First, a little name dropping.

You may have heard that “The Festival,” the hot new beer festival organized by Shelton Brothers importers, is coming to Portland in June for its second year of bringing together the best brewers and the most devoted beer geeks. (Last year’s inaugural festival was held in Worcester, Mass.)

Shelton told me Friday that one of the exciting new participants this year will be Armand Debelder, an authentic lambik blender from Drie Fonteinen in Belgium.

You’ll find an official short list of other participants who have already signed on at the end of this post, courtesy of Shelton Brothers. They’re expecting around 75 brewers in all.

Dan Shelton said he expects to announce the date that tickets will go on sale sometime in the next two to four weeks. The news will come through Beer Advocate, Shelton Brothers, 12 Percent Imports and the website for “The Festival.”

Then, about 30 days later, tickets will go on sale through Eventbrite, and they are expected to go fast, perhaps in a day or less.
“We want to be careful that everybody has an equal opportunity to get a ticket,” Shelton said. “It’s going to be limited, we’re thinking, to about 1,000 people for each session. ...The people who really are most excited about it, we presume, will get their orders in quick and won’t be disappointed.”

There will be three sessions (two on Saturday), and the price will probably stay the same as last year – $60 a session, “which is high but didn’t cover our expenses last year,” Shelton said. “We’re hoping people will understand if it stays at $60. We want to try not to raise it, but we’re pretty sure we can’t lower it.”
Shelton said that this year, there probably will not be any weekend passes covering all three sessions for sale.

Asked why he chose Portland as a venue, Shelton said the Worcester location was not available this year, and they really wanted to keep the festival in New England. He likes the idea of having The Festival in a smaller city that can be a destination for people from all over the country – a place where festival goers won’t be crowded out by locals like they might be in Boston or New York.

“We have good connections in Portland,” he said. “We’re very good friends with Novare Res, for example, and some other places. We’ve been to Portland, we love Portland. It’s obviously a classic New England setting. And we decided to make part of the festival’s persona New England.

“And, of course, Portland is a great beer city, one of the best beer cities in New England, I’m sure. It just seemed natural, and we didn’t really think of any other place.”

So who’s coming? Shelton said they’ve already had some RSVPS. Here’s the list so far:

Brewery: Cantillon
Country: Belgium
Brewer: Jean Van Roy

Brewery: Drie Fonteinen
Country: Belgium
Brewer: Armand Debelder

Brewery: Stillwater
Country: USA
Brewer: Brian Stumke

Brewery: Jolly Pumpkin
Country: USA
Brewer: Ron Jeffries

Brewery:Nogne
Country: Norway
Brewer: Kjetil Jikiun

Brewery: Naparbier
Country: Spain
Brewer: Juan Antonio Rodriguez

Brewery: Mikkeller
Country: Denmark
Brewer: Mikkel Borg Bjergso

Brewery: Evil Twin
Country: Denmark
Brewer: Jeppe  Jarnit  Bjergso

Brewery: De Molen
Country: Netherlands
Brewer: Menno Olivier

Brewery: Brodie’s
Country: England
Brewer: James  Brodie

Brewery: Dieu du Ciel
Country: Canada
Brewer: Jean-Francois Ravel

Brewery: Freigeist Bierkultur
Country: Germany
Brewer: Stephane Sauer

Cheers!

Subscribe to the
Maine a la Carte RSS

About the Author

Meredith Goad has harvested oysters on the Chesapeake Bay, eaten reindeer in Finland and sipped hot chai in the Himalayas. She writes the weekly Soup to Nuts column and enjoys a good cocktail.

Meredith can be contacted at 791-6332 or mgoad@pressherald.com
On Twitter: @meredithgoad

Susan Axelrod's food writing career began in the kitchen; she owned a restaurant and catering business before turning to journalism more than a decade ago. To relax, she bakes, gardens and hikes with her husband and their two dogs. A newcomer to Portland, she is an online content producer for the Press Herald.

Susan can be contacted at 791-6310 or saxelrod [at] pressherald.com.
On Twitter: @susansaxelrod

Wendy Almeida and her family have a smattering of livestock and a summer garden. After 10 years of her kids being involved in 4-H, she's finally accepted the term "hobby farm" to describe her family's work at sustainable living. These days her morning starts with milking a goat before heading into the office for her day job as an assistant editor for features.

Wendy can be contacted at wea [at] mainetoday.com or on Twitter @wea1021.

Subscribe to the
Maine a la Carte RSS

Previous entries