Beerfume: Great Taste of the Midwest

Back before craft beer became mainstream and I was barely legal, I attended my very first beer festival. It was called the Great Taste of the Midwest, and was held in a small park in downtown Madison, Wisconsin, where I was a grad student. That beer festival has been held each year now for 27 years. It's much larger than it was back in the day, and it's held in a much bigger park with a better view of a lake.

I've been to many other beer festivals, and they all have their own charms, but this one is in a class of its own. It's not the biggest beer festival, but it might be the one that is hardest to get tickets to, for good reasons. There is the gorgeous setting on Lake Monona, the fantastic organization by the Madison Homebrewers and Tasters Guild, and the attention to detail (for example, the program is sized so that it can easily slide into your back pocket). There is the fact that it is a regional beer festival (only breweries from 10 midwestern states were represented). It's got it's own iPhone app, and the brewers are often actually pouring their own beers. Local brewpubs organize free shuttles to and from the event, and cab rides home are only $1. It's always the 2nd Saturday in August, so the timing is good for both summer beers and the new fall beers.

But the two things that really set this beer fest apart from the others, for me at least, are the many crazy experimental beers that are brewed especially for this festival and the equally zany fads and fashions that arise among the patrons of this unique event. I still remember a pizza beer, brewed with tomatoes, oregano and garlic, and a "sausage-fest" beer made with smoked malts and fennel. These beers and others like them won't ever make it to a store near you, but they are amazingly fun to taste.

Similar to the uniques of the brews found at this event, certain apparel worn to the Great Taste won't likely be worn elsewhere.

In the case of both the beers and the cult fashions found at the Great Taste, there are interesting trends noted each year, some which stick around to become mainstream (at least for beer fests) and some of which, perhaps deservedly, do not. I'm going to attempt to describe some of my findings in both areas from this year's festival.

Festival beer trends

There are still plenty of crazily hopped beers, beers with >10% alcohol by volume, and every possible variation on the theme of Belgium; they are here to stay. There were many geeky beer t-shirts, many unusual hats, and one-off costumes.

Aging beer in booze barrels was popular again this year. Bourbon-barrel aged beers have been around for a long time; it's a great way for a brewer to make a special limited edition beer for a beer festival, and their popularity has expanded to various commercial offerings. The re-use of other types of alcoholic beverage barrels is a newer twist. Several breweries, including Karben4 Brewing of Madison Wisconsin, and Atlas Brewing of Chicago served gin barrel-aged brews, which works well with the lighter summery styles with more herbal and floral character, like Saisons. I sadly did not get to try Peony from Brugge Brasserie (Indianapolis, IN), which is a strong Belgian golden ale aged in chardonnay barrels, nor the Brandy Farmagedden (brandy barrels) or their Funk-o-Dile Dundee (red wine barrels) or the Luke’s Lips Blonde Ale (raspberry mead barrels). Many breweries had special offerings aged in various wine and whiskey barrels, including Goose Island's Violet Hour Manhattan BCS, which was an imperial stout (13% ABV) aged in a "3rd use bourbon barrel that had previously held a Manhattan cocktail".

Previously used barrels, of course, are not free of microbes, and they can impart their own character to the beer. Along those lines, there were many, many beers utilizing brettanomyces and other wild yeasts or other microbes including lactobacillus and pediococcus. I particularly enjoyed the Brett Cornucopia from Peace Tree Brewing (Knoxville, IA), a refreshingly sour saison made with local Iowa sweet corn.

It does seem like every possible vegetable, fruit, herb, and spice were included in beers represented at the Great Taste this year (but no carrots this year that I found; a few years back Short's had a fantastic carrot cake beer that even seemed to have the cream cheese frosting due to the likely inclusion of lactose).

Here's just a sampling of the kitchen-sink of ingredients that could be found in brews yesterday:

Beets
Cucumber
Mushrooms
Pumpkin (not in as many beers as in previous years)
Hot peppers of all kinds, including ghost peppers in Space Ghost, a fine and fiery stout from Central Waters
Rhubarb (including the beautiful and delicious Backyard Rustic from Minneapolis Town Hall Brewing

Berries of all kinds, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, elderberries
Apricot (very popular this year)
Peaches
Plums
Cherries, sweet, sour
Grapes
Tangerine
Grapefruit
Lime
Mango
Guava
Passion fruit
Hibiscus flowers
Pineapple
Toasted coconut
Sage
Rosemary
Basil
Tarragon
Mint
Lemongrass
Lavender
Coriander
Spruce
Juniper
Black pepper
Pink peppercorn
Chestnuts
Almonds
Vanilla
Chocolate
Carob
Coffee
Tea
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Cardamom
Ginger
Pickling spice (!)

A few very unusual beers deserve note. One, which I regrettably did not try, supposedly included long john donuts in Long Polymer John Donut Ale (Dark Horse Brewing Company, Marshall MI).

However, I did get to try a memorable and very tasty and drinkable brew from Short's Brewing Company (Bellaire, MI): PB and Banana Wheat made with, yes, roasted peanut butter and banana.

Other trends: beers showcasing single hops varieties, use of new hops varieties such as Citra and Calypso, creating unusual flavors with just the Rheinheitsgebot-permissable ingredients, lots of Berliner Weisses and Saisons, cocktail inspired beers (mojito beer, anyone?).

Fashion at the fest

On to the apparel! I think most of these photos speak for themselves.

Beer goggles were big this year:

I'm not sure how much blame Bell's Brewing gets for the goggles, but they were big on the Mad Scientist theme this year, and I did end up somehow bringing home some goggles myself with their logo stamped on them.