The Taming of the Brew

This past Saturday, one of the events that I look forward to every year happened. The Taming of the Brew, held annually in Bloomsburg, PA, is a beer and food festival that benefits the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble. This year, there were 26 brewery(22)/distributor(4) tables in the two room festival. Between the beer tables, there were 22 local restaurants showcasing the food that they prepare (huge bonus of free food when given free beer). The festival highlights the local brewpubs. Many of the attendees may not have heard of the breweries, but The Taming of the Brew allows these people to experience their beer.


The food is not to be outdone. Many of the local restaurants bring their A-Game. From the premier sub shop in town (Steph's Subs) to great Italian (Balzano's) to a top rate restaurant bringing scallops (Eagle's Mere Inn- scallops were grilled on site), the food would be reason enough to attend.

Some breweries brought their top beers- Stone brought Sublimely Self-Rightous, Arrogant Bastard, Oaked Arrogant Bastard and their IPA; Bullfrog Brewing brought Edgar IPA (one of my favorite IPAs) as well as a great tasting Roughneck Scottish Ale; Market Cross Pub brought their Pub Porter- ON A HANDPUMP!; The Brewpub at Turkey Hill also brought a cask conditioned pale ale; Troegs had their typical lineup of Dreamweaver, Troegenator, Sunshine Pils, Java Head Stout and Hopback; and a new place to me, River House Brewpub had a very nice Dubbel. My fiancé enjoyed the Lindeman's Frambroise that was provided by one of the distributors.

The highlight of my day included the sight of Orval in the one distributor’s ice bucket. I thought that it was going be to a special release, so I asked when. He stated that they had an open bottle, so I made it my job to stop in for some every time I was nearby. It was ORVAL(!), who would ever bring that to Bloomsburg. Delicious. I turned some of my fellow friends onto it, they too enjoyed it.

I would also like to note that there were Ale Street News and Mid-Atlantic Brewing News newspapers lying around. Great placement. I hope that people were able to take and read them.  Also, Wade Hutchison gave a talk on beer styles.  I was not able to get down to listen to him, but I heard that it was extremely informative (I did see him last year, and it taught me a thing or two).

Orval in the Glass

Orval tag that caught my eye (others in the bucket, Lindeman's Franboise and Ayinger's) 

Ale Street News and Mid-Atlantic Brewing News

The Market Cross BrewPub Handpump on the table (great Porter!)

Some pics of the festival, attendees. 

It wouldn't be complete without the GregFace.