By now, you are probably sick and tired of me rubbing it in about the Festival but I wanted to put keystrokes to screen one more time to talk about what I liked, loved and also didn’t drink.
For the Thrillist/Buzzfeed/HuffPost crowd, the 5 Best Beers were:
1. Tipopils from Birrificio Italiano
2. Tropicalia IPA from Creature Comforts
3. Cucumber/Mint Sour from The Rare Barrel
4. Yuzilla Phantom from Beavertown Brewing
5. Gin Barrel Pony Pilsner from Half Acre
There is no corresponding worst beers list. There were beers that I expected to be better. Beers that my palate was probably too shot to fully enjoy or beers that could not be enjoyed in the heat. This is a tightly curated list of brewers and the Invitational part of the name is where FWIBF pushes away from the pack. And even if a super rare beer kicks or there are lines, you can saunter to the next booth and nine times out of ten get a beer withing the margin of error of greatness. One example, Side Project had huge lines most of the day. Next to it was Beachwood and the Blendery, next to that The Bruery. You could be pissed about missing out on one beer but the next was literally calling your name.
The heat being the only Achille’s Heel of this festival. And last that I checked, the sun is a bane to many a festival. Other than that, there is nothing that this festival doesn’t do right. They have music but it is separated far from the panel sessions. Games are available but not in the way for people there to simply enjoy the beer. Water and bathrooms are plentiful and the food is awesome and free.
Firestone Walker should patent their template and sell it to all breweries.
