Beer Festival Season
September is the Month for beer festivals. So far we have attended two this month, and we have several more to go.
On the Sunday of labor day weekend we held the Second Annual Iowa Festival of beers here in Amana. This time we had double the turnout from the previous year, with over 500 people.. even though it threatened rain all day! We actually ran out of glasses at the end and had to give people plastic cups to sample with! The nine participating Iowa breweries served some very interesting beers. Lost Duck from Fort Madison Iowa again had an one of the most interesting beers, this time it was a Cherry Cider. Mike from Court Ave had a beer going through a ‘randalizer’ which is brewer slang for an water filter packed with hops, which gives the beer a real super hoppy aroma.
There was also had a seperate homebrew club tent for the four homebrew clubs that attended the event. The ‘homebrew’ tent was very popular, as some really great beers were on tap there! One of the the favorites was a Russian Imperial Stout done by Mark Simpson, from the Ames Brewers League. He is the national 2006 Homebrewer of the Year! I saw many homebrewers swapping ideas and techniques inside the tent. Hopefully they received plenty of attention and some new members out this exposure. We also hope they are busy brewing up entries for the November THIRSTY homebrew competition that we will have at the brewery!
Food was provided by Devotay of Iowa City. Their Chorizo brats and Chili were a big hit at the event, and went very well with all the tasty beers on hand.
All this drinking was for a good cause, as we raised nearly 3000 dollars for Juvenile Arthritis Research.
If you could not make it, mark your calendars, because we will be doing it again next year!
Nick Sticka playing to a crowd
Mike from Court Avenue explains his hop machine to Tom Albert from Millstream
Travis from Cedar Brewing was having a good time!
Homebrewers handing out samples of their craft
Tommorrow is the Quad Cities Brew Haha. We are looking forward to hanging out in Le Claire Park and serving up some fine beers.