Rochester Real Beer Expo takeaways, reflections, and favorites
Rochester's best annual celebration of weird and rare beers returned to Innovative Field Saturday for the third time.
The 2025 Rochester Real Beer Expo returned to Innovative Field, home of the Rochester Red Wings baseball team, this past weekend. And after two years of curating and organizing the festival, I stepped away from the chaos (Hello Eliza!) and got to enjoy the fest as a spectator.
Stepping away this year, I got to truly appreciate the amount of hard work and behind-the-scenes effort needed to make this party a reality. And I am happy to report the 13th edition was a gosh darn delight. It was filled with some of my favorite people (I love how these things can feel like a family reunion). I got to meet a new assortment of fantastic folks. And as a bonus, there was beer. Lots of beer. But also lots of non-beer beverages, too.
Photo: Me and local beer legend/mayor of Rochester beer Deron Weet.
Favorites
Kettlehead Fourteen Forty single malt barleywine: I was ecstatic to see Jim and Nicole from Kettlehead come to Rochester again. On a lark, I invited them to the Expo three years ago and this New Hampshire brewery has turned it into a yearly tradition. While known for their wide range of fantastic hazy IPAs, Jim insisted I try the brewery’s 2022 barrel-aged barleywine. And even amongst a blurry night of high-octane treats, this one stood out. It was rich and malty and exhibited all the hallmarks you’d want in a sipper like this. I only wish I had some in my basement right now that I could age for the next few years.
Kent Beer Co.: I highlighted how excited I was about this Southern Tier brewery in my Expo preview. And I was super stoked that they were one of the first breweries I was able hit up upon entry. Owner/brewer Ed Kent brews his beer on his family farm and the beers they brought to the Expo showcased that connection to the land. The all-NYS Mexican lager was perfect for a sunny afternoon, while Ed’s spruce tip pale ale, made with spruce tips harvested on the Kent farm, is such a beautifully old school pale ale with a blast of citrus from the spruce tips. This is a reminder to me (and to everyone), we need to visit Kent Beer ASAP.
Seed and Stone wild ferment cider: I am really sad to see Seed and Stone will be closing its doors later this month. And a reminder, visit while you can. Stock up while you can. Cass and I got a chance to touch base with S+S co-owner/cider maker Andrew Gleason and he recommended we try his wild ferment cider. And yes, he was right. It was perfect for the sunny atmosphere. It was a beautifully dry cider that was clearly just about the apples and the yeast. I am really gonna miss this place.
Happy Gut Chimera kombucha: If you’ve followed this space for long enough, you know that I am a massive fan of our local kombucha scene. Places like Happy Gut and Katboocha make these exquisite tea-based, non-alcoholic ferments that provide a tasty alternative to some of the other beverages in our scene. Katboocha had two tasty favorites Saturday. But there is something about the perfect beverage at the perfect moment. As I was wrapping up my night (thanks to my sister Faith for being my sober ride and a wonderful babysitter for the kids btw), Happy Gut co-founder Catt Hsu must’ve known that I needed something refreshing (and alcohol-free) to end my evening when she just handed me a full glass of Chimera, one of Happy Gut’s signature team ferments. I was just so happy to end my night with that one. And it’s a reminder to me (and everyone else), visit Happy Gut in High Falls ASAP. And visit often.
Twin Elephant Brewing: This 9-year-old New Jersey brewery won the weekend for me. Firstly, they came all the way to Rochester to party with us. And then I was able to hang out with Tim and Mickey from the brewery the night before the Expo at the fantastic brewery pre-party at Swiftwater. (Of note, Andy, Kaylin, and the Swiftwater crew always go above and beyond to create a welcoming atmosphere. And the spread of food they put out that night was just absurd. We’re lucky to have them in our town.) Tim and Mickey were just so lovely. And their beers were just exquisite. I was able to try a whole bunch — two DIPAs, a Belgian table beer (!!!), a Munich-style dunkel lager, and a biiiig barrel-aged pastry stout. Each beer was memorable. And that’s saying something in a weekend filled with world-class beer. Here’s hoping we see more Twin Elephant beers in our market in the near future.
Trophy blended spontaneous beer: Trophy co-founder Chris Powers is one of my favorite people on the planet, beer or otherwise. So it’s always a treat when this Henrietta native brings some of his North Carolina brewery to Rochester. Chris has now attended three straight Expos and I am consistently impressed with the quality and variety of Trophy beers. This year, Chris brought bottles of his blended North Carolina lambic-style wild ale. It is the brewery’s first spontaneous release and was brewed with all North Carolina ingredients. It was a blend of 1, 2, and 3-year-old wild ales and demonstrated the brewery’s patience and commitment to always get it right — no shortcuts.
BriarBrothers Honest Guy amber lager: I loved how the Expo, again, featured a really nice variety of beer styles. Not everything was a slushie, hazy, or pastry beer. In fact, there were some really excellent lagers. Joel and Dylan, the awesome Betti brothers and co-founders of Buffalo’s BriarBrothers Brewing, brought a really lovely Czech-style amber lager that stood out in a night of extremes. It’s one of those good-drinking beers, the kind you could enjoy multiple of during an evening and not totally hate yourself the day after.
Watershed Deep Lake NYS Pilsner: This Geneva brewery is located in a gorgeously refurbished dairy barn and features a killer view of Seneca Lake. (It’s located where Bottomless Brewing originally resided before it closed.) Like Kent, I was very excited to try some Watershed beers, because it has been too long. I instantly enjoyed Watershed’s Deep Lake Pilsner, which was made with all NYS ingredients. It was clean, crisp, and incredibly refreshing.
Photo: AAWCS (Another Awkward Will Cleveland Selfie, trademark pending) — this one with Brad Nagle, an incredibly talented local brewer now at Other Half.
Dumbest, most delicious shit
Oz made a pudding beer again. This time, the Stoneyard madman put banana pudding and bourbon into a “beer” that was so thick it couldn’t be served out of a regular jockey box setup (photographic proof above). Was it disgusting? Unquestionably. Was it delicious? Begrudgingly, yes (as long as you didn’t notice how it was separating in the glass and drank it rapidly). Will Oz make another pudding beer? Probably? Will the world be ready for it? Doubtful. But in these extremely and exceedingly fucked up times, at least a pudding beer can bring us a bit of needed levity.
Thank you, thank you, thank you: I have to acknowledge what a great job the whole Expo team did. From the long-time organizers at BASWA, to the volunteers, to Dan Mason and the Rochester Red Wings staff, to current curator Rob Richenberg, the whole team pulled together and threw a most excellent party. There were a ton of new breweries, some old favorites, and a whole host of other standouts. I barely put a dent into assembled awesomeness. And miraculously, I still felt human the next day and got to enjoy an incredibly delightful Sunday with my wife and kids. (How’d I get to lucky again?!)
I am very anxious and eager to see what the Expo does next year to continue to evolve and adapt to these ever-changing beer times we’re in. You have to continue to innovate and do stuff a little bit differently to continue to attract great breweries and an eager crowd. All festivals are discovering that it just can’t be about the beer. (The beer quality is still foundational, of course. But there’s a lot more that goes into nowadays.) It has to be about the experience and needs to be different to continue to convince folks to spend their hard-earned entertainment dollars with you.
(Note, this is completely off the top of my head and not intended to be taken seriously, unless you think it should be taken seriously: And who knows, maybe there will be a Cleveland Prost fest next year or in the future. Tell me you wouldn’t be excited about a pizza and Pilsner fest — featuring like 20-25 of the best lager producers in this region and then paired with 10 or 12 of the best pizzerias in this area. A boy can dream. And if a boy gets bored enough, maybe I’ll give it a shot. If you wanna sponsor this shindig, lemme know and we can maybe take the leap. Regardless, it’s fun to daydream.)
A final note: The Cleveland Prost remains the preeminent source for regional beer news. If you own a brewery, bar, or beer-adjacent business, this is the best place to reach the nerds you wanna be in front of. So I remain open to sponsorships, advertisements, and sponsored content. Feel free to reach out to me at clevelandprost@gmail.com for more. And more than anything, thanks for all the support. None of this would be possible without the devoted (and thirsty) audience.
Fun times!!!
Excellent! Informative, funny and had me wanting more. Thank you for sharing your gift.