Mass Brewers Fest

Last night was the Mass Brewers Fest at the WTC in the Seaport and my third year attending. Awesome (and ridiculous) as always, and quite the kickoff for Labor Day weekend. As I'm watching the first College Gameday of the season and recovering, it seems like a good time for some documentation.

There were so many great beers, but here are my favorite new discoveries:

• Riverwalk (Newburyport, MA) - Gnomad
• Belgian with lots of citrus
• Riverwalk (Newburyport, MA) - Unveiled 
• Hibiscus with pink peppercorn
• Mayflower (Plymouth, MA) - S'mores
• Cask beer, earthy, with subtle sweetness. Apparently made just for this festival, but I'll be keeping an eye out for it!

We somehow managed to convince each other that going to Bukowski's after the event would be a great idea (news flash: not our best), so we snagged a cab back to Inman for a nightcap.


Beer: Harviestoun's Old Engine Oil Porter
ABV: 6.00%
Home: Alva, Scotland, UK
Slogan: Viscous-Bittersweet-Dark

The color is as dark as it gets with a tan head. Strong, bitter coffee is the predominant flavor - it reminds me of the overly bitter Starbucks dark roast if you buy it in the cafe rather than make it yourself. The brewery describes this beer as having a residual bittersweet flavor, but I think it's actually pretty dry. Also smoky. My fellow mug teammate was adamant that it tastes like "liquid smoke in a meat locker" (keep in mind this was immediately post-brewfest). Earthy finish. I might have picked a bad time to get this one - I think I'd appreciate this beer more if I hadn't just tried dozens at the brewers fest.