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Church Festival Advise

Ok, so I got talked into running the beer booth at our local church/school festival next month. I agreed to do it only if they would let me upgrade the selection. In the past it's been pretty broad. Bud and Bud Light. We have an "arrangement" with a local distributor and thought I'd be able to find something else in their offerings to add (I still have to carry the Bud's) his only other offering is Ultra.

I've made some contacts with a local establishment that I'm on good terms with the owner and he has agreed to sell me at his cost (maybe less) anything that he carries and he'll take back any untapped kegs. Gotta love the guy.

My challenge is to select 3 kegs of one beer for Friday night and 4 kegs of another beer for Saturday. I want something different, but not too obscure or I'll get stuck with the partial kegs. I know what I like and feel confident that I can make the selection, but for a second ( or thousandth ) opinion, I thought I'd throw it out to the group. Rather than list the 75 options, here's the link to their offerings. ( and no this is not an advertisement for this pub)

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My leading candidates so far are Cellis White (which is not on their website, but I had it tonight) and one of the ESB's or Pales for the other. I'd love to pick and IPA, but probably too over the top for new comers. I look forward to the groups input.

Regards, Carl

Reply to
Carl Price
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Hot damn, BOTH kinds!

Parish member, is he? Gotta love religious tavern owners.

I think you oughta go with the Wachusett Country Ale one night. It's bound to be fresh, they turn a lot of that stuff, they're likely to have heard of it, and it's a damned good session beer...which is exactly what you're looking for, something that's good enough to drink for you, and a breakthrough beer for the unwashed. If it's supposed to be hot, maybe the Franziskaner Weiss: I've had great success with mainstream drinkers on this kind of relatively light-flavored hefe.

I'd stay away from the ESBs: good, no doubt, but heavy for some folks in the summer. You're going to hate to hear this, but the Wachusett Blueberry sells like a sumbitch, and folks love it. There are worse beers you could put on, and all you have to do is open their minds a little, and they might figure, hey, these OTHER beers ain't so bad after all. If you really want an IPA, I'll bet Harpoon IPA would fly, too. Ask your tavern owner what sells well, and who it sells to, and take that into consideration. That's one hell of a nice selection he's got there, by the way.

Don't forget to let us know how it goes!

Reply to
Lew Bryson

You'd take the Franziskaner over the Celis White? After being gone for several years, Celis it's just come back out again by Michigan Brewing Co. Kegs just started showing up in the last few weeks and bottles for about a month.

I'd love to put out the Harpoon, its my house staple, but I find it's a little too much for new comers that I've offered it to. Sorry, consider it my own personal Reinheitsgebot, but I don't do fruit beers other than a lime in a Bohemia or lemon in a Hefe or Wit. No blueberry on my watch.

Done.

Reply to
Carl Price

Yeah. One, I didn't think the "new" Celis was that great, and two, I've seen first-time mainstreamers suck down weissbier like it was momma's milk. Personal pref, of course, but there you are.

Understood on the blueberry, though most surviving fruit beers are head and shoulders above the crap that came out (and embarrassed us all) in the mid-1990s. I only suggested the 'Poon IPA as a relatively tame one if you really, really wanted an IPA.

I've got a somewhat similar situation this weekend. I'm supplying beer for a birthday party of upstate NYers, about fifty of them. Got a sixtel of Yards Philly Pale (very hoppy, but not overly bitter, great stuff, like SNPA with Simcoes) and a sixtel of Stoudt's Weiss, rounding it out with a couple cases of Erie Brewing beers. I suspect we're going to do just fine. Good luck with yours.

Reply to
Lew Bryson

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