So the weekend ended up being very good. I won't comment on the Empire Brewfest as it was like a hundred others I've been to. There really wasn't anything there, beer wise, that I haven't had before and even the good breweries didn't bring their A game. But it was a beerfest and a beerfest can't suck, I'll leave it at that.
Belgian Comes to Coopertown: Good time had by all. The overall selection wasn't what was promised and as is the case with most Belgian beerfests, there weren't a whole lot of actual Belgian breweries but rather distributors pouring several different beers. With that said, I'll just give the highlights for me:
The beer to come out of the fest, I think, was by far the Ommegang Chocolate Stout. Yes, you read that correctly. They are experimenting and didn't confirm it being released, but let me tell you, it was out-friggin'-standing. While it's a departure from their Belgian-style, it's looking very promising.
Another nice surprise was there was a brewpub there with some really interesting brews, Iron Hill. This is the first I've heard of them which is a shame because they definitely impressed. They had a selection of mostly sour ales, in particular their Heyburn which is an American sour ale. Here is their site:
http://www.ironhillbrewery.com/
Of course Dogfish Head is always nice to see. Their beer of choice was the Festiva Peche and they were slicing up fresh peaches to go with it. The funny thing is, they weren't using peaches, it was nectarines they had but the girl serving was hot so who am I to argue. Just to bring it up a bit, they then filled a Randall the Enamel Animal with the peaches (nectarines) instead of hops and hooked a keg to that. Nice trick although I didn't particularly find the beer that great and the Randall didn't really make it any better.
Definitely a recommended event to everyone for next year. Just get tickets early, they limit attendance and it sells out fast.
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