Finally after many years of wanting a beer festival inOlympiawe got one. You never know what you’re going to get when it is a first time run event. I was skeptical as many how, where and what was this going to be like. I arrived early as a giddy young kid for Christmas. Setting wasPortPlaza on the Olympia Waterfront with a heavily overcast day and a cool breeze this was a welcome relief to the past few days of super hot weather. There was Fish, Dicks and Elysian Brewing setting up and then you had new comers to the scene MT Head, Elkhead and Puyallup River Brewing bringing there tasty barley pops.
The cost for a commemorative mug and 6 tastes was a very reasonable $25.00 and if you wanted more tastes those where available for purchase. My first beer for the day turned out for me to be the beer of the day in my humble opinion. Puyallup River Brewing brought a Strawberry Sasion that was near perfect. Had the right amount of fresh strawberry flavor mixed with a great malt and hops presence. Now if you’re looking for the most interesting beer of the day that was Elkhead Brewing who brought a pepper beer. Blast Zone was the name and that pretty much says it all. Be careful this brew sneaks up on you and wham you got the heat. Lots of good flavor this was a fun beer to try.
Now don’t get me wrong there were so many great beers it is hard to name them all. Fish Brewing the local brewery brought a Starfish Imperial Red that was as tasty as ever. Ninkasi brought twin IPA’s and Kulshan Brewing from Bellingham had a very tasty Red and being a new to the WA Beer scene in the past year they are showing they know how to brew.
This was a terrific festival. The organizers need to take a bow as they impressed this frequent festival attendee. I for one would love to see this festival again next year.
