2012 Great Nebraska Beerfest

[JMcG]

We went to Omaha (to visit my daughter) and wound up at the festival (imagine that!). Lots of rain kept the crowds down and the temps cool. No lines for beer.
They advertised over 80 craft breweries, and I think there were only a couple of no shows. Event was in the parking lot of Dicks Sporting Goods in Papillion (south of Omaha, proper) right across the street from Nebraska Brewing Co. who was a prime sponsor. A couple of bands played and there was food, of course.
There were six beer tents, each with 12 spots for vendors. We took along lawn chairs and a pop-up tent to keep them dry. Local breweries included: 23rd St, Free State, Blind Tiger, Boulevard, Tallgrass, Little Apple, McCoy's and one from NKC called Cinder Block. Lots of Colo and St. Louis breweries as well as the Omaha pro's.
What I was impressed by was the number of homebrew clubs represented: 5 from NE and one from IA. I guess I don't need to add that some of the most unusual and interesting beers were from the homebrewers. There might be an opportunity for LBG to participate in the future.
Highlights for me included the new release of Deconstruction from Odell and a first taste of the upcoming Tallgrass "West Coast Style" IPA. Funkwerks had some delicious Saisons and Brick's Rye Saison (his homebrew recipe from 23rdSt) was on tap, too.
Lots of offerings, many we can't currently obtain in KS: Stone, Perennial, Cigar City, Empyrean, Heretic, Twisted Pine, NBC, Lucky Bucket and Victory.
Worth the trip.
Site: www.greatnebraskabeerfest.com/
Program: http://www.nebraskabrewingco.com/Press Releases/2012-GNBF-Program-PRINT-082012.pdf

[Jensen]

Sounds like a great time. On my list for next year absolutely. Two other people mentioned Cinder Block had some good beers as well. At this point I think they only keg if I understand correctly? Still in the expansion phase.They are already doing sour beers as well... On the radar for sure!

http://www.cinderblockbrewing.com/


btw, Empyrean beers are available in Kansas now.

[JMcG]

btw, Empyrean beers are available in Kansas now.

I wondered about that, thanks for the correction, Jeff.
jim

[Matt]

Just a quick follow-up to Jim's excellent wrap-up... it WAS a great festival, despite the rain, or maybe because of it. Only the true, die-hard craft beer fans came out, so the douchebag quotient was kept to a minimum.

It was great to see Kansas so well represented. I believe you're right about Cinder Block. I believe they are draught-only, at least for now.

I was THOROUGHLY impressed with the homebrew clubs' offerings and the way they represented themselves. I know we'd be a great fit if we could arrange to participate also next year. The Iowa club in particular shares our predicament with crappy liquor laws, but they've overcome the problem by hopping across the border to Nebraska. Until we get our own laws improved, it's something we should be doing also. Granted, our trip north would be a bit longer than theirs, but we have ways of making such trips a lot of fun. :)

The chance to show the public what's possible as homebrewers, to have professional brewers tasting your homebrew at such an event and giving feedback, and possibly even taking notice (should any of us have ambitions towards doing this on a larger scale)... all good reasons to take advantage of this opportunity if we can. Not to mention, it was excellent fun.

I gotta second O'Dell's De-Construction as one of my festival favorites also. SO much going on in that beer.

[Rugger1978]

My wife and I were up there with the kids for this and it was a great time even with the rain. It was really awesome running into some of the LBG members!

I will be going back next year as it was a very good festival with very little wait times for beer. It was nice getting to try a different set of breweries.

[Matt]

It was good seeing you too, Jared. Nice to meet your family also. I hope we can get a Topeka brew day together soon.

Matt

[Rugger1978]

Oh for sure Matt! It's too bad we didn't meet up earlier as I just got done brewing beer the past 4 months in a row as I was reusing a lager yeast I had purchased. I plan on brewing again here soon for beers for late winter and spring time though.