Glassboro Craft Beer Festival 2019 Glassboro Town Square 1 High St. W Glassboro, NJ 08028 Beer Fest Date: 9/28/2019
Reported by: The Stoutmeister
It was a beautiful day but still too hot for me to be outdoors in my lederhosen (Bummer!). I am saving my lederhosen for the cooler weather.
There were lots of beer vendors with brews that I like and I mean the stouts and porters. Amazingly, Guinness came up with local brews that fit the American taste; they even reformulated the Guinness blonde to be more on the hoppy side as opposed to the boring classic blonde ale. Unfortunately, I am not a big fan of hoppy beer but I am sure a lot of local drinkers would have enjoyed the new Guinness blonde. My favorite of the day ended up being the Cocoa Dream (milk stout) from Devil’s Creek Brewing Company; I like it when these brewers surprise me. It has a light tart flavor that I never expected from the stouts and I really enjoyed that. Most brewers like their stouts to have the heavy malt flavor and they even add coffee to them to give it the extra bitterness…I found some of them in this beer festival. BUT, this Stoutmeister says, “Stouts do not have to be bitter in flavor and do not have to taste heavy in malt…I just want to be surprised with something different once in a while!” Thank you for your creative imagination, Devil’s Creek!
I love having an “axe throw” cage in a beer festival although I must say that I did not do well this time. Half of my throws might have landed on the target but no bull’s eye this time. I must have enjoyed the stouts too much.
The food trucks were great but I must admit that I was too busy to check out the other merchandise vendors embedded among the beer stands. The beer distracted my attention away from them…maybe next time, they should separate the merchandise vendors from the beer tents.
Congratulations, Landmark Bar and Grill, for another successful Glassboro Beer Festival!
Reported by: The Rabbit
The 2019 Glassboro Beer fest occurred on a very pleasant day with a mix of sun and clouds. The entrance included two different lines leading into two lanes for ID checks and glass pickup, unlike last year which one line went into four lanes. Unfortunately, ID precheck is not an option at the current entrance location. However, as a VIP ticket holder, the wait time to get in was minimal even showing up 20 minutes before the beer fest started. There were ample facilities and food options, as well as axe throwing. I indulged in the axe throwing this time and was really glad the apparatus was enclosed. It was a lot of fun and a welcome respite before getting back to beer sampling. Two of my favorite beers of the day were Sinister, by Tomfoolery, and Cocoa Dream, by Devil’s Creek.
Reported by: The Noodle
This was my first beer fest. I was doing very well hanging out with my parents, The Stoutmeister, and Pretzel who were very informative and showing me the ropes. However, The Rabbit snagged me as a drinking companion when my parents were distracted by other Beer Festers who wanted to get their pictures taken with Pretzel. This was probably a mistake on my part as I had been warned, and The Rabbit’s ambition for the day was to sample a beer from every vendor (over 50!). He succeeded quite well, but I soon hit the dust, and needed a chance to relax a bit. Next year, I have to learn to pace myself, and avoid The Rabbit.
Reported by: Princess (Designated Driver)
The day started out a little cloudy, but soon the clouds cleared and it turned into a beautiful sunny day to enjoy the Glassboro Beer Fest. As the non-drinker and therefore DD of the group, I debated whether to attend the beer fest or just provide transportation to and from the fest for my posse of friends. Due to the weather forecast and the low entrance fee for DD’s of $5, I chose to hang with my posse. Upon entrance, we found a picnic table with an umbrella and I broke out my folding chair, placed it in the shade, dug my book out of my bag and proceeded to enjoy myself while the posse went in search of beer. I was prepared to spend a lot of alone time, but that wasn’t the case. The beer tents were relatively close by (and there seemed to be plenty of them), so my pals would get some beer and then swing by the table to mark their scorecards as to what they tried and what they liked. For a local beer fest, Glassboro does a nice job. There were plenty of beer vendors and plenty of port-a-potties to support the crowd (I never saw a line at the potties). There were some non-beer distractions, such as vendors selling pretzels, clothing, jerky, jewelry, etc. There was a band, a corn-hole game and for a fee, the ability to throw an axe at a target (fortunately the participants were caged like animals at a zoo. I’m not sure who thought it would be a good idea to hand axes to patrons who drink a lot of beer in a short period of time, but at least the rest of us were safe). There were about 5 food trucks and 1 food cart. With the exception of one of the food trucks that sold vegetarian options, the others all sold food that goes pretty well with beer. As a DD, I would have liked to have a healthy non-vegetarian option, but was satisfied with a half of a roast beef sandwich, although I did think it was a little pricey at $10 for some beef and a piece of cheese on a Kaiser roll. Overall it was a very pleasant day with the bestest of friends.
Reported by: B3
Another year, another wonderful Glassboro Beer Fest! Since moving back to Town Square last year, this beer fest continues to thrive and is one of my favorites. The crowds are manageable and the weather is usually pleasant in late September, making for an enjoyable day. The beer styles were well represented this year and while there were a number of pumpkin related flavors they did not dominate as they had just a few years back. Marzens were popular given the season, along with a number of stouts and porters. Of course IPAs and sours were represented too. A few of the newer breweries underestimated the popularity of their brews and ran out early, but otherwise most breweries had ample supply and the staff pouring were happy to talk about their brews. A number of merchants were present, along with a few snack vendors normally found at a beer fest (you know, spicy snacks, jerky, and pickles – why is there always pickles at a beer fest???). The food truck assortment was a bit lighter than I remember in years’ past, which resulted in longer lines for any substantial food. It would be nice to see more food options, although let’s not lose sight of the reason we go…for the beer!
Reported by: Pretzel
Yes indeed, it was another successful Glassboro Craft Beer Festival. The weather was beautiful, the beer was cold and tasty, and the food trucks provided a nice variety of delicious morsels. There was good representation from the Beer Posse with The Stoutmeister, The Rabbit, B3, Princess, and I all in attendance. My son “The Noodle” also joined us as a guest reviewer. This year I had a better strategy to beer tasting, cause let’s face it – after about 10 beers, your taste buds die and everything starts to taste the same. So I downloaded the beer menu before hand, and picked out my “must have” brews! It worked out quite well, and for a change I didn’t lose my head and start randomly jumping from brewer to brewer. I have to give a shout out to Devil’s Creek, who always seem to rise to the top of my favorite beers at the beer fests. This time was no exception as they provided a delicious Cocoa Dream Milk Stout! YUM! This concoction has made my all-time top 5 beer list and may actually be my favorite beer of all time. I will have to do some more research and compare this beer head-to-head with others on my top list.
I found The Stoutmeister conversing in Tagalog with the server from Palaweno Brewing. Palaweno is a Filipino brewing company that recently opened a production-only facility in North Jersey. Being married to a Filipino has given me the opportunity to expand my cultural and linguistic horizons, so I jumped in to the conversation with the only Tagalog phrase I know “Na-i-i-hi ako”. The server gives me that weird look you give your date when they try to participate in a conversation and have no idea what you’re talking about. He said to me “You have to pee”, and pointed me toward the port-a-potties. Hey! This might be all I know in Tagalog, but it obviously serves me well! You never know when you might be stranded in the Philippines and need to find a bathroom!
I also got a chance to catch up with some of my favorite brewers and servers – Kathy from Devil’s Creek, Krystal from Axe and Arrow, Heather from Eight & Sand, and John and Mike from Hidden Creek. I love seeing all our local breweries well-represented. Can’t wait until next year!
Favorite Beers of the Day:
- Pretzel – Devil’s Creek Cocoa Dream Milk Stout & Evil Genius Peanut Butter Porter
- The Rabbit – Devil’s Creek Cocoa Dream Milk Stout & Tomfoolery’s Sinister
- The Stoutmeister – Devil’s Creek Cocoa Dream Milk Stout
- B3 – Great Lakes Oktoberfest
- The Noodle – Sam Adam’s Same 76 Lager
Websites & Links:
- Glassboro Craft Beer Fest – https://glassborobeerfest.com/
- Glassboro’s page – https://www.glassboro.org/events/2019/9/28/glassboro-craft-beer-festival
- Glassboro Craft Beer Fest on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pg/glassborobeerfest/photos/?ref=page_internal
- Pretzel’s Beer Blog Review 2018 – https://pretzelsbeerblog.com/glassboro-craft-beer-festival-2018-glassboro-gloucester-county/
- Pretzel’s Beer Blog Review 2017 – https://pretzelsbeerblog.com/glassboro-beer-festival-2017-glassboro-nj/
- Pretzel’s Beer Blog Review 2016 – https://pretzelsbeerblog.com/glassboro-craft-beer-festival-glassboro/
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