The Montana Brewers Association put this great festival together at the Billings Depot - a very unique venue - and it featured only Montana brewers. Tickets were $20 in advance, $25 at the door for 5 beer-filled hours. For $10 more you could make yourself a VIP and get in an hour early. Or, if you're smart (like me), you become a card carrying member of the MBA and raise yourself to automatic VIP status (and get a free pint at every participating member listed on the card).Where to start? The first beer I saw had what was, for me, a magical label: Going to the Sun IPA from Great Northern. Delish. And that quickly led me to the decision to do an IPA tour of the festival. Honestly, after all that, I really don't feel qualified to make comments on most of what I tasted, especially considering that, by the end, I couldn't even remember which beer went with which brewery. I do apologize, but I'm sure you understand. What I can say is that the Going to the Sun was still a stand-out, as was Blackfoot River's Citra IPA.
I can also say that some breweries did a better job of representing themselves than others. While Great Northern may have had an excellent IPA, if it hadn't been for the recognizable tap handle, I would have had no idea who they even were. The were right next to Flathead Lake Brewing and I thought the Great Northern beers were part of their selection since Flathead had a nice sign and Great Northern had nothing. As well, the people pouring at each weren't wearing any identifying clothing. I walked right up to the Flathead Lake gent and asked for a Going to the Sun. To give him credit, he poured me one. Most breweries had decent signage, however, but those that truly stood out were those with servers all decked out in brewery swag.
But all that decor meant nothing if those serving couldn't answer my questions. C'mon folks! I know we all have busy lives, but a brew fest is a chance to share what you have to offer with people who may rarely, if ever, get the chance to visit your brewery. Give us some incentive to make the trip! Sure, you can let the beer do the talking, but that's not really enough if you ask me (you did, right?). If the brewer/owner can't make the trip, there should at least be someone behind the taps who knows beer. And more importantly, someone who knows YOUR beer.
But enough of the griping because, really, overall this was a great event. Okay, one more gripe, but this one is teeny. There should have been beer dumping and rinse stations for those beers you just didn't want to finish, especially when there were better ones to be found. Oh well, I did my best. But aside from that, the venue was excellent, there were enough bathrooms/porta-potties, the food was good (I had a Staggering Ox sandwich during the event and a gyro at the gyro truck outside after the event), the musical entertainment was good and plenty of breweries were represented. As this was the inaugural Spring Fest, I'd say they did an excellent job. Way to go, MBA!
When's the next fest?!?!
Oh, wait, there was one the following day in Bozeman. Who plans these things? Back to back beer fests? I could have, should have, gone to both, but it just wasn't in the card.
No comments:
Post a Comment