The Beast of Beer takes over DC

On Saturday I drove down to DC to work the Snallygaster Beer Festival with friends, but was miffed when after a few miles, I realized I'd left my travel mug of tea sitting on the kitchen counter. Yet an incident free journey and a parking space right outside of Margie's house made the world right again, and Margie very kindly made us coffee in disposable mugs to walk down to town with. It was a 45 minute walk, a perfect mini workout that woke me up properly, along with the coffee. The sky was cloudy, a cool breeze whisked through my hair, the temperature in the low 70's. An almost ideal environment to be working in, but I was constantly aware of the DC stench, polluted air filled with last night's cooking fumes from restaurants, exhaust gases and the occasional sewage stench. I have no idea where this last pong came from but I just walked swiftly past. I often smell this in cities. I guess it's an 'over population' thing, but I can only shrug it off and give thanks that I live in a small rural town with fresh air.

We passed some interesting murals and a couple of people begging for coffee or money but eventually made it to Pennsylvania Ave, where it was kind of thrilling to be serving beer in front of The Capitol. This is Snally's second year in this location, but unfortunately I missed it last year, due to my damn back letting me down. Thankfully, not something I've had to suffer for a while now. This is the eighth festival and I've now worked 4 of them, it's a fabulous event and exceptionally well organized. I had studied the brewery list beforehand and with nearly 400 brews to taste, was hoping to pour for Equilibrium, one of the breweries on my allocated area.

A small brewery from Middletown, NY, they were featuring 4 hazy IPAs today, my favorite, and I was ecstatic, when because Margie and I had got there early, I was able to pick them for pouring duty. Margie plumped for Founders, next door to me, since they had a couple of award winning stouts, which she loved. Our brewery representative turned up and connected the taps to the barrels, a wonderful sweet smell rising up, like candy floss. I was itching to sample the beers I'd be pouring and wasn't disappointed when we were let loose on the taps. After all, one has to be able to comment on the beers one pours for one's customers. Our job was made easier this year too, because there were no vouchers to collect. Everyone admitted had unlimited pours, albeit they were 3oz, unless specific beers allowed 8oz. But not one person throughout the day whined about their measures since they could keep coming back, they just thrust their glasses forward and accepted their beers with big smiles.

Just before the public were allowed in, I had a quick scout up and down the few vendors selling crafts or foods. The Feathers Feed Jerky was amazing. They gave me a piece shaped like a bacon slice and it was divine, like a piece of English back bacon. Veteran owned and based in PA, they had beef, buffalo, elk, venison and pork products. We had a few more tasters later on in the day and weren't disappointed. Victory Dance Creative caught my eye with his vibrant screen printed posters of DC neighborhoods. I had to have one for my studio and finally plumped on the Columbia Heights image, depicting a style of house I always admire in the city. He kindly looked after my print for me until the festival finished.
And then it was time to get to my station and await the arrival of the VIP guests, those who had paid $100 to have 2 hours first dibs at the beers before the general public were admitted. There were some limited quantity, or 'rare' beers here today which would definitely disappear quickly.

I was amazed at how fast the queues formed at our brewery. I had an opportunity to chat to a few people and admire their t-shirts, and then it was non stop pouring. The time flew by, I couldn't believe it, and soon we were allocating times to get lunch. I wanted to go early before the general public came in, afraid that once the huge crowds arrived I wouldn't be able to stop and eat. With about 2000 VIPs and the total attendance totaling nearly 30000, I wanted to have lunch over and done with before the mad rush, especially as we were given a $10 voucher to spend on the food trucks.

Margie and I plumped for The Big Cheese. Mine was a pesto and tomato affair but it definitely wasn't big. not like the wonderful cheesy doorstop from 'Say Cheese!' I'd demolished at the Frederick Beer Fest. But I was hungry and so down the hatch it went and then we scuttled off to continue pouring. I was glad to get some sustenance in my belly as sampling double and triple IPAs mid morning was taking its toll, but after a few minutes I was back on track and pouring like a champ.

The afternoon whizzed by, a constant flow of people and beer. Equilibrium was obviously a well liked brewery and their east coast style beers were being devoured. But the guy from the brewery was a damp squid. He didn't smile once to us, his unpaid helpers, we didn't even get a thanks at the end! He answered questions briefly and spoke few words. When our beers ran out before the event ended we didn't bother to hang around and help him. But then he disappeared quickly himself. For someone new to the brewery, (he'd been with them for a year), he showed little enthusiasm. I would have been gushing over their stellar brews but this guy was a total drip. But he was soon forgotten as Andrew, Margie and I helped others to empty their kegs and clear up. The ambiance here was amazing. People had been very sensible and there were hardly any kids, even though they were allowed. I didn't see one unhappy face or here a voice raised in anger, we had a very happy crowd here. I don't even recall seeing a police officer.

Our empty table and my colleague Andrew sampling a neighbor's nectar, toasting a job well done. There were plenty of other breweries still pouring their beers and plenty of punters holding out their glasses to be filled. I saw one guy, sitting on the ground, poring over the vast list of beers, and wondered whether he'd managed to keep to a schedule of breweries that had to be sampled and was checking his progress, or was simply wondering how he'd got off track. He only had a few lines highlighted...

As the event closed, the public were herded towards the two exits while we workers were asked to meet at the stage, where huge bins of beers were on ice and pizzas were stacked for demolition. I slid to the ground and we all gratefully got stuck into our pizza slices. Margie had grabbed a few cans for all of us, more hazy IPA, which was far superior than the cardboard pizza. Yet it filled a hole and I was grateful that we didn't have to trudge around DC trying to find a place to eat. As I walked back with Margie, the restaurants were packed tight, likely with starving beer drinkers from the festival. It had been a splendid day, and one I'll be looking forward to repeating next year. Cheers!