Idaho Brew Review

Northwestcentric Beerventures

Alefort is long over… but it was a hell of a good time

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As the greater Boise area continues to develop as a source for local craft beer, we’re seeing our beer festival’s grow and mature.  Case in point, if you didn’t make it down at some point to Alefort, part of the Treefort Music Festival, you definitely missed out and your tastebuds may never forgive you.

All of the local players that you would expect to find (Meriwether, Cloud9, Sockeye, Slanted Rock, The Ram, Payette, Woodland Empire, EDGE, Bear Island, Crooked Fence, Powderhaus, Barbarian, Longdrop, Highlands Hollow, County Line and Boise Brewing) were on hand along with regional, representation from New Belgium and some outside sources (national and international) courtesy of Bittercreek, Bier:Thirty, The Front Door, and Prost.  To say that this was an expanded event over #Alefort2015 is an understatement and then some.  The brewery tent was easily 3 or 4 times larger than the year before and included secondary tent for some beer panels and belly dancing.  I was more focused on drinking the beer personally, but when I stuck my head in the second tent there was a belly dancer on stage doing her thing. Bottom line, there was thankfully a lot more space to hang out, drink beer, and meet up with fellow beer lovers….

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Payette Brewing Black Friday 2015

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2015-11-27 10.35.24The Friday following the Thanksgiving holiday, for many it’s a day filled with standing in line, braving the cold, and fighting the crowds to save a few bucks on electronics. What if I told you that there was a much better way to spend your day? Payette Brewing’s “Black Friday” is day filled with a possibilities and incredible beers from around the region! You can sate your need for deals with a few minutes online in the morning before you head out to enjoy the a breathtaking selection of Stouts and Porters that will delight your palate and ensnare the spirit. Ok, ok, that may be a little deep, but seriously… this event and theses beers are worth blocking out the day on your calendar and shipping the kids off to the grandparents so you can maximize your experience.

This year, Payette Brewing hosted the event at their new facility in downtown Boise off River Street. Since the building is still being renovated, a large tent was erected in the parking lot filled with tables, music, lights, and thankfully a generator nearby to provide power and some heat! To say that it was cold out is an understatement. To say that the generator was unruly is too kind, especially for those employees & volunteers who were on-site getting everything ready hours before the event started. I arrived at 10, an hour before the “League of Outlaws” members early access and you couldn’t miss the frost that was forming on the inside of the tent walls. Once things really got hopping around 1:00 there was enough heat inside from the heaters and warm bodies that the ambient temps were getting bearable although we had some intermittent rain from all that melting frost. By that time however, I don’t think anyone noticed… or cared. There were simply to many people to talk to and way too many beers to dive into….

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Boise Brewing Hoptober Freshtival 2015

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Hoptober PosterBeer festivals! These two magic words can make a beer lovers knees quiver. Sadly, in Boise, we’ve been without a honest to goodness beer festival for the past few years as costs, permitting and other issues with the city brought about their untimely demise. Last year, I was fortunate enough to attend (and volunteer) at the inaugural Boise Brewing Hoptober Freshtival (read about it here). The initial event in 2014 brought out mostly local brewers to a central location (5th & Broad St) in front of the Boise Brewing brewery. Beer lovers heard the call and purchased their $25 tickets and received a taster mug (roughly 5oz) and were treated to unlimited tasters until the beer was gone or until 8pm.

This year, the Hoptober Freshtival was bigger and better in all the ways that count. Instead of 13 breweries we had 25+ for a total of more than 50 tap handles to choose from. All the local players were on hand and some regional breweries made the trip up as well, including Fort George, Deschutes, & Mazama Brewing. Sadly, we did loose the “all you can drink” component due to permitting changes with the city, but that may have been for the best. Who wouldn’t get into trouble at an All You Can Drink craft beer event? The new system offered attendees their taster mug and 20 tickets which, if fully redeemed, would equate to 80+ oz of beer. Still, a pretty damn good deal for a $25 ticket ($30 at the door).  Once again, Broad Street between 4th & 5th was blocked off in front of Boise Brewing. At noon, with people lined up along the fence, the gates opened and people started filing inside….

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Kegs for Kerry 2015

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3:10 and the line is almost to the corner!

3:10 and the line is almost to the corner!

On July 18th 2015 the brewing community in and around the Treasure Valley came together to support Kerry Thomas, head brewer at EDGE Brewing in Boise who was injured in a boil over accident.  It has always been my impression that the competition in craft beer, at least here in the Treasure Valley, is pretty good natured and generally friendly.   The wagons were circled to support one of their own from the get go.

In case you didn’t make it out to Prefunk for ‪#‎kegsforkerry‬ here are just a few of the things you missed. The crowd was of course, great and the turn out was pretty amazing. When I arrived a few minutes after 3pm there was already a line out the building of people waiting to get some beer. There was both a raffle (personally I didn’t win anything, but Rick & his wife Sarah cleaned house at the table we shared) and a silent auction. Auction items ran the gambit from a beach house stay in Oregon to gift certificates, growlers + fills, amazing beer packages, art and more.…

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Payette Brewing Black Friday

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Payette Brewing Black Friday 2014 Menu

Why on earth would anyone care to battle the crowds to save a few bucks off electronics that you don’t need when you could spend 10 hours drinking amazing beer?? That’s just what we did at what will hopefully become an annual event put on by Payette Brewing at the Linen Building in downtown Boise featuring more stouts than I have ever seen in one location.

Everything on tap was a stout and they hailed from local brewers like Boise Brewing, EDGE, Crooked Fence, McCall Brewing, Sockeye, Highlands Hollow, & of course Payette. Not to be left out, a number of regional names were also in attendance like Deschutes, Ninkasi, Odell, Widmer Brothers, Full Sail to name just a few. Out front was one of my favorite local food trucks Archies Place, with perfect sandwiches to follow copious beer consumption. My only complaint was the unseasonably warm temps in Boise paired with mass stout consumption.

The crowd showed up ready to drink beer and while I was there at least, everyone was easy going, festive and chatting up other beer lovers. In fact, it was hard not to make new friends for those of us that were fortunate enough to have landed one of the few tables or barrels. After the first few hours… having a table to rally around made all the difference and as people came and went it proved fruitful in the inheritance of beer tokens as fellow patrons ran out of time, stamina, or sobriety and decided to throw in the towel. I wound up with 2 bonus beers which was both a blessing and a curse after the 5 tokens I had purchased for myself.

Payette Black Friday 2014; The event itself was free, tokens for a 5oz pour were $3 each, a commemorative glass snifter was $5 or you could forgo the glass and use a mini solo-cup. My thinking with the glass was that aside from the souvenir factor, it was also more likely to result in over-pour since it’s harder to judge the volume on the curved glass. Of course, every pour varied and some behind the tap were more generous than others. All things considered, definitely no complaints and as I understand it, some of the proceeds went to the Joe Cans project against cancer via Big City Coffee.

Payette Brewing Black Friday 2014 Album

Idaho Botanical Garden Fall Festival 2014

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botanicalgardenlogo

The Botanical Harvest festival, which I don’t believe is a new event, did feature 7 local breweriess this year which all contributed a special small batch brew featuring an ingredient provided by the botanical garden. This was a very family friendly event, which as a father of 2 I very much appreciate. It’s hard to be a beer lover with kids sometimes when most events cater only to the over 21 crowd.  While some events may allow entry to kids, they don’t really cater or foster a “family friendly” atmosphere.  At least not an environment I would want my kids at.  This event was the exact opposite in that it was 100% family and child friendly, they just happened to have a small beer garden with great small batch beer brewed by 7 different breweries (Sockeye, EDGE, Cloud9, Sawtooth, Payette, Woodland Empire & Crooked Fence).

Aside from the beers, which were fantastic, there were lots of free activities to wander between like hay rides, cornhusk people craft (ok they kinda look like corn husk voodoo dolls…), face painting, trebuche pumpkin launching (courtesy of the Discovery Center of Idaho), food trucks (Calle 75 Tacos, Willowcreek Grill, & Riceworks, live music, an artisan market, and of course pumpkin patch/pumpkin painting and tons of photo opportunities.

I am hopeful that they addition of the local breweries and their inclusion of ingredients from the gardens will continue to be a key component of future fall festivals.  If you find yourself in Boise during the Idaho Botanical Garden Fall Festival, definitely check it out and don’t hesitate to bring the entire family!