Ale Street News Online

Of course, 40 years ago hops’ rolled up cousin would’ve been the only craft element, but the times and tastes have been a-changin’. I had two opportunities within two weeks to get back to nature with a lupulin accent and took full advantage. The prospect of a multitude of sour and vintage beers fit right in with the out of doors. I drove north from NYC with bated brett.

Belgium did indeed come to Cooperstown at July’s end. After dumping the car and pitching my tent (assembled once in my living room just to be safe) I toured the brewery, tasted the usual suspects and picked up cave-aged Ommegang and Hennepin — sadly the last from Howe Caverns — then geared up for all those Belgians under the big tent. And sumptuous they were.

Heralded by a program photo of four monks crossing Abbey Road in memorable style, the beers just kept pouring. Brewery Ommegang led with some rarer brews: the new Adoration Noel, dark, mysterious and dry at 10%; Rouge, the Flemish Red brewed with Bockor Brewery, Belgium; and a 6.5% brettanomyces Biere de Mars. Experimental Scotch Ale, Dutch Poorter, and Hoppy Golden were revealed on the hour.

Where do you go with well upwards of 100 2 oz. choices? “You talkin’ to me?” After checking memory against Moortgat’s Duvel/Chouffe/Maredsous triumvirate and refreshing Oud Beersel Framboise (5%), I moved to the arcane entries from our own shores. I drifted through such delights as the wild Allagash Confluence (7.5%) mixed fermentation ale; Brooklyn’s Cuvee de Cardoz (8%) a wheat beer with 11 chef selected herbs; Captain Lawrence Carce de Castleton (8%) sour ale with grapes; Heavy Seas Holy Sheet, a self-described Uber Abbey Ale at 9%. Haverhill (MA)’s refreshing L’esprit Saison (6.7%) and Ithaca’s Sour Flower Power (8%), an American IPA aged with brett kept the throat dry and ready for more. Look for these.

That night a fire leapt towards the sky and the nostalgic or merely drink-addled watched Across the Universe on a big screen while munching barbeque and sampling iced brew. Next morning I fuzzily struck the tent, then eased my little car through the parked SUVs. Ommegang had hosted an exhilarating public event and I felt blessed (in a truly Belgian sense) to attend.

Cut to Northeast Kingdom Vermont two weeks later, where I was equally blown away by a private event. The venue was Hill Farmstead, 100 family acres cautiously approaching birth as a tiny locally sustainable brewery. After miles of watching for moose, I parked in a field. I pitched the tent on higher ground, then walked down to a small lake and tables, kegs, buckets of ice, bottles with a port-a-san nearby. Weather was balmy in the afternoon, cool at night and misty in the morning.

Shaun Hill’s Fourth Annual Backwoods Brewdown is a 2-day private party for family, friends, brewer pals. And what pals! Peter “Mr. Bacon” Sonne flew all the way from Halsnaes Bryghus in Denmark bearing brew and wielding a Euro charcuterie blade. Fred Cormier of Montreal’s Hopfenstark brought his own Oak Aged Baltic Porter, super-lemony Saison Station 7 and Trou du Diable’s Biteuse (this year’s Mondial de la Biere champion) fermented with both brett and champagne yeast. Kegs flowed freely. In his Whispering Smith voice, Shaun introduced a 2-year-old Drie Fonteinen that he “just picked up at the brewery.”

Locals from 3-Penny Tavern and Otter Creek drifted in with rare offerings. Blind Tiger tamer Dave Brodrick and Jasper Murdock founder Tom Wilson looked on with big grins. Shaun premiered his new Norrebro Funky Viking (wild yeast brune), a mysterious Saison Lambic (what?!) and 7 Bordeaux (12%), eight months old sporting deep wine notes. On Saturday night a fire, maybe even bigger than Ommegang’s, roared as friends presented rare bottle after rare bottle to pass around, each one trumping the last. Above, the Perseid meteors flashed through the magisterial starry skies.
I drove back Sunday morning through the mist meditating on the journey craft beer has made when two such different yet thoroughly satisfying events can exist back to back far from the urban centers. It’s exhilarating to remember great beer events aren’t limited in time and space.

Each of these had a local element and showcased wild, new product. Beer hunting shouldn’t be citified; it’s a big country. Craft beer hunters shouldn’t stay put, they should stay in motion. There’s an excellent website www.beerfestivals.org with a huge listing of fests by day of the month for the U.S. and Europe. Note the disproportionate number of English events in a country the combined size of NY/PA. Shows us which way we should keep headed.