It was a beautiful, very easy-going day. The temperature was just right for this time of the year. Doing beer tastings events in the cold has a different effect on me; next year I have to pace myself differently. But all in all, Das Erste! OktoberFestival.

The First Annual Oktoberfest for the Garden State Crafts Brewers Guild was held at NEWARK BEARS RIVERFRONT STADIUM, in Newark NJ. It’s a perfect place due to the amount of mass transportation present (Don’t Drink And Drive!!!). There were ten of New Jersey’s finest breweries at the great venue, which made for a fine event.

Cask conditioned ales and OktoberFest beer were the features of the day. The Cask Ales seemed stronger on the alcohol feel. Basil T’s Maxwell Stout was my favorite beer, a classic stout with roasted barley bitterness and a dense, creamy head and a touch of coffee. Gaslight’s Heart of Darkness was a close second for beers I liked the most for the day. New comer, to me, River Horse was very good. I did not like the Pumpkin Spiced Beer from Gaslight, too heavy-handed on the spices. All the Oktoberfest beers were all nicely done. I liked Gaslight’s the most because it had more depth In flavor compared to the others.

The event itself needs more local supporters from the breweries, but this was the 1st time so it was a little risky. I’m sure next year will be bigger. It was a lot of fun in the end. A great thing about this show was that the brewers were not ‘competing’ with one another. Everybody was happy to present their beer and talk with you for a little bit.

Next year, if you love beer and live in New Jersey, Oktoberfestival is a must. It was smeggin’ fantastic and could be as good as the Camden event in time. Camden had better beer also. The festival needed an event on field also, like a brewer’s soft ball game or something of that nature. It would of added the right kick to the day. But it was a day well worth the price of admission.

List of Garden State Crafts Brewers Guild present and their Beers present for OktoberFestival:

•Flying Fish Brewing Company flyingfish.com

Oktoberfish, Cask-Conditioned Oktoberfish, Extra Pale Ale, Abbey Dubbel

Flying Fish is the first craft production brewery in the southern half of New Jersey and the most widely produced craft beer in the state. We specialize in classic English and Belgian styles and currently brew six bottled beers: ESB Ale, Extra Pale Ale, Porter, Belgian Abbey Dubbel, Farmhouse Summer Ale and Grand Cru Winter Reserve, some of which are bottle conditioned. In addition we brew a variety of draft-only seasonals and cask-conditioned “real ales.”

•High Point Brewing Company aka Ramstein ramsteinbeer.com

Classic Dunkle Weizen, Keller Pills, Barrel Oktoberfest

High Point Brewing Company is the first exclusive wheat beer brewery in America. High Point brews the award-winning Ramstein beers. Ramstein beers are available on draft and in bottles throughout NJ, NY and PA.

•Pizzeria Uno pizzeriauno.com

IPA, Red Ale, Oktoberfest, Porter

We’ve evolved the Pizzeria Uno legend to a brewhouse as well. Our Brewmaster, Mike Sella, brews all of our own beer on premise, using a custom built 15bbl Pub brewing system. Mike has formulated these beers to be the perfect compliment to our delicious food. Fresh beer tastes best.

•River Horse Brewing Company riverhorse.com

Tripel Horse, Belgian Freeze, Hop Hazard

River Horse is a 20-barrel micro located on the Delaware River in Hunterdon County. Opened in April 1996, the brewery produces both ales and lagers and currently features five products.

•Cricket Hill Brewing Company crickethillbrewery.com

Fall Festivus, East Coast Lager

Cricket Hill is the newest microbrewery in New Jersey. Since January 2002 they have brewed two flagship beers: East Coast Lager and American Ale. Most recently they have produced their Cask Ale, Colonel Blide’s Bitter. All three are extremely easy drinking and refreshing. Tours are given by appointment, with Friday afternoons being the most popular time.

•Basil T’s basilt.com

Maxwell Stout, Rosies Pale Ale, RocketRed Ale, XXX Golden Ale

There are always at least six hand-crafted ales on tap. The bar features New Jersey’s largest mug club, happy hour, and live music on Wednesday through Saturday evenings.

•Harvest Moon Brewery and Café harvestmoonbrewery.com

Pumpkin Ale, OktoberFest, Smoked Oatmeal Porter

The Harvest Moon Brewery/Café is a casual relaxed restaurant offering creative American cuisine at affordable prices in a unique setting. Handcrafted freshly brewed English style ales including our flagship brews, seasonal, cask conditioned, dry hopped and guest taps.

•Triumph Brewing Company triumphbrew.com

OktoberFest, Pumkin Ale, Grand Cru, Gothic Ale Cask

An ambitious and eclectic menu is served in an architecturally unique setting. Seven craft-brewed beers are always on tap including ales, lagers, nitro-pour stout and hand-pumped real ale.

Tun Tavern Brewery & Restaurant tuntavern.com

Oktoberfest, N.J. Hop I.P.A., Tun Light

Tun Tavern is Atlantic City’s first and only brewpub. It was recently voted the Number One Restaurant in New Jersey by the Server Foodservice News and Favorite Brewpub in New Jersey by readers of Gary Monterosso’s What’s on Tap newsletter. Tun Tavern offers casual gourmet cuisine and handcrafted brews.

•Gaslight Brewery & Restaurant gaslightbrewery.com

Abbey Normal, Zum Alt Dorf, Oktoberfest, Dog river Farm Organic Pumpkin Ale, Heart of Darkness Cask

This is Essex County’s first brewpub. We offer a relaxed atmosphere where people can come to enjoy freshly brewed beer and delicious food, watch a game on TV, play darts or shuffleboard, and listen to good music. We try to make this a spot where everyone can have some fun. We try to have live entertainment at least three times a week.

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With the mother of all beer fests, the Great American Beer Festival, quickly approaching, it seems to appropriate to call your attention to 7 tips from Charlie Papazian for surviving and enjoying beer fests. Papazian is the author of The Complete Joy of Homebrewing and founder of the Great American Beer Festival, the American Homebrewers Association, and the Association of Brewers.

Here is an abbreviated version of his tips:

1. Know your limits.  Know how much alcohol you are consuming.
2. Moderate your intake of beer with food and water.
3. Sample the beer in small servings or share larger portion with friends.
4. Talk about the beer.
5. Dance and play.
6. Dump the beer.  Life is too short to spend your time drinking beer you don’t like.
7. Be responsible and above all don’t drink and then drive.

I would add one more to the list: Find out ahead of time what breweries will be there and visit the ones you’re most excited about first. Even at small festivals it’s not possible to sample everything and the vendors often run out of beer near the end of the day. Decide which ones you don’t want to miss and visit them first so you don’t miss out because of time, availability, or inebriation.

Beer Utopia will be at the GABF and we’re hosting a party with Flying Dog on Friday. We hope to see you there!

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This past weekend I attended the 14th Annual Mountain Brewers Beer Fest. I was a beer fest virgin before this event and as is often the case when losing one’s virginity, there was pleasure, pain, embarrassment, exhilaration, parts I simply can’t remember, and a little regret the morning after. It was a certainly a learning experience.

The MBBF is the largest single-day beer fest in the US (according to a local news station, though I have not been able to confirm this fact). In a short 6-hour time period, there were over 5,000 beer lovers sampling over 350 brews from all over the country. This made for a rather raucous experience. Here are some things I learned:

1. If you have breasts, you’re more likely to get served
When the fest was winding down, I decided to have one more. Most of the vendors had run out of beer or were packing up so I decided to try the Michelob Porter. Since this was one of the few booths still serving, it was crowded. After about 10 minutes of trying in vain to get the Michelob man’s attention, I realized that he was ignoring the men and only serving the women. Oh well, it was Michelob so I’m sure it would have sucked anyway.

2. Check the weather.
Beer fests are usually outside so come prepared for any kind of weather. While I did check the weather, I did not account for the nearly constant 20 MPH wind which made what would have been a comfortable 60 degrees feel more like 40. I was only wearing a t-shirt and spent most of the day shivering.

3. Drink water
Drinking water keeps you hydrated and helps lesson the inevitable hangover. I brought a Camelbak hydration pack and there was free water available but it’s hard to remember to drink water when there is an almost endless supply of beer at hand.

4. Fests are not a great place to find new beers
It seems counterintuitive but while you will taste many new beers at a beer fest, it’s hard to tell which ones you really like. The problem is that after a few samples, your palate becomes overwhelmed and it’s difficult to tell if what you are tasting is the beer in hand or a combination of that beer and all of the samples before it. Drinking water between samples helps but not much.

I did taste a couple of beers that piqued my interest enough to make a note to check them out outside of a festival environment: Dragons Breath Dark Hefeweizen by Bayern Brewery in Missoula, Montana and Auld Bogs Breath Scotch Ale by Harmon Brewery in Tacoma, Washington. I’m not sure how available these are outside of the brewery but I’m going to look for them.

Overall, my first time was enjoyable and I’m sure my next fest will be even better.

Special thanks to my DD, who still managed to have fun while resisting the liquid smorgasboard at the fest and allowing me to partake without shame.

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