Today is the day. If you don’t have tickets to the 10th Annual Washington Cask Beer Festival, you are probably out of luck. Tickets to the first session are sold out. We’ve heard rumors that there are still a few tickets left for the second session (6:00 -10:00). Assuming that is true, the tickets will be available at the door. It’s worth a shot.
Last night we went to Brouwer’s for the 10 Herbert’s Showcase. We figured that since we’re going to the Cask Fest second session we might encounter a Herbert’s shortage and we wanted to make sure we were able to sample all 10. When we arrived at 6:30, the place was packed. The crowd turned over, but the place was still jamming when we left. We only spotted one brewer (Kevin, from Northgate Ram). The crowd was not as WABL-ish as I would have expected. We saw a few familiar faces, but that’s it. I suppose that has to do with today’s festival as much as anything else.
Wow, 10 Herbert’s in one place. Didn’t realize how daunting a task that would be. (“Honey, get the Tylenol.”) They were all excellent. If I had to name a favorite, or some favorites, I would mention Elysian, Water Street, Northgate Ram, and Anacortes. In saying that, I must emphasize that they were all excellent. Interestingly, they’re all similar and at the same time unique. I would like to personally thank all of the various brewers who had a hand in making these 10 lovely beers. I would also like to thank my designated driver, as well as the people at Novartis for creating Excedrin.
Did you have 10 12oz glasses or 10 3ozers? If 12ozers, wow. Good thing your cask tickets are for the evening session.
For the most part, I was sharing the 12 oz glasses with my wife. Still, I drank more than she did.
I just had the Northgate Ram Herbert’s, among others, at Brouwers and thought it was the best of the bunch. Is the base recipe available for homebrewers anywhere?