The fifth annual Buffalo Brewers Festival, which takes place on June 23 (4-7p) at Canalside, will feature over 20 local Buffalo & WNY breweries, making for a tap list of well over 50 beers in total. That is a lot of beer to navigate through, so I wanted to try and make things a little easier on everyone by highlighting four different breweries and each beer they are planning to bring (subject to change) each week leading up until the big dance.
So make sure you check back weekly before June 23 to see what breweries you cannot afford to miss and what must-drink beers you need to grab.
12 Gates Brewing
Coffee Porter: Dark chocolate, light roast, and toffee pair with traditional English hops to create this smooth porter. Classic. I’ll have at least one. At least.
German Radler: A German Hefeweizen blended with pink lemonade and grapefruit juice. You had me at radler. It’s going to be sunny, so the line will be long for this thirst quencher.
Hermetic IPA: An IPA with loads of hops to give it tons of dank tropical fruit and citrus flavor and aroma, including pineapple and grapefruit. This was one of my favorite beers from last year’s fest. Can’t wait to enjoy some more of this beer.
Southern Tier Brewing
8 Days A Week Blonde Ale: Infinitely drinkable with a hint of Centennial hops for fruity notes and low bitterness for an easy finish. Bring on the blonde ales. Please and thank you.
Lemon Drop Sun: Just enough hop bitterness and lemon tartness to keep your taste buds tingling for another sip. Yet another light crushable offering, which is not a bad thing.
Science is the Art: The Psychic Laser Double IPA: Tropical, fruity, piney and citrusy notes from Mosaic, Equanot, and Simcoe hops. My name is Brian and I love IPA’s. Enough said.
Eli Fish Brewing
“Awry” Rye Saison: A beautifully clear, lightly hopped saison with a noticeable rye body. It finishes dry and clean. A rye saison sounds like a nice break from the norm given this tap list.
“Brewers Wife” Blonde Ale: Mildly hopped blonde ale built with a generous amount of wheat. Another blonde ale? See above. Bring them on. Bring them all on.
Thin Man Brewery
Burning Money NEIPA: Drenched with flavors & aromas of pine & tropical fruits – orange juice, pineapple juice, mango juice, juice and more juice. This has long been one of my favorite Thin Man beers, so yes, I’ll be partaking a few times.
Buffalo Pills Pilsner: Combines German pilsner malt and traditional German hops in a crisp, easy drinking lager. If you know me, I’m a major proponent of craft pilsners. Let’s get it.
Minkey Boodle Raspberry Sour: Bright acidity mingles with round raspberry character and a crisp body. One of the best sours Buffalo has ever produced at Buffalo’s premier beer fest? Um, yes please.
Aura Wild Saison: A collaboration with Ontario’s Block Three Brewing brewed with Riesling juice. Its tart and refreshing.
In addition to an all WNY brewery lineup, the Buffalo Brewers Fest will have a number of special features, including local food vendors and food trucks, local ciders, meads, and a Farm to Pint tent highlighting brews made with 100 percent local ingredients. The festival will also feature a special summer brew that each brewery will make their own version of – this year is saison.
Don’t drink and drive! Let Lyft do all of the driving for you, so all you need to focus on is having fun and celebrating all things Buffalo on the waterfront. New users can download the Lyft app and use the code ‘BNBA’ to receive special discounts off your first few rides.
Tickets can be purchased at BuffaloBrewersFestival.com and Ticketfly as well as at all 17 Consumer’s Beverages locations. For more information, please visit, https://www.facebook.com/events/992859620880355.
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Brian Campbell is a co-founder/Brand Manager of the BNBA’s enthusiast arm, Buffalo Beer League, and writes the weekly Buffalo Beer Buzz column. If you have beer news that should be included in the Beer Buzz, Brian can be reached at buffalobeerleague@aol.com, on Twitter (@buffbeerleague), Instagram (@buffalobeerleague), Facebook (@thebuffalobeerleague) and www.buffalobeerleague.com.