Coming off a great time at TAP-NY, it felt great to attend another local festival, especially if it is chock full of great New Jersey brews. We have never attended Garden State Brew Fest in years past due to scheduling conflicts, but if you saw our Drink Local Series with them, you would know that we were heavily involved in this years Event. I must say this festival is awesome! Since we have never attended it, I had no idea what to expect. What I did know, was that we were going to have a killer time and some great beers along the way with some of Jersey’s biggest beer fans.
The festival brought in 1,000 people this year dwarfing the attendance from last year.
With a growing festival, you need a bad ass glass to separate yourself from the norm.
A key to any beer fest is a good pamphlet. GSBF lays out a little story from each brewer as well as the beers they are pouring and tour information if the festival goers wants to visit these great beer makers.
We were in a little early so that allowed us to get some set up shots for our film we were doing with Rob and Ryan at Brew Experience.
The first hour of the festival was dedicated to those that spent the extra cheese to be VIP for the day. Rare beers and great food from Beer Chef, Tim Schafer were available before gen-pop was allowed in.
With witching hour near, the volunteers took care of the most important task of the day. Making sure the beer was there and ready to go.
Back outside beer drinkers gathered and by the looks of it, quite thirsty.
Let the festival begin.
VIP is definitely worth the money spent. You get the first two hours of the festival all to yourself and get to have as much beer and food as you want.
Aside from the food inside the VIP tent you can find food trucks to great stands like Hop Fries and Cest Un Delice that does these amazing waffle sandwiches.
Back to the beer side of things our friend Jeremy Lee from Flounder Brewing Company was making his GSBF debut sharing his delicious Honey Street Blond and Saison Du Flounder.
You can always find Bolero Snort at an NJ beer fest.
River Horse embraced the weather with their Summer Blonde and Special Ale.
Carton Brewing even debuted their new seasonal sour, Rickey, a wild ale brewed with cherries and limes.
There was no shortage of Flying Fish NJ 350 either. This latest brew from one of Jersey’s oldest beer makers is fantastic.
Even the south breweries like Cape May, Tuckahoe and Pinelands made their journey up from the deep Jersey Shore.
There can’t be a beer fest with out some awesome shirts. Our girl Sara collaborated with the Brew Experience to make some kick ass designs which sold well through out the day. If you missed out, they will be selling them at Brew At The Zoo in June.
Garden State Brew Fest was a great time and we look forward to working more with them in the years to come. It truly is the only venue where you can sample the best beer that is made available in New Jersey. Stay tuned for our second part to our coverage as we have a killer video highlighting the ins and outs of the event.
-Brian