Rochester Real Beer Expo wrap-up, favorites, thank yous

12th edition of Rochester's biggest rare beer showcase was a deeply rewarding experience.

It took me at least 72 hours to feel human again after the latest edition of the Rochester Real Beer Expo. Last Saturday’s celebration of all the beers, breweries, and people I love was a deeply rewarding and satisfying experience.

We welcomed 80 beverage producers (74 of which were breweries and 30 of those were local) to Innovative Field for a beautiful evening to benefit the Business Association of the South Wedge Area. And for the second consecutive year, I was honored to curate the event. We had nearly 2,200 attendees this year. In an era where beer festivals are finding it increasingly difficult to attract both breweries and festival-goers, how wild is that?! I think it says quite a bit about both the history of the event and passion of the beer community here. So kudos to all of us! We rule!

Photo: I am still awed by this beautiful VIP stem. It was surreal to see my newsletter logo/name on a glass. Thanks to Chris from BASWA and the gents at Déjàbrew. (More on Déjàbrew’s exciting future very, very soon.)

Like last year, the public decided which local breweries would attend. We upped the local focus, going from 14 to 27 breweries in the last three years. And again, I pushed the focus beyond beer — inviting a winery, three cideries, two meaderies, two kombucha breweries, and a local coffee roaster.

This is just a long-winded way of me thanking you for all the support. I couldn’t have done any of this without my co-organizers from BASWA, my wife Cassie, the breweries, Andy Cook from Swiftwater, James Hilbert and his incredible team from One Stop Brew Shop, all our distro partners, Dan Mason and the wonderful Rochester Red Wings crew, and all the attendees.

And here’s a special shout out to Chris O’Leary from Brew York. Everyone’s favorite beer traveler and NYC-based newsletter writer joined us for the weekend and attended the Expo. It’s always a pleasure to see Chris and if you aren’t reading his newsletter, remedy that.

Favorites

You’re gonna read about a lot of lagers here. And I’ve got to readily admit that I didn’t get to try 90 percent of the beers I was most excited for, since I spent the majority of the Expo pouring beers. (That, however, was a really nutty experience, because I got to move to different tables in the concourse and explain to people why there wasn’t a banner, sign, or placard on my table. It’s not weird that the festival curator was just planted at a random spot with stacks of cans, right? Don’t answer that one. It was pretty wonderful to interact with so many incredible attendees, however.)

Photo: So I got this pic or something similar from a number of different folks Saturday night. It seems that one of my asshole buddies decided to play a really, really funny practical joke on me and posted this sign at the Red Wings concourse autograph booth. It offered autographs, photos, or both. I’m still not sure why there isn’t a discount for the dual package. But whatever, I’m not in charge. So yeah, I am sorry if anyone desired a Will Cleveland autograph or pic on Saturday night. And cheers to my dumbass buddy, who I am not going to out because he kinda scares me (maybe in a good way?!). This was pretty funny.

I checked Untappd post-fest and got tons of quality feedback, so I know what beers people were most excited about. That included the Arkane Tooth and Nails creme brulee-inspired barrel-aged barleywine (and really a ton of the decadent and imaginative creations curated by James from One Stop and his stable of awesome brands), the BA barleywine set from Counterpart, some of the hoppy creations from Third Moon and Badlands, Oz’s pudding beer at Stoneyard (though I know breweries that followed that sample had major issues rinsing out those pudding-filled glasses, lol), and the Trophy peach brandy barrel-aged wheatwine. (I know I am missing a bunch of the highlights, but these are the ones that popped to the top of my sleep-addled brain.)

Make me jealous: What did I miss? What were your favorites?

Here are my favorites from both the fest and the pre-party the night before at Swiftwater (where brewers brought some truly incredible stuff and just spoiled the shit out of me):

True History lagers: I invited Toronto’s True History Brewing to the Expo on the advice of the genius folks at Godspeed Brewery, also in Toronto. Before this past weekend, I had never had a single beer from True History. But I had incredibly high expectations since Godspeed, makers of the finest lagers in this region, spoke so highly of True History. I got to spend a few minutes with Adam Shier and Matt Thompson, True History’s co-founders, and felt like I had known these dudes for decades. They are total sweethearts and they make really, really kickass lagers. I love the attention to detail and the reverence for history and tradition. I especially loved the Whole Menu, Twice, a beautiful Northern German-style Pilsner. It’s easily the best domestic example I’ve had in that category since Genny scaled up the Brew House’s Northern German Pils back in 2016. (And here’s where I am contractually obligated to again beg and plead for Genny to resurrect this one. You have a beautiful, modern German-built brewhouse. It is built precisely for beers like this. You also have an incredible brewing team. Please, please bring this one back!)

Photo: Had to grab a quick look at the general admission line. Wild to see so many people excited about the breweries I picked for Rochester’s biggest beer event. (I think, in terms of attendance, no local fest features more attendees than the Expo. I could be wrong. I am guessing the Flour City Brewers Fest at the Public Market comes closest.)

Bright Path lagers: Like True History, I had never had a Bright Path beer before these gents came to Rochester this past weekend. The 2-year-old brewery from Jim Thorpe, Penn., specializes in classics, lagers, and sessionability. All of those things were on display in the Expo beers they served — an incredibly rich and chocolatey (this spelling never looks correct to me) Czech dark lager and a beautifully crisp and flavorful Helles lager, each poured through a German gravity keg. I am so thankful Bright Path, which came recommended by Old Thunder, an Expo favorite from this year and last, came up to Rochester to party with us. And I really can’t wait to visit.

Old Thunder Forever Bright Pilsner: Old Thunder, from the Pittsburgh area, is a long-time favorite. Anyone who has followed this newsletter for any length of time knows that. I’ve written extensively about why I love this place. Old Thunder also brought a gravity keg-poured lager, a surprisingly herbaceous and citrusy German-style Pilsner. It was pure coincidence that I mapped the two breweries pouring via gravity keg next to each other. It gave attendees a chance to experience incredible lagers back-to-back-to-back.

Wayward Lane Quercus Reserve barrel-aged barleywine: It’s pretty wild to consider that Schoharie’s Wayward Lane Brewing is just three years old. This place crafts such impeccable beers across a truly astounding range of styles. It’s hard to find a place that makes better lagers (particularly smoked beers — the Grodziskie Wayward Lane brought to the Expo was a sessionable standout), hop-forward pale ales, and just stupidly good barrel-aged creations. They brought a case of their recent English barleywine Quercus that sat in a bourbon barrel for 26 months. And they kindly saved a bottle to share with me at the end of the night. It truly was the perfect nightcap — so, so, so rich and luxurious. It’s one of those beers that I’m going to thinking about for a bit as I wish I had a few of them aging patiently in my cellar.

Cinderlands Lil Cinder Watermelon light lager: You probably expected to see another doting description of the awesomeness of Cindi’s Hard Mountain Tea here, but that’s not necessary. Because you already know I enjoyed at least one stovepipe of that magical liquid during the festival. Matt Antram, the Cinderlands rep who joined us, told me this fruited light lager was gonna be one of my favorites of the night. And he was right. It was the first pour I got before the gates opened and the chaos ensued.

Photo: As stated above, I really loved Adam, center, and Matt from True History, so I was ecstatic to get a selfie with them at the end of the night (while we enjoyed some incredible leftovers from Pittsburgh’s Dancing Gnome Brewery).

Lake Hour can before the fest: If you read my profile of this Hollywood x Finger Lakes brand a few months back, you know how much I love what co-founders Rich Peete and Wyatt Russell are building. When offered a can of the Tequila-based Watermelon Cucumber ready-to-drink cocktail, I was immediately refreshed. These beverages rule. And I’ll surely invite these guys to the Expo next year.

And a massive mea culpa here, I didn’t get a chance to sample most of the wonderful local breweries in attendance. As we approach summer, it’s just extra incentive for me to visit the places I haven’t visited in quite some time. We really do have an embarrassment of local brewery riches. It’s good to be busy, however. And I was stoked to see everything really run so smoothly. Again, I heard nothing but good things from folks and that makes me exceedingly happy.

What’s next??

Dunno, I haven’t got the foggiest idea. I definitely have a few things I wanna improve and streamline for next year, if I decide to do it again. I also have at least one more Expo-related Prost Profile I wanna share in the next few days.

Life is about to get extra crazy and exhausting for me. So I’m excited to have a few months to catch my breath.

Thanks again for all the support. We’ll see what 2025 brings.