ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — UPDATE: D-Day IPA will be released May 23 in the taproom. It will also be a select accounts around town after that date.
About two months ago, I saw the first announcement on the St. Augustine Brewers Festival to be held at the Fountain of Youth Park. It was the third new beer festival on the First Coast this year, following Southern Swells' Anniversary Festival and Aardwolf's Early Bird Special Festival.
We opted for VIP tickets, simply because it was too far from home for an Uber and I know parking is a pain in St Augustine. We got a parking spot with the VIP. When we arrived we also learned Mojo's BBQ was catering lunch in an Air Conditioned pavilion and we received a festival T-shirt as well as the early entrance.
We didn't need the A/C. The weather and the festival location were simply perfect for a festival. There was a hydration station, supplying fresh cool water to keep you hydrated and picnic tables everywhere providing a place to sit and talk. It was simply a relaxing afternoon, meeting up with friends, talking with Brewers and drinking some really cool beers!
My favorite story of the day came from Veterans United Craft Brewery's David Helegda. They were approached by a French brewery, Brassiere des 2 Caps about brewing a D-Day Anniversary beer. Since traveling for this collaboration was difficult, it was all done via email. It is a true Allied beer. The Hops are American, the grain bill is Canadian and French, the yeast is English. Both breweries have brewed this beer for this June 6, the 75th Anniversary of D-Day.
I love this story. I love what went into creating it. And most important I love the beer. It's a well-balanced juice bomb and was perfect on this sunny May afternoon. I highly recommend this beer when it is released. I felt honored to have one of the first tastes of it!
In my happiest moment, Matt Jacobs of Legacy Ale Works tells me he's working on a cereal beer using my favorite kid's cereal Cap'n Crunch with the Crunchberries! I apologize to Matt for the bruise I left on his arm when in a Seinfeld-esce move, I pushed him and said: "Get out!". Anybody that has been around me since this cereal beer craze started knows I have been pleading for a Cap'n Crunch beer!
Over at Legacy, they experienced the first blown keg to my knowledge, Casper's Shadow, the ghost pepper beer was poured 3 to 1 over their IPA. I'm glad I have had it previously because when I went back to get it, it was gone! It is a fantastic brew, with a good heat kick at the end. It is a regularly brewed beer, so you can still get a taste at the taproom.
Sours were the king of this festival. Which made me quite happy. Fishweir Brewing had a flavorful apricot sour called Meesh Meesh. It is a mixed fermented sour with copious amounts of apricot. I love the tartness of apricots, so this was a personal favorite.
Tallahassee's Deep Brewing brought a Key Lime Berliner, called SUBlime. It was deliciously tart, great pucker from the Key Lime and just the slightest sweetness. This was another beer that I feel honored to have tried, they have their can release of this beer on the 17. We sampled it 6 days early!
That was the underlying premise set out by the 4 St Augustine Breweries. Bring something unusual and bring a brewery employee, preferably "THE" Brewer. And there were lots of new things to try!
I made a point of checking out two breweries that either aren't open or I have not been to yet. Palatka's Azalea City Brewing will hopefully open later this year. They brought one of the best Strawberry beers I have ever had. Strawberry Berliner Weiss was straight up fresh strawberries in a glass. It smelt like strawberries, it looked like strawberries and it tasted like strawberries. Most strawberry beers tend to have that artificial strawberry taste, but they must have bought every strawberry in Palatka, because it was strawberry-licious!
I also made a point to find Palm Coast's Moonrise Brewing. I sampled their Luna Draconis, dragonfruit sour. I might have had Game of Thrones on my mind! I love dragonfruit and this beer delivered on taste! It was tart and funky. The next day, we drove down to Moonrise and had a lovely Mother's Day brunch and even more delicious beer. The Dark Prince on Nitro is one of the best chocolate milk stout's I've had in a while. They also have a variation of their Brown Ale, Wolf Bite, with Datil Peppers. I like spicy beers too!
In conclusion, this is what a beer festival should be like. Lots of areas to gather, lots of places to sit, fantastic food trucks and unusual beers. I tip my straw hat to the fantastic four breweries who put this together. Every brewer I spoke with said it was organized perfectly. The event was so enjoyed that I'm told some folks got locked in at closing! That's not wanting to leave for sure!
I'm glad this was the First Annual because I can't wait for the Second Annual!
- Steph
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