For the 14th year in a row, the Manayunk Brewery held their brewfest on the last Saturday in April. This was the 8th year in a row I've gone to it as it's generally a whole lot of fun. It's a brewfest so there's of course a lot of different beers to drink, there's lots of interesting people and the pourers are a lot of fun to talk to.
The doors opened at 1pm and we made our way inside, starting at the Victory station. After a refreshing Prima Pils, we slowly made our way around to other stations, trying as we went. The crowds weren't quite as large this year (good for us, but meant they didn't sell as many tickets) and so walking around was a bit easier. Here's a picture from near the beginning of the fest.
Time passed and I tried a ton of different things. I didn't expect to find anything too special, but I did get to try a couple good ones from some smaller places. The highlights for me were the single IPA from Forest & Main (new brewery starting in Ambler), the double IPA from McKenzie's next to them, and then finishing up the IPA ladder with the triple IPA Hop'Solutely from Brew Works. Nice progression of flavors. Another good one was Space Monkey, a raspberry saison, from Brew Works as well which was quite good. Jo really liked it too although her favorite, as always, was the Manayunk Schuylkill Punch.
We spent a bit time on the upstairs deck and the above is a view from up there. At points they had a two person band playing some music on the stage where the chairs are set up. Generally pretty decent too.
So really the brewfest turned out really fun. The beers from Manayunk were quite good (including a really good smoked porter), both offerings from Brew Works were great, and we ran into some people we met last year. And for once I wasn't too hungover on Sunday. While the beers are generally from the normal lineup of most breweries, it's still just a lot of fun and it's why I've gone for 8 years running. Or maybe I just love the little tasting glasses they give out. Who knows.
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