As hundreds of thousands of Christian followers flanked the Ben Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia Sunday afternoon hoping to catch a glimpse of the Pope, thousands of Lititz Craft Beer Festival attendees lined East Main Street to get a glass of Mass Rising from Jack’s Abby Brewing and to experience The Lost Abbey’s Judgment Day.
For beer devotees, the pilgrimage to Lititz was worth the trip.
“My favorite was the habanero mango,” said first-time attendee Tim Myers, who came from Carlisle at the suggestion of friend and top-ten home brew competitor Derek Markel. Myers’ favorite, an I.P.A. crafted by ZeroDay Brewing Company of Harrisburg, turned out to be preferred among festival beers this year, which numbered over 120 offerings from 57 brewers.
“It has the fruit up front and the spice in the back,” said a woman who had just tasted the ZeroDay beer at the company’s tent. But what inspired the blend of the tropical Asian fruit and the hot south-of-the border pepper?
“We liked the combination of the two flavors,” said Zeroday owner and brewer Theo Armstrong, who was pouring the popular beer non-stop throughout the three-hour event on Sunday afternoon. “We thought we’d try it in a beer and it worked. We’ve had a lot of people coming back.”
Some beers were unique to the Lititz Craft Beer Festival.
“Great Lakes did their Edmund Fitzgerald porter, but they used a locally sourced chocolate from Wilbur Chocolate factory, said beer blogger Drew Hikes who covered the event for LititzDailyNews.com, adding that the brewer also used coffee beans from local Whiff Roasters. “You can only get it at the Lititz Brew Fest.” Hikes’ reviews of festival beers and home brews will be published over the next few days.
Meanwhile, Myers’ friend Derek Markel, who had earned a coveted spot as one of the top ten finalists in the home brew competition, had his beer poured for attendees to sample over in the home brew tent.
“The home brew is extremely popular,” said Hikes, who recalled taking part in the festival where Zeroday Brewing Company got its start after success in the home brew competition. “These are the brewers of tomorrow.” Hikes reported live from the event for LititzDailyNews.com via Periscope and will review the beers at the festival over the next few days for this publication.
This year the top home brew prize went to Steve Anderson’s “The Gourd, the Bad, and the Ugly,” a pumpkin ale with another seasonal ingredient. Anderson was awarded the opportunity to have his beer brewed at Mad Chef Brewing Company in East Petersburg.
Second went to “Stowaway Stout,” crafted by Adam Chamberlain and Brian Patterson, which will be brewed at JoBoy’s, third place went to “Solar Terminator” Derek Markel, who was awarded him a $500 gift certificate to Lancaster Home Brew. Matt Granaro’s “Surfboard Session” garnered him fourth place and a $100 certificate to Lancaster Home Brew.
There’s little doubt that the Lititz AMBUCS have perfected the recipe for Craft Beer Festival success: start with a picturesque small town, add in the work of a host of top hops meisters from breweries across the country, toss in a home brew contest, and add a dash of live music and festive food trucks into the mix.
The result? A second straight year of sold-out tickets and satisfied attendees. Two thousand, to be exact, as the festival attendance was once again limited to accommodate the small downtown area.
“I’m loving it!” said Maci Hurst of Mt. Joy as she and a friend took a break from sampling some of the over 120 beers from 57 brewers. “Beer and pretzel necklaces, what could be better?”
One man among a group of friends from Philadelphia University sported a fashionable Philly soft-pretzel bow tie. Pretzels are popularly used to cleanse the palate and provide caloric intake to offset alcohol intake at beer festivals.
Funds from Lititz Craft Beer Fest ticket sales will be distributed to local charities to fund independence and mobility for people with disabilities, and to the Warwick Community Ambulance Association, which the AMBUCS organization has supported for many years.
