FOTOBOM/TWEETBOM: DRINK CRAFT BEER SUMMERFEST

Summer of Saison continues

PHOTOS BY EMILY HOPKINS // @EMILHOP

Another beer fest has come and gone, in a tornado of tiny plastic cups and pretzel necklaces. This time it was Drink Craft Beer‘s first ever festival, Summerfest: A Celebration of Farmhouse Ale, that went down at the Somerville Armory this past Friday and Saturday.

The festival was an incredible opportunity to try more than 70 Saisons and Farmhouse Ales from 25 New England breweries, but more than that, it was straight-up fun, like a big neighborhood party. It was a chance to escape the suffocating heat, chow on gourmet hot dogs, drink good beer, and meet the people who made it.

Over 1,000 thirsty beer drinkers attended the sold-out fest, and it was a diverse crowd–young and old, men and women, beer fest veterans and many first-time fest attendees. A good majority of those ticket sales actually came from Somerville, according to Drink Craft Beer co-founders Jeff Wharton and Devon Regan, making it a truly local fest. Though some trekked from much further:

And there was a very strong showing from … Norway?

With more than 70 Farmhouse Ales, Saisons, and summer beers to choose from, it’s difficult to play favorites … but we rounded up a few of yours.

There was a special moment for the Dig Boston-ers in the house, when Dann Paquette of Pretty Things revealed he had a bottle of Devil Girl–a strong Belgian ale that he brewed for the Weekly Dig many, many moons ago when he was at North East Brewing Company. John Harvard’s in Harvard Square unearthed it in their basement during construction and it held up surprisingly well during that time–our publisher Jeff Lawrence’s signature was still even on the back of the bottle.

Shout out also to the Mei Mei Street Kitchen crew who partied hard on their night off from food truckin’, and provided some of the most entertaining tweets of the night.