Varietal Beer Company presents Goatfest on Saturday, May 13th. Each year, the brewery–located in Sunnyside, Washington–invites other Northwest breweries to create beers for the event. Not just any breweries, but a select group of breweries they think will produce a great beer. Not just any style of beer, but bock in particular. It’s a ticketed event. See the event details below, but first…
Why bock? Bock is a rich and malty, German-style lager. Historically, bock or bockbier, was a celebration beer brewed in the winter for consumption in the spring, often during Lent or at Easter. While it is often brewed year-round these days, it is still generally associated with spring. Rites of spring, fertility, rebirth, and all that jazz.
Why goats? For centuries bock has been associated with goats. The German word for goat is bock. So there’s that. Why name this style of beer after goats? Nobody is quite sure but some suggest that it may be related to a muddled translation or mispronunciation of the word Einbeck, which is a town in Germany.
Here are the event details from Varietal Beer Co’s Instagram feed.
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GOATFEST 2023 – A Bock Invitational Beer Fest
On Saturday, May 13th, we’ll be hosting the return of GOATFEST, featuring bocks from some of our favorite PNW breweries! The brewery line-up this year is larger than ever:
Aslan Brewing Co.
E9 Brewing Co.
Grains of Wrath Brewing
Headless Mumby Brewing
Heater Allen & Gold Dot Beer
Holy Mountain Brewing
Lowercase Brewing
Lucky Envelope Brewing
Otherlands Beer
Whistle Punk Brewing
With a combination of collaborations & special beers expect a curated selection of bock beers that shows off the spectrum of substyles produced in the Northwest.
Each ticket provides entry to the taproom, a custom glass mug, a taster of each of the event beers & an evening performance by Seattle’s own rockabilly/outlaw country/cow punk band: The Shivering Denizens! The taproom will be closed to the public, with only ticket holders in attendance that day.
Food Services will be available from both @chriscookscarne and @hoptown_pizza from noon until 7pm or they run out.
We’re looking forward to throwing the best Bock party we can this year!
Tickets are now available from Brown Paper Tickets through the link in bio.
Alcohol will only be served to customers aged 21+. Bring your IDs. Non-drinkers, dogs on leash and children are welcome while accompanied by ticketholders.
Check out the Washington Beer Blog’s events page for more beer-related events around Washington.
The goat was a symbol of promiscuity (hence fertility) in Greek, Roman and Medieval Europe. Men who acted like billy goat sprouted horns (hence fertility). The minor Greek god Pan, with goat hind quarters and horns, is an example of this. Pan would have been seen as a pagan god in Germany when the beer celebrating the fertility of spring originated, the goat (bock) connotation would no doubt be considered naughty, non-christian or counter culture. The only reason for mystery about this is because things consider pagan where suppressed by the Church and even became signs of the devil. This is a really fun rabbit hole to go down.