On a chilly night at the World Trade Center Head House Concourse looking over the city, over 20 Massachusetts breweries poured over 80 beers—everything from a Dunkelweizen from Wormtown Brewery to Harpoon’s new pilot beer, a Chocolate Stout, to a session Saison from Notch.
The festival, which was held by the Massachusetts Brewers Guild, drew a crowd as diverse as the beers.
A woman with a Louis Vuitton bag sampled a beer with one hand and texted on her bejeweled Blackberry with the other. Packs of 20-something bros roved from line to line while homebrewers geeked out about the best brews of the night.
The only downside was the lines—they stretched out 20 or 30 people deep—but were a testament to the crowd’s eagerness for breweries, new and established. The line for Sam Adams wasn’t much longer than that for Backlash Beer Company, which opened in late July with their flagship beer, Groundswell.
While waiting in line for Notch Session, I talked with two homebrewers, Robb Glatz and Chris Benway. Glatz said he already had plans for a brewery, Extraneous Bee Brewing Co.
“Give me at least five years,” he said.
It was a sentiment I heard several times during the night–excitement for new breweries and homebrewers dreaming of starting their own. Five years from now, how many breweries will be representing at the festival? Only time, and a whole lot of test batches, will tell.
Local country group Three Day Threshold closed out the night on a stage lined with lit beer boxes while tipsy festival goers swayed with cups in hands.
Keep on (locally) drinking on.
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