will gain the benefit of exposing their product to the 12-15,000 beer enthusiasts that could have stopped by during one of the sessions. It just did not make much sense to me…

Aside from the larger accommodations for the festival, one of the other significant changes this year was the elimination of the traditional tasting glass that usually accompanies your ticket. This year a compostable plastic cup was provided instead. The cup, made from highly processed corn, had all of the characteristics that you have come to expect from petroleum-based plastic, but these eco-cups are biodegradable and can be completely composted by commercial composting operations. I am sure that the use of these cups saved a ton of money versus the glasses, but one would hope that this was not an entirely profit-driven decision and that care for the environment and a reduction in the use of oil entered into the discussion somehow.

I will not attempt to provide an extensive listing of beers at the festival. Like most beer lovers, even the list of just my “favorites” from such an event is pretty extensive. I do feel compelled, however, to tell you about a few beers that truly stood out for me among the 400+ beers being offered.

• Dogfish Head World Wide Stout – On Saturday afternoon this beer, likely awesome by itself, was being pumped through a container of roasted coffee beans. The combination made for a truly amazing experience for my first time taste of this legendary brew.
• Goose Island Bourbon County Stout – This was being served at the same time as the DFH World Wide only one aisle away. I was fortunate to be able to hit both of these booths early into the Saturday afternoon session, before the line got long and before they ran out. This beer had very intense coffee/vanilla flavor and aroma. This would be the perfect beer to sip and savor while sitting in a rocking chair in front of a crackling fire. This one, a first for me as well, was “best of show” from my perspective.
• Clipper City Heavy Seas Below Decks – While I have both had and enjoyed this beer before, the brewer brought a very special batch that had been aging since 2005. Needless to say, the beer was showing its age extremely well and only barely resembled the much younger offspring that I had previously sampled. Loved it…
• Ommegang Zuur – A Flemish sour brown ale that Ommegang produced in collaboration with Brouwerij Liefmans. Not overly sour with a very complex blend of fruit flavors. The folks at the booth told me that this beer would see higher production and wider distribution beginning in July this year. I was a bit surprised when I saw the relatively low ratings this beer has on Ratebeer. My eventual rating will be higher as I really enjoyed drinking this beer and will definitely look for it again.

It is amazing how much transpires in nine hours of time and I really could go on and on about my experiences at this event. In closing, however, I would like to again thank Beer Advocate and Harpoon, the event sponsors/producers, for providing me with the opportunity to attend this wonderful event. I enjoyed spending time with Carla and the shared experience with my family members at this event will be held near and dear to my heart. While this was my first big beer festival, it will definitely not be my last. The chance to visit with so many brewers in one place and sample all their wares just can’t be beat and I am already looking forward to next year’s event. In conclusion, I leave you with a quote from the Governor of California… “I’ll be baack…”

Click the ACBF Logo for a Slideshow

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