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Snallygaster 2015, DC's Largest Craft Beer Festival - Yards Park, Saturday, Sep 12, 2015, 1-6PM


TedE

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Who is heading down to Navy Yard for Snallygaster?  It doesn't look like the weather will be a problem this year; we spent the last couple of hours a year ago defending our small patch of covered asphalt and darting out for beers.  We splurged for the VIP passes again, in part to marvel at the people who will pay the extra $30 to spend all of their first hour lined up for a small taste of Cantillon, but mostly because said weather will make the place a complete madhouse around the 3:00 hour.  It's nice to have an hour-and-a-half of relative peace to sample the ones high on my list.  That would include:

- Goses.  I think 2015 is officially Year of the Gose.  I remember at most 2 last year, there are at least 3x as many. I may taste them all.

- Millstone ciders.  I've overheard many surprised and positive comments about this local producer.  Last year I was put off by the pricing (I recall some tasting portions were $8-9)

- NO bourbon barrel/toasted pecan/chocolate/coffee stout/porter/scotch ales.  I need to be wearing much warmer clothing before those sound appealing.

- A few IPAs and Imperial IPAs that have escaped my attention or aren't normally distributed here.

- Some cask and dry-hopped versions of beers I already really like

- One or more of the German kellerbiers, because they are cool to see all lined up like that ;)

Waiting for them to release the event map this week, highlighter at the ready!

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Craft beer festival that is packed with hipsters?? You don't say  ^_^

It's actually not terrible... Not as formal as Savor, but certainly a nice event, especially when the weather is nice.

See you guys there! I'll be the one with the beard, thick framed glasses, skinny jeans, and a winning combination of smugness/irony.

-S

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Snallygaster does tend to have a good line up of brews, but I'm turned off by the pictures I've seen that make it look like a packed madhouse of hipsters.

I haven't found it to be any different than most beer festivals.  Later in the day it's just a packed madhouse of drunk people of all different stripes :)

The higher prices and more obscure selections single it out from the all-you-can-drink affairs littered with macrobrews in disguise, so you don't get the folks there just to get drunk on the cheap.  The effect as the day wears on is basically the same, though.  I doubt we'll stay much past 2:00.

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I did the VIP Snallygaster ticket last year and very much enjoyed it - we stayed for about 2 hours, enjoyed a bunch of the rare beers I'd never tasted then left as the crowds got bigger.  It was worth the money for the first hour for sure.

I'm not going this year (my wife glared at me when I suggested going with the new baby :ph34r: ) and I agree with Daniel's point above re: the a la carte aspect.  But that said - this weekend should be beautiful and I'm sure it'll be a fun event.

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So I attended as a volunteer and it was a great time.  I got to hang with the fine folks from Port City, chat them up about a passion-beer, meet other volunteers that are passionate about beer, help people get their buzz on with the 10% Port City Wine Barrel Aged Colossal One, sip some beer, and get a $50 gift certificate to use at a NRG establishment.  What I didn't realize is that this event is a charity event with the proceeds going to Arcadia Food.  The weather held out for the most part (a couple of passing showers) and the music was great.  I basically realized that volunteering is the way to go for this event.

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