The 10th Annual Firkin Fest was held this past weekend at Triple Rock Brewery in Berkeley. Benefiting the Alisa Ann Ruch Burn Foundation, the festival drew an enthusiastic crowd of cask beer fans. For Merideth and I, this was our first ever event at the Berkeley beer institution.
Joined by Kevin Clark, the brewer at our local Peter B’s Brewpub, his wife Corrie and our friend and thebeergeek.com contributor, Renee Brincks, we arrived at Triple Rock just after the festival opened. Admittedly, I was a bit worried that the cozy brewpub would be wall to wall people. It did get crowded at times, but was never unmanageable. In the end, it was an enjoyable afternoon of hanging out with Bay Area friends and drinking good beer.
There were 25 gravity firkins on hand, including Kevin’s 40 Acre Pale Ale. Over the course of a long afternoon, Merideth and I managed to try almost all of the brews.
My star was the GABF Gold Medal winning Three Flowers IPA from Marin Brewing, which brewer Arne Johnson admitted was five flowers in this incarnation. Merideth singled out Erin Go Bragh, an Irish-style Stout from Oakland Brewing Company, as her favorite. At 3.9%, it also gave her an opportunity to support Lew Bryson’s Session Beer Day.
Other notable brews included…
- Drake’s Gold, Drake’s Brewery
- Hopsickle, Moylan’s Brewery
- Magnum P.A., Iron Spring Brewery
- 40 Acre Pale Ale, Peter B’s Brewpub
- O.T.I.S., Firehouse Brewery
- East Bay IPA, Ales Industries
- NZ Hop Riot, High Water Brewing
- Twist of Fate, Moonlight Brewing
View all the images from our day at Firkin Fest…