From our friends at the DC Craft Beer Festival...
Craft beer Educational Initiatives Highlight DC Craft Beer Festival
Winter Harvest coming to Washington Convention Center, November 22nd, 2014
The Hand Crafted Tasting Company is proud to announce that the Winter Harvest edition of the DC Craft Beer Festival is coming to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center on Saturday, November 22nd, for two sessions, one in the afternoon and one in the evening. The Winter Harvest tasting will showcase winter releases from 75 of America’s best craft breweries, with a special focus on breweries from DC, Maryland, and Virginia.
“We are excited to build upon the success of our Craft Concierge Center,” said Ken Tesler, Founder, Hand Crafted Tasting Co. The Craft Concierge Center is a craft beer-focused information center that will be staffed with leading regional craft beer experts to answer any questions that are unable to be answered at the taps.
To serve in the craft beer think-tank, the promoters have retained Ben Keene, author of the “The Great Northeast Brewery Tour;” Garrett Peck, author of “Capital Beer: A Heady History of Brewing on Washington, DC;” Peter Carr Jones, Beer Historian & Home Brewer; Cat Portner, Co-founder, Portner Brewhouse & Certified Beer Judge; Elizabeth Hartman, VP of the DC Homebrewers Club and co-founder the women Homebrewers group (Homebrew Outreach and Participation Sisterhood - H.O.P.S); and Michael Tonsmeire aka “The Mad Fermentationist” and author of “American Sour Beers.”
Unlimited two oz. tastings of approximately 150 craft beers, ciders, and mead will be available on the main floor. There will also be prepared food for purchase designed specifically to highlight this winter’s craft beer releases.
Here are some of the early highlights poised to make an appearance at the Winter Harvest - DC Craft Beer Festival. Starr Hill is sending Jomo in firkins. Also their Teddy Graham inspired cask lager with Raw honey and cinnamon sticks, and their Snow Blind Dopplebock. Wild Wolf Brewing Company’s is sending WolfNStein, an Imperial Stout that just won a Gold medal at the Virginia Brewers Cup. Mother Earth Brewing will bring Silent Night, a bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout with a hint of coffee, and a touch of molasses, as well as their 2012 Peach Window Pane, a double American wheat fermented with vast quantities of luscious North Carolina fruit, then aged in Chardonnay barrels for three months.
Other special brews on tap for the show include Denizens’ Lowest Lord, Anderson Valley’s Winter Solstice, Alewerks Coffee Stout, Bells’ Winter White, Founders Breakfast Stout, Port City’s Tidings, Sly Fox’s Christmas, Ace’s Pumpkin Cider, and Potters’ Hop Cider.
A sampling of the 75 breweries, cideries & meaderies can be found at CraftBeerFestDC.com/breweries.
Tickets are on-sale now at CraftBeerFestDC.com/tix, and you can get updates from the festival on Twitter at @DCCraftBeerFest.
During the event, leading Craft Beer experts will host intimate, 50-person, first-come, first serve, seminars, and many brewers’ representatives will be available at the taps to educate the guests about their liquid offerings.
Ben Keene, author of “The Great Northeast Brewery Tour” will discuss his book, and hold a mini-tasting to illustrate key points of his seminar, and Michael Tonsmeire will lead a seminar and tasting on his book “American Sour Beers: Innovative Techniques for Mixed Fermentations. For the uninitiated, Sour Beers was what all beers were before Pasteur, stainless steel, hops, and refrigeration. Sour Beer is the artisan beverage of the first 8,800 years of beer's 9,000-year existence, and a growing trend.
VIP ticket-holders can enter the Washington Convention Center one hour prior to the General Admission attendees and will have early access to the beers, brewers, and food during the first hour.
Additional Pictures and Images from previous Hand Crafted Tasting Co.’s Spring - DC Craft Beer festival can be found at http://craftbeerfestdc.com/pics.
Hand-Crafted Tasting Company is the Food & Beverage division of Mad Dog Presents, a concert production & event planning company.
