Ferguson Brewery held its 7th Anniversary Beer Festival this past weekend. The festival featured over 30 breweries from around the St. Louis area and a performance by Steve Ewing from the Urge!
This festival has a bit of an intimate feel than other festivals I’ve been to, but it’s that atmosphere that’s definitely the strength of the event. Even with the event being sold out, the crowds aren’t as large as you see at other beer festivals around the area. This gives you more one-on-one time with some of the brewers pouring the beer to get to know their brewery a bit more. Plus, lines aren’t as long so getting a delicious refill doesn’t take too long.
I broke rule #1 of Beer Festivals: 5 Ways to do them Wrong by not eating before arriving at the festival. But I lucked out. They were serving up some street tacos and Cuban sandwiches. Naturally, I tried a little of both and neither of them disappointed.
Steve Ewing from The Urge started playing for the crowd at 3pm. He has played there every year for their anniversary festival and he made mention that it gets bigger and bigger each year. He did some originals along with covers of The Police, Bob Marley, and yes, he did PTMFUS!
For the beers, I tried to focus on some of the breweries I haven’t been to or tried, but I did have to try the Ferguson Brewery options because they were the host and hey, that’s the polite thing to do. Also, their beer is delicious. Disclaimer: due to the heat (mid-80s is hot for me, okay?), sours and goses were going down much easier than some of the other styles.
Lemongrass Sour Saison by Ferguson Brewing Company – Wow! This was good. Not too sour; just a bit tart on the lips. This was my favorite of the night.
Blackberry Gose by Main & Mill Brewing Company – What a color! A deep pink hue, this was the prettiest beer at the party. Went down easy, too. Not too tart and very refreshing on a hot day.
Zard-Alu by Odell Brewing Co – Another sour. I don’t recall having an apricot beer ever so I wanted to give it a shot. The apricot gave it a unique flavor that I haven’t seen before.
Flash Bang by Excel Brewing Company – I apparently had already tried this according to my Untappd app and “past me” gave it a much lower score than “present me” did. It’s a hoppier wheat ale. Just goes to show you that appreciation for various styles will change over time.
Juice Nukem by Schwerpunkt – Don’t like IPAs? Check this one out. It doesn’t have the strong bitterness usually associated with IPAs, and this is a double/imperial IPA. This was juicy with a lot of citrus flavor.
This was a amazing time. Great beers, great music, great food, and great weather! What more could you ask for? I will definitely try to make attending this beer festival an annual event for me.
Cheers!
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