Craft Bier Fest 2018. Spring Edition
May 11-12, 2018
Earlier this month, it was that time of the year again. The grand Craft Bier Fest hosted its 2018 spring edition on May 11 and 12. The event took place at Marx-Halle Vienna, a former slaughterhouse which is nowadays used for events, fairs and concerts. For four days of the year, however (two days in spring and two days in fall), it is reserved for the appreciation and celebration of (independent) beer. The Craft Bier Fests are always one of my highlights of the year. Weeks prior to the event, participating breweries are being continuously announced and a few days before kick-off, a complete list of all the breweries and especially all their beers that they are bringing along is released in order to give people a better insight and mark some of the beers that they want to try. Altogether, this time’s list was no shorter than 11 pages and comprised of over 80 breweries and roughly 450 different beers. As it was already the case the last times, a strong focus was put on breweries from Central Eastern European countries. Independent brewing companies from Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia or Slovenia make outstanding beers, but they are rather hard, if not impossible to find in Austria, and you probably would not get to taste them, if you did not travel to these countries (or in this case attend Craft Bier Fest). I very much appreciate the fact that CBF is bringing these beers closer to the people here and that you are not only able to find the usual suspects, but rather unknown craft breweries, as well. Apart from this, CBF took place under the slogan “Spot On Ireland”. The organizers invited quite a few breweries from the Republic to Vienna, such as Porterhouse, O’Hara’s, McGargles or the fantastic Blacks Brewery.
FROM MANGO TO DOPE
CBF opened its doors on Friday at 4pm sharp. There was already quite a big line of people waiting to get in, but in spite of that, it did not take long to cross the borders to El Beerado. At the entrance, every visitor received a Craft Bier Fest 2018 branded glass for the beer samples along with some information flyers and a map of the venue in order to find the booths where the different brewers were located. Equipped with this and with enough money converted to the Craft Bier Fest currency made up plastic coins, the Happy New Beer tasting could commence. My first way led me all the way through the hall to the very end, where the stands of Mad Scientist and other fellow Hungarian brewers were situated. If you’ve been following this blog and the guides of (inter)national tap rooms, you will probably have noticed that Mad Scientist is one of my favorite breweries. They make magnificent, high-end quality beers and on top of that, they are extremely friendly and open people. It was thus, clear that I’d start my CBF journey with them. Unfortunately, they did not have their Mango Bay Milkshake Pale Ale on tap yet (I would have to wait another 30 minutes), but the Smooth Hoperator would easily serve as a fantastic alternative for my very first beer, as well. From there, I only had to move a couple of meters to make it to the Bierfracht stand, where Bierol had its taps. In the course of several beer events prior to CBF I’d had the big pleasure of spending quite some time with the Bierol guys (including their tap takeover at Café Lassa the Wednesday before). I love their beers and they had brought along a few that I had not known yet, such as the Brownie, an India Brown Ale. That beer was very interesting and I liked it a lot! It is kind of a Brown Cascadian, if described it in my words. It tasted quite bitter and very hoppy, but also sweet and malty at the same time. There were some citrus flavors in it and it was slightly creamy. So, not really a Black IPA, but more like a Brown IPA so to say. I don’t think I have tasted a beer like this one before. By now, some of my friends had arrived as well and then, Mad Scientist finally had the Mango Bay tapped and in the lines. This beer is unbelievably good. Every time, I drink it, I am once again overwhelmed by its flavor and it keeps blowing my mind. And it is not just me, everyone who’s tried it, loves it! Two stands to the right, there was another Hungarian treasure pouring beers. Until then, I’ve only had their Trance IPA in a bar in Budapest and vividly remembered that brew, which is why I was stoked that Hopfanatic made an appearance at CBF as well. I tried the Oatcake Juice, an IPA brewed with, and you guessed correctly, oats! It was certainly one of my highlights at the festival. It was extremely hazy, very fruity and kind of creamy. Definitely a beer that I want to have again. From there, our way led us all the way through the hall to its other end, where the Czechs and Slovaks were located. Chroust Brewing from Prague and Pivovar Raven from Plzeň are two of the breweries I liked the most at CBF last fall and once again they had brought great beers along. This year, they took Pivovar Permon with them, a brewery I’d known from my trip to Prague the year before. Their Double IPA XXL definitely needs to be highlighted here. A very flavorful and citrusy Imperial IPA and I am stoked that I tried it. Chroust’s NENAIPA is an outstanding New England IPA and Raven’s Gunslinger is a top-notch West Coast IPA. What really blew my mind though was Raven’s Raspberry Sour. This Berliner Weisse-style beer is quite light with 3.5% and a perfect drink for a warm summer day. It was very sour, which came from two sources, the raspberries themselves and the sour mash and it had a beautiful reddish-pinkish color. All the people behind these stands were extremely friendly and some of them even recognized me from last year. We would have another special beer at Raven at the very end of the second day, but more on that later. After that, it was Bierol o’clock again. Together with FrauGruber from Germany, they brewed a very special one. Fruits On Dope is a Double IPA of 8.3% and in my opinion a masterpiece. I’d started to love that beer when I had it at AmmutsØn for the first time. There is so much taste in that beer. As the name implies it is very fruity, the flavors explode in your mouth when you sip it and in the aftertaste there are distinctive notes of pepper.
THE SPIRIT OF IRELAND
I already mentioned before that this time there was a strong focus on the Republic of Ireland, as well. Beside quite a decent amount of Irish craft breweries, also whiskey was introduced to CBF for the very first time with Jameson Irish Whiskey having an own stand. However, they did not only have whiskeys with them. Just recently Bevog released a Black IPA called Gallink, which was aged in Jameson barrels. At Bierfracht's booths, you could get the Chocolate Truffle Stout by Porterhouse on tap, which can currently be also purchased on nitro tap at AmmutsØn, which makes it taste even better than it already did at CBF. Right next to Bierfracht, was the award winning Blacks Brewery from Kinsale, Cork. Darren Murphy, the former manager of Brickmakers, moved to Ireland last year to be with Blacks and now made a return to Vienna with his beers and spirits. Since I never had any of Blacks’ beers, this stand was high up on my list. I was very curious and my expectations were even topped. The Marching Powder is an IPA brewed with Simcoe and Mosaic Cryo Hops®, which bring out amazing citrus and tropical flavors, World’s End is a delicious Chocolate Vanilla Imperial Stout and the Solero is a fantastic Passion Fruit Kettle Sour Ale that was probably my favorite of Blacks. Next to the beers, Blacks is also highly engaging in spirits, especially in gin and they have furthermore received recognition for distilling very first Irish rum, which was available for tasting, as well.
GOING WILD
It was two very special days, which I enjoyed to the utmost. It is always so much fun to stroll through the hall, have amazing beers, discover new brews and keep hanging out at the stands to talk to the brewers. Here I need to mention Hester from The Wild Beer Co., who we spent a lot of time with on the second day and (hopefully) woke her interest in Austrian beers. At some point we got stuck at Biergreissler’s (Vienna’s largest independent craft beer store) stand and had a range of all kind of the wonderful Alefried beers there. Alefried had just brought out a collaboration with Biergreissler itself and extremely tasty NEIPA called Wilde Wanda. Apart from that there was pretty much a whole arsenal of Alefried’s wild ales (summarized in the the Mikrozirkus series) to try, including a collaboration with the Viennese Wappler Brewing. Wappler is doing home brewing exclusively and their beers are not for sale, unless they are doing a collaboration with another brewery such as Beaver Brewing or in this case Alefried. The recipe for this Wilde Zirbe (a.ka. Wapplerzirkus) was created by Wappler Brewing and they already had this wild beer availabe in fall. Back then it was one of my personal highlights and in fact THE beer that woke my interest in sour / wild ales. If you haven’t tried it yet, get a bottle at Biergreissler or Beer Store Vienna. You won’t regret it.
SUDDEN DEATH BY THE CARRIER
Tragic heroes were unfortunately the hockey maniacs of Sudden Death Brewing from the Bay of Lübeck at the Baltic Sea, who made its first ever appearance at Craft Bier Fest (their logo is a hockey-ed up version of the Jolly Joker, with two crossed ice hockey sticks and a goalie mask instead of the swords and the skull). They were left high and dry (almost literally) by their haulier, who first delivered way too late and even screwed up most of their kegs. Many of them were impossible to use and to tap, such as their NEIPA I Walked With A Zombie, which is according to them their best brew. In the end they could only provide their Pils Brosnan on tap and a Session (Juice Willis) and a West Coast (Steven Seagull) IPA in bottles. I felt really sorry for the guys, especially since they are such nice and friendly people. And I cannot wait to taste their Zombie, when they are back in fall. Among the beers they had, I loved the Steven Seagull the most, which tasted exactly, how I wanted a West Coast IPA to taste like, and now the New England is supposed to be even better......
AUSTRIAN TREASURES
Luckily, however, that was the only downside. Everything else was perfect. There were happy faces everywhere. There are always great people at CBF, who all share the same interest. I love that at such an event you get to talk to so many random people, but also meet loads of the peeps you know and like. The mix of breweries was thoroughly chosen, ranging from bigger and internationally established brewing companies to really small micro-breweries. The craft beer scene in Austria is booming, not because of people drinking craft beer, but also because of the amount of new breweries opening up. Next to the better known Austrian craft breweries such as Next Level Brewing, Bevog, Brew Age or Bierol, there were also dozens of new domestic breweries. Some of these were Bierkanter, Boustaa, Drunken Unicorn, Thrasher, Treibhaus or the newest kid on the block, Bräuhaus Ten.Fifty. Here, I also need to highlight Mad Moustache Brewing (a project by Der Belgier, Adi from Café Lassa and BierPlus), which had brought a fantastic red ale along.
AN ENDING WITH STYLE
Craft Beer Fest was a full success. Before Saturday night was over, we consumed two last beers that we have been determined to tray but wanted to save until the end. I mentioned a very special beer, when I talked about Pivovar Raven before. And one of these final beers was this special one. The Black Label #2 is an Ice Double IPA that reaches 18 (eighteen) % in alcohol. It was amber to golden, bitter and sweet at the same time and it certainly did not taste like that much alcohol. It was in fact easy drinking. I liked it so much that I took a bottle of it home, which will be saved for some very special event. The second beer was by Mad Scientist (of course :D) again. Candy Man is an Imperial Stout that is brewed with marshmellows and tonka beans. It has a pitch black color with a brownish head and is unbelievably delicious. It is kind of milky with notes of vanilla, chocolate and coffee and a roasted, smoked and slight bitter aftertaste. We liked it so much, that we ended up having a second and third round of it. If I had to choose a beer of the festival, it would be this one. And I am thrilled that we saved it for the very last.
Last but not least, I would like to express a big thank you to Kevin Reiterer and everyone else involved for making this event possible. Also a big thank you to all the brewers for the great chats and for making all these unique treasures! I cannot wait for the fall edition. I will definitely be there again.
My favorite beers of these 2 days were as follows (in alphabetical order of the brewery):
Alefried x Wappler Brewing – Wild Zirbe (Wapplerzirkus) – Wild Ale – AT
ABV. 7%. Brewed with stone pine and honey. Deep golden color. Moderately sour and full of flavors. Fantastic beer. Recipe by Wappler Brewing.
Bierol – Brownie – India Brown Ale – AT
ABV. 5.2%. Slight tropical citrus flavors in combination with a caramel taste. Hoppy, bitter and sweet at the same time. Extremely interesting beer.
Bierol x Frau Gruber – Fruits on Dope – Double IPA – AT/DE
ABV. 8.3%. Overwhelming beer. Strong flavor, tropical, citrus, orange. Very hazy. Delightful peppery aftertaste. Drink carefully though, the amount of alcohol is quite high.
Blacks Brewery – Solero – Kettle Sour – IRE
ABV. 4.0%. Intense passion fruit taste. Very refreshing and quite sour. Perfect summer beer, also due to the relatively low amount of alcohol.
BrewDog – Blueberry Zephyr – Tart Pale Ale – UK, SCO
ABV. 4.6%. Golden color. Juicy, blueberries very tasted very clearly. Moderate sourness. Hops in the background.
Chroust – NENAIPA – New England IPA – CZ
ABV. 5.8%. Very fruity and juicy. Many different flavors. A New England IPA how I like it.
Freigeist Bierkultur – Apricot Fest – Smoked Apricot Gose – DE
ABV. 6.0% . Tasted exactly like it sounds. Apricots on a BBQ. Moderately sour and very smoky. Beautiful creation.
Hopfanatic – Oatcake Juice – Oatmeal IPA – HU
ABV. 6.0%. One of my favorites this year. Smooth and creamy IPA, very fruity. Extremely hazy and very well balanced body. Brewed with Simcoe hops. Low carbonation. Easy drinking.
Lanius – Coco Choco Stout 20° - Imperial Milk Stout – SK
ABV. 8%. Explosion of chocolate and coconuts rounded up with spices and herbs. Fantastic desert beer. Slightly smoky.
Mad Moustache Brewing (Der Belgier x Café Lassa) – Red Ale – AT
ABV. 5.5% American Red Ale. Very precisely brewed. Extremely well balanced. Classic old-school ale with citrus and tropical flavors and notes of roasted caramel.
Mad Scientist – Candy Man – Marshmellow Tonka Bean Imperial Stout – HU
ABV. 12.0%. Favorite beer of the weekend. Sweet, milky, vanilla and chocolaty taste. Notes of coffee. Roasted marshmellows give the beer a bondfire kick although it is not overwhelmingly smoky. Unbelievable stout.
Mad Scientist – Mango Bay – Milkshake Pale Ale – HU
ABV. 5.2%. One of my top 5 all-time favorite beers. A complete mango bomb, yet still very beery. Three different kinds of fresh mango used in the brewing process for the taste, the smell and the color. Lactose makes it slightly creamy. Danger, though. The beer is highly addictive. It does not and does not get boring.
Monyo – Anubis BA – Barrel Aged Braggot – HU
ABV. 9.5%. Brewed with a shitload of raisins from Egypt. Fruity taste, strong notes of honey. Golden orange color. Not very hoppy. Interesting beer. Loved it.
Monyo – We Don’t Like Pepperazzis – Extra Milk Stout – HU
AB. 7.3%. Milk Stout brewed with pepper and vanilla. Sweet and vanilla taste dominating. Peppers kick in later. Very smooth and easy drinking.
Pivovar Permon – XXL – Double IPA – CZ
ABV. 6.2%. Tropical flavor, citrusy and bitter, yet quite malty and notes of sweet caramel. Very nice beer.
Pivovar Raven – Raspberry Sour – Berliner Weisse / Sour Ale – CZ
ABV. 3.5%. Another highlight here. Raspberries contribute to the sourness. The color is red, almost pink. Great for a hot summer day. Could’ve downed it. Had probably three of them.
Pivovar Raven – Black Label #2 – Ice Double IPA – CZ
ABV. 18%. EIGHTEEN percent. Crazy Czechs J. Mindblowing beer. Moderately sweet (less than I would’ve expected from an Iced IPA). Very hoppy and citrusy. Notes of pine. Golden amber color. Highly recommendable, but be careful, it does not taste like that much alcohol. Sipping is key!
Sudden Death Brewing – Steven Seagull – West Coast IPA – DE
ABV. 6.5%. Very classic and straightforward West Coast IPA. Tropical and citrus flavors.
The Wild Beer Co – Modus Operandi – Oak Aged Old Brown Ale – UK
ABV. 7.5% Brett. Aged for 3 months in oak barrels. Brewed with a variety of wild yeast. Rather red than brown. Sour cherry and woody taste. Fruity. Kind of weird. I liked it a lot.
FROM MANGO TO DOPE
CBF opened its doors on Friday at 4pm sharp. There was already quite a big line of people waiting to get in, but in spite of that, it did not take long to cross the borders to El Beerado. At the entrance, every visitor received a Craft Bier Fest 2018 branded glass for the beer samples along with some information flyers and a map of the venue in order to find the booths where the different brewers were located. Equipped with this and with enough money converted to the Craft Bier Fest currency made up plastic coins, the Happy New Beer tasting could commence. My first way led me all the way through the hall to the very end, where the stands of Mad Scientist and other fellow Hungarian brewers were situated. If you’ve been following this blog and the guides of (inter)national tap rooms, you will probably have noticed that Mad Scientist is one of my favorite breweries. They make magnificent, high-end quality beers and on top of that, they are extremely friendly and open people. It was thus, clear that I’d start my CBF journey with them. Unfortunately, they did not have their Mango Bay Milkshake Pale Ale on tap yet (I would have to wait another 30 minutes), but the Smooth Hoperator would easily serve as a fantastic alternative for my very first beer, as well. From there, I only had to move a couple of meters to make it to the Bierfracht stand, where Bierol had its taps. In the course of several beer events prior to CBF I’d had the big pleasure of spending quite some time with the Bierol guys (including their tap takeover at Café Lassa the Wednesday before). I love their beers and they had brought along a few that I had not known yet, such as the Brownie, an India Brown Ale. That beer was very interesting and I liked it a lot! It is kind of a Brown Cascadian, if described it in my words. It tasted quite bitter and very hoppy, but also sweet and malty at the same time. There were some citrus flavors in it and it was slightly creamy. So, not really a Black IPA, but more like a Brown IPA so to say. I don’t think I have tasted a beer like this one before. By now, some of my friends had arrived as well and then, Mad Scientist finally had the Mango Bay tapped and in the lines. This beer is unbelievably good. Every time, I drink it, I am once again overwhelmed by its flavor and it keeps blowing my mind. And it is not just me, everyone who’s tried it, loves it! Two stands to the right, there was another Hungarian treasure pouring beers. Until then, I’ve only had their Trance IPA in a bar in Budapest and vividly remembered that brew, which is why I was stoked that Hopfanatic made an appearance at CBF as well. I tried the Oatcake Juice, an IPA brewed with, and you guessed correctly, oats! It was certainly one of my highlights at the festival. It was extremely hazy, very fruity and kind of creamy. Definitely a beer that I want to have again. From there, our way led us all the way through the hall to its other end, where the Czechs and Slovaks were located. Chroust Brewing from Prague and Pivovar Raven from Plzeň are two of the breweries I liked the most at CBF last fall and once again they had brought great beers along. This year, they took Pivovar Permon with them, a brewery I’d known from my trip to Prague the year before. Their Double IPA XXL definitely needs to be highlighted here. A very flavorful and citrusy Imperial IPA and I am stoked that I tried it. Chroust’s NENAIPA is an outstanding New England IPA and Raven’s Gunslinger is a top-notch West Coast IPA. What really blew my mind though was Raven’s Raspberry Sour. This Berliner Weisse-style beer is quite light with 3.5% and a perfect drink for a warm summer day. It was very sour, which came from two sources, the raspberries themselves and the sour mash and it had a beautiful reddish-pinkish color. All the people behind these stands were extremely friendly and some of them even recognized me from last year. We would have another special beer at Raven at the very end of the second day, but more on that later. After that, it was Bierol o’clock again. Together with FrauGruber from Germany, they brewed a very special one. Fruits On Dope is a Double IPA of 8.3% and in my opinion a masterpiece. I’d started to love that beer when I had it at AmmutsØn for the first time. There is so much taste in that beer. As the name implies it is very fruity, the flavors explode in your mouth when you sip it and in the aftertaste there are distinctive notes of pepper.
THE SPIRIT OF IRELAND
I already mentioned before that this time there was a strong focus on the Republic of Ireland, as well. Beside quite a decent amount of Irish craft breweries, also whiskey was introduced to CBF for the very first time with Jameson Irish Whiskey having an own stand. However, they did not only have whiskeys with them. Just recently Bevog released a Black IPA called Gallink, which was aged in Jameson barrels. At Bierfracht's booths, you could get the Chocolate Truffle Stout by Porterhouse on tap, which can currently be also purchased on nitro tap at AmmutsØn, which makes it taste even better than it already did at CBF. Right next to Bierfracht, was the award winning Blacks Brewery from Kinsale, Cork. Darren Murphy, the former manager of Brickmakers, moved to Ireland last year to be with Blacks and now made a return to Vienna with his beers and spirits. Since I never had any of Blacks’ beers, this stand was high up on my list. I was very curious and my expectations were even topped. The Marching Powder is an IPA brewed with Simcoe and Mosaic Cryo Hops®, which bring out amazing citrus and tropical flavors, World’s End is a delicious Chocolate Vanilla Imperial Stout and the Solero is a fantastic Passion Fruit Kettle Sour Ale that was probably my favorite of Blacks. Next to the beers, Blacks is also highly engaging in spirits, especially in gin and they have furthermore received recognition for distilling very first Irish rum, which was available for tasting, as well.
GOING WILD
It was two very special days, which I enjoyed to the utmost. It is always so much fun to stroll through the hall, have amazing beers, discover new brews and keep hanging out at the stands to talk to the brewers. Here I need to mention Hester from The Wild Beer Co., who we spent a lot of time with on the second day and (hopefully) woke her interest in Austrian beers. At some point we got stuck at Biergreissler’s (Vienna’s largest independent craft beer store) stand and had a range of all kind of the wonderful Alefried beers there. Alefried had just brought out a collaboration with Biergreissler itself and extremely tasty NEIPA called Wilde Wanda. Apart from that there was pretty much a whole arsenal of Alefried’s wild ales (summarized in the the Mikrozirkus series) to try, including a collaboration with the Viennese Wappler Brewing. Wappler is doing home brewing exclusively and their beers are not for sale, unless they are doing a collaboration with another brewery such as Beaver Brewing or in this case Alefried. The recipe for this Wilde Zirbe (a.ka. Wapplerzirkus) was created by Wappler Brewing and they already had this wild beer availabe in fall. Back then it was one of my personal highlights and in fact THE beer that woke my interest in sour / wild ales. If you haven’t tried it yet, get a bottle at Biergreissler or Beer Store Vienna. You won’t regret it.
SUDDEN DEATH BY THE CARRIER
Tragic heroes were unfortunately the hockey maniacs of Sudden Death Brewing from the Bay of Lübeck at the Baltic Sea, who made its first ever appearance at Craft Bier Fest (their logo is a hockey-ed up version of the Jolly Joker, with two crossed ice hockey sticks and a goalie mask instead of the swords and the skull). They were left high and dry (almost literally) by their haulier, who first delivered way too late and even screwed up most of their kegs. Many of them were impossible to use and to tap, such as their NEIPA I Walked With A Zombie, which is according to them their best brew. In the end they could only provide their Pils Brosnan on tap and a Session (Juice Willis) and a West Coast (Steven Seagull) IPA in bottles. I felt really sorry for the guys, especially since they are such nice and friendly people. And I cannot wait to taste their Zombie, when they are back in fall. Among the beers they had, I loved the Steven Seagull the most, which tasted exactly, how I wanted a West Coast IPA to taste like, and now the New England is supposed to be even better......
AUSTRIAN TREASURES
Luckily, however, that was the only downside. Everything else was perfect. There were happy faces everywhere. There are always great people at CBF, who all share the same interest. I love that at such an event you get to talk to so many random people, but also meet loads of the peeps you know and like. The mix of breweries was thoroughly chosen, ranging from bigger and internationally established brewing companies to really small micro-breweries. The craft beer scene in Austria is booming, not because of people drinking craft beer, but also because of the amount of new breweries opening up. Next to the better known Austrian craft breweries such as Next Level Brewing, Bevog, Brew Age or Bierol, there were also dozens of new domestic breweries. Some of these were Bierkanter, Boustaa, Drunken Unicorn, Thrasher, Treibhaus or the newest kid on the block, Bräuhaus Ten.Fifty. Here, I also need to highlight Mad Moustache Brewing (a project by Der Belgier, Adi from Café Lassa and BierPlus), which had brought a fantastic red ale along.
AN ENDING WITH STYLE
Craft Beer Fest was a full success. Before Saturday night was over, we consumed two last beers that we have been determined to tray but wanted to save until the end. I mentioned a very special beer, when I talked about Pivovar Raven before. And one of these final beers was this special one. The Black Label #2 is an Ice Double IPA that reaches 18 (eighteen) % in alcohol. It was amber to golden, bitter and sweet at the same time and it certainly did not taste like that much alcohol. It was in fact easy drinking. I liked it so much that I took a bottle of it home, which will be saved for some very special event. The second beer was by Mad Scientist (of course :D) again. Candy Man is an Imperial Stout that is brewed with marshmellows and tonka beans. It has a pitch black color with a brownish head and is unbelievably delicious. It is kind of milky with notes of vanilla, chocolate and coffee and a roasted, smoked and slight bitter aftertaste. We liked it so much, that we ended up having a second and third round of it. If I had to choose a beer of the festival, it would be this one. And I am thrilled that we saved it for the very last.
Last but not least, I would like to express a big thank you to Kevin Reiterer and everyone else involved for making this event possible. Also a big thank you to all the brewers for the great chats and for making all these unique treasures! I cannot wait for the fall edition. I will definitely be there again.
My favorite beers of these 2 days were as follows (in alphabetical order of the brewery):
Alefried x Wappler Brewing – Wild Zirbe (Wapplerzirkus) – Wild Ale – AT
ABV. 7%. Brewed with stone pine and honey. Deep golden color. Moderately sour and full of flavors. Fantastic beer. Recipe by Wappler Brewing.
Bierol – Brownie – India Brown Ale – AT
ABV. 5.2%. Slight tropical citrus flavors in combination with a caramel taste. Hoppy, bitter and sweet at the same time. Extremely interesting beer.
Bierol x Frau Gruber – Fruits on Dope – Double IPA – AT/DE
ABV. 8.3%. Overwhelming beer. Strong flavor, tropical, citrus, orange. Very hazy. Delightful peppery aftertaste. Drink carefully though, the amount of alcohol is quite high.
Blacks Brewery – Solero – Kettle Sour – IRE
ABV. 4.0%. Intense passion fruit taste. Very refreshing and quite sour. Perfect summer beer, also due to the relatively low amount of alcohol.
BrewDog – Blueberry Zephyr – Tart Pale Ale – UK, SCO
ABV. 4.6%. Golden color. Juicy, blueberries very tasted very clearly. Moderate sourness. Hops in the background.
Chroust – NENAIPA – New England IPA – CZ
ABV. 5.8%. Very fruity and juicy. Many different flavors. A New England IPA how I like it.
Freigeist Bierkultur – Apricot Fest – Smoked Apricot Gose – DE
ABV. 6.0% . Tasted exactly like it sounds. Apricots on a BBQ. Moderately sour and very smoky. Beautiful creation.
Hopfanatic – Oatcake Juice – Oatmeal IPA – HU
ABV. 6.0%. One of my favorites this year. Smooth and creamy IPA, very fruity. Extremely hazy and very well balanced body. Brewed with Simcoe hops. Low carbonation. Easy drinking.
Lanius – Coco Choco Stout 20° - Imperial Milk Stout – SK
ABV. 8%. Explosion of chocolate and coconuts rounded up with spices and herbs. Fantastic desert beer. Slightly smoky.
Mad Moustache Brewing (Der Belgier x Café Lassa) – Red Ale – AT
ABV. 5.5% American Red Ale. Very precisely brewed. Extremely well balanced. Classic old-school ale with citrus and tropical flavors and notes of roasted caramel.
Mad Scientist – Candy Man – Marshmellow Tonka Bean Imperial Stout – HU
ABV. 12.0%. Favorite beer of the weekend. Sweet, milky, vanilla and chocolaty taste. Notes of coffee. Roasted marshmellows give the beer a bondfire kick although it is not overwhelmingly smoky. Unbelievable stout.
Mad Scientist – Mango Bay – Milkshake Pale Ale – HU
ABV. 5.2%. One of my top 5 all-time favorite beers. A complete mango bomb, yet still very beery. Three different kinds of fresh mango used in the brewing process for the taste, the smell and the color. Lactose makes it slightly creamy. Danger, though. The beer is highly addictive. It does not and does not get boring.
Monyo – Anubis BA – Barrel Aged Braggot – HU
ABV. 9.5%. Brewed with a shitload of raisins from Egypt. Fruity taste, strong notes of honey. Golden orange color. Not very hoppy. Interesting beer. Loved it.
Monyo – We Don’t Like Pepperazzis – Extra Milk Stout – HU
AB. 7.3%. Milk Stout brewed with pepper and vanilla. Sweet and vanilla taste dominating. Peppers kick in later. Very smooth and easy drinking.
Pivovar Permon – XXL – Double IPA – CZ
ABV. 6.2%. Tropical flavor, citrusy and bitter, yet quite malty and notes of sweet caramel. Very nice beer.
Pivovar Raven – Raspberry Sour – Berliner Weisse / Sour Ale – CZ
ABV. 3.5%. Another highlight here. Raspberries contribute to the sourness. The color is red, almost pink. Great for a hot summer day. Could’ve downed it. Had probably three of them.
Pivovar Raven – Black Label #2 – Ice Double IPA – CZ
ABV. 18%. EIGHTEEN percent. Crazy Czechs J. Mindblowing beer. Moderately sweet (less than I would’ve expected from an Iced IPA). Very hoppy and citrusy. Notes of pine. Golden amber color. Highly recommendable, but be careful, it does not taste like that much alcohol. Sipping is key!
Sudden Death Brewing – Steven Seagull – West Coast IPA – DE
ABV. 6.5%. Very classic and straightforward West Coast IPA. Tropical and citrus flavors.
The Wild Beer Co – Modus Operandi – Oak Aged Old Brown Ale – UK
ABV. 7.5% Brett. Aged for 3 months in oak barrels. Brewed with a variety of wild yeast. Rather red than brown. Sour cherry and woody taste. Fruity. Kind of weird. I liked it a lot.