Free Beer!
It’s a phrase that gets everyone’s attention. In the rare instance that someone has to miss out on free beer, they’re usually pretty broken up about it. That’s why I was shocked that the Iowa Homebrew Fest had a pretty meek turnout. I guess the article
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in Cityview didn’t do quite enough to convince people to drag their lazy butts off their couch for a few hours to suffer the arduous task of imbibing in free homebrewed beer. I thought it was going to be packed shoulder to shoulder. That isn’t to say that no one was there, people came, just not as many as I would have thought.
So here’s the rundown. The Homebrew Fest was sponsored the Iowa Brewer’s Union and Beer Crazy, where it was also held. I showed up around noon and they had an area of the parking lot cordoned off with caution tape wrapped around kegs, more than appropriate!
Inside the beer zone, as I’m calling it, was something like thirty people, a van with attached trailer/grill selling burgers and brats, and a homebrewing set up. It looked like they were doing a seven gallon batch but I didn’t get a chance to talk much with anyone operating it. They were pretty busy getting bits of grain out of their wort after their bag broke when they were steeping it.
They had twelve beers on tap and two in bottles. After being carded I walked over and grabbed a cup that was sitting readily between the two banks of taps. Handwritten on a notebook was the style of beer in each tap and its corresponding tap number.
I started with the amber ale and was pretty disappointed. My first attempt at a homebrew was an amber ale. My first step out from macro-brews was Fat Tire amber ale. Many Americans favorite beer is…you guessed it, an amber ale. It seems like every brewery and home brewer out there tries their hand at an amber so it really takes a good one to impress me. If it were anything but free, I would have been a lot more unhappy. But who am I to complain about free beer?
The next was called “Sailor Spiced Ale” brewed by Dan Haggerty Jr. It was one of the most unique beers I’ve ever tasted! Apparently he added a bit of Sailor Jerry’s spiced rum when he was brewing it. The final product had a strong clove taste, but not overpowering.
From there I tried the Nut Brown, the Spruce, and the Iowa State Fair winning Porter (which was very good). The unfortunate thing about homebrew is that no, none of you will ever have a chance to try any of these beers. But c'est la vie, brew your own!
Oh, and it was also my first trip out to Beer Crazy in Urbandale, Iowa. Very good beer selection, very helpful staff, and a 10% discount on the already cheap homebrew kit I bought today. I think I’m going to become a regular customer over there!
