15th Annual Fairfax Beerfest Recap

With all the rain we’ve been getting here in Northern California, it was a pleasant change to have a sun-filled weekend. The timing couldn’t have been any better at the 15th Annual Fairfax Beerfest was on Saturday and I just so happened to be in attendance.

Unlike previous years where I’ve been an attendee at this festival, this year I worked the festival pouring for Firehouse Brewery along with brewmaster Steve Donohue. Steve brought up his hefeweizen and his Cluster Fuggle British-style Bitter. Based upon a throwaway comment on Facebook, Steve also brought up a 5 gallon keg of his Dry Irish Stout as well.

We arrived at the Fairfax Pavilion around 10am Saturday morning. The festival was supposed to start until 1pm but Steve said he was going to be there early and so I had to be there early. A good thing too as Fairfax little league baseball had their opening ceremony that day as well, crowding the already tight streets of Fairfax. As the remainder of the participating breweries filtered in the hours prior to the festival, those of us who arrived early were treated to Fairfax little league T-ball. While I am admittedly not a baseball fan, it was nostalgic seeing the little guys play.

By the time the festival started, Speakeasy Ales & Lagers had set up to our left while Napa Smith Brewery. Napa Smith arrived at the festival with minutes to spare so when the doors finally opened up, they were still having issues with their banner. The beginning of the Beerfest started off fairly slowly allowing Napa Smith to put up their sign.

Because I was working the event pouring beers for Firehouse, I didn’t get a chance to try all of the beers there, nor was I able to scope out all of the other breweries’ set ups. New Belgium seemed to have one of the most decorated displays. They had a bunch of promotional items on their table and a good sized banner. 21st Amendment also had a lot of giveaways but their Watermelon “Randall” promoting their Hell or High Watermelon Wheat. I am admittedly not a big fan of their watermelon wheat but having it further infused with watermelon made it more palatable; the base beer was all but lost under the watermelon flavors but it made for a very refreshing beer.

I had a chance to talk with Steve from Ale Industries out of Concord, California. They’re a small, two-man production brewery at the moment and I’m hoping to pay them a visit sometime soon. They were pouring their Bill Brand Northern English Brown, a wonderfully malty rich English Brown Ale with slight chocolate notes; and their flagship Orange Kush, an American interpretation of the Belgian witbier. I didn’t have my hopes up too high for the Orange Kush as I’ve been disappointed with American witbiers before but I really enjoyed the Orange Kush. There’s a good reason it’s one of their flagship beers.

I spent the majority of my time at the festival pouring either the Firehouse hefeweizen or the Cluster Fuggle. Steve’s beers moved slowly at first. Many of the other, more recognized breweries, seemed to have the attention of early festival goers. Both beers poured at about the same rate with Cluster Fuggle getting a lot of attention on name alone. By the end of the festival though, the hefeweizen was pouring at a slightly faster rate. What I would later learn from a festival attendee was that Steve was the only brewery pouring a hefeweizen, which I found strange as it’s a fairly common style. As word got out about how good the beer was, Cluster Fuggle began to pour briskly. In fact, whoever was judging the beers at the festival ended up giving Cluster Fuggle 3rd place in the Dark/Amber/Stout category; a small consolation as only the top two receive awards.

I highly encourage anyone who wants to work in the brewing industry to volunteer to help their local brewer at the events they participate in. While not a grueling as my time at Russian River, pouring at a festival gives you an idea of the what to expect. Brewers, like anyone else who has a job, clock in their daily hours making the beers we love. In addition, they have to do a lot of marketing during their off times, usually in the form of pouring their beers at beer festivals. An already long work week is extended even further by having to give up you weekend to pour your beer at a festival where it may not even be appreciated. Steve left San Jose at 8am and didn’t leave the festival until almost 6pm. That’s basically a full day’s work and this was just one festival. Imagine how hectic it may be for the more popular breweries. I’m sure Russian River gets hit up on a nearly weekly basis to pour at one festival or another during the peak of the festival season. In any event, it was an eye opening experience for me and something I’d want to do again.

For the most part, the beerfest went off pretty well. It seemed to be a little less crowded this year resulting in better traffic flow. It was still difficult to hear in side the pavilion with the band playing but even without the band, the crowd was loud on its own. I’m not sure if the food vendor there has an exclusivity deal with the organizers of the Fairfax Beerfest but they seemed to be the only food vendor in attendance. Despite the fact that I enjoyed their corned beef sandwich incredibly, it’d be great to see a little variety. Being a festival n00b, I wasn’t quite sure what the proper etiquette was for watching other brewery’s equipment. At one of the low points in the festival, attendees were leaning over the edge of the table and pouring themselves beer from the unmanned Speakeasy table. Kane had blown through the two kegs on tap and was out for a small break when this had happened. I stepped in for a pinch to ensure that situation didn’t happen again, it didn’t, but I thought that people either lack common sense (no one is there, so no beer is available) or they just have poor manners. Kane didn’t have it any easier as people stole the beer label sticker right off his jockey box as well as one of their posters. At one point, a visibly drunk festival goer goes right up to the now disassembled Speakeasy jockey box and swipes a Speakeasy branded pint glass right off the top, which just happened to be Kane’s personal pint glass. Kane got it back but did it even really need to get to that point to begin with?

At the lowest point of the day, festival goers had swamped Napa Smith’s table as they appeared to be the only brewery left pouring beer. Once Fairfax’s finest told us to shut it down, the crowd started getting a little rowdy. It’s never a good scene, and luckily nothing bad occurred, but I suppose this is something every brewery pouring at a festival goes through.

In a time where most cities, big and small, are happy to put on Arts & Wine festivals, the little town of Fairfax continues to play host to a small-town beerfest that you just don’t see anymore. It’s a welcome change of pace to the enormity that was SF Beer Week. I’m looking forward to going next year, either at an attendee or as a volunteer.

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