Another edition of the Brewers of Indiana Guild's Winterfest has come and gone. If I'm not mistaken, this year's festival saw the most Indiana breweries (44) and festival-goers in attendance at Winterfest since the first Winterfest was held in 2009.With the large number of breweries at the festival, it was impossible to get a full sampling of what each brewery had to offer. So while I and my co-attendees visited some old favorites and made sure that we hit the ReplicAle and cask tents in the outdoor biergarten, we focused on sampling offerings from the new Indiana breweries. And what was our lasting impression? That some of the new kids have really hit the ground running, producing some outstanding beers. We had excellent beers from the likes of Union Brewing Company, ZwanzigZ, Daredevil Brewing Company, and Iechyd Da Brewing Company just to name a few newer breweries. And what does this mean for new brewers seeking entry into the Indiana market? That the bar is being set high for new breweries, so you'd better bring your "A" game right out of the gate if you want to be competitive in the market.
We hope everyone who attended Winterfest enjoyed themselves and are looking forward to future Brewers of Indiana Guild festivals. In the meantime, here's some of what we saw at Winterfest.
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| VIP hour gets rolling |
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| Proper festival wear |
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| The neon green giant |
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| Carmel's Union Brewing, specializing in cask ales |
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| Mr. Steak of the band Cocaine Wolves and Josh of Flat12 |
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| BIG's El Presidente, Ted Miller of Brugge Brasserie |
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| Volunteers at the ReplicAle tent |
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| Brugge Brasserie's Peony, an American sour ale |
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| The cask/firkin area in the outdoor biergarten |
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| Lafayette Brewing's cask offerings |
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| Sun King breaking out their famous Velvet Fog |
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| Irvington's pride & joy, Black Acre Brewing Co. |
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| Bare Hands, purveyors of a unique Peanut Butter Stout |
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| Columbus' ZwanzigZ, whose Ghost Pepper Imperial Stout had the festival crowd buzzing (literally and figuratively) |
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| If you didn't try New Day Meadery's Breakfast Magpie Mead, then you'll need to visit their tasting room soon |
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| Bill and Michael of Shelbyville's Daredevil Brewing |
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| Brittany and Andrew of RAM |
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| Festival-goers clamoring for 3 Floyds Blot Out the Sun Imperial Stout |
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| Flat12 toward the end of a long day |
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| Sun King Pink Taco Sour Ale |
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| Closing time |
It was sad to see it end.
ReplyDeleteI would be curious to see the attendance numbers compared to last year. Again, another amazing festival, but it felt like a bump of as much as 20% over last year. Getting a wee bit uncomfortable in there.
ReplyDeleteDon't be surprised if the festival moves to a different venue next year.
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