Of course beer festivals are about beer. But they are also very social events, and they are very pleasant opportunities to catch up with people you seldom meet outside of cyberspace. A very friendly and generous bunch.
Two years ago there were lots of bloggers present, this year I think the Beer Nut and I were the only English language bloggers present. There were probably Swedish bloggers around, but I don’t know them by sight. Perhaps a blogger meetup is something to consider next year.
Then there are , of course, the brewers. James from BrewDog was there with a merry crew, and they seemed to do a brisk trade. No special beers for the festival, but I think this was the Danish launch of both the Penguin and the Bismarck. Here the roles were reversed, as I was the one being interviewed for their video blog.
There are probably some photos of me with the BrewDog crew taken at the Mikkeller bar as well. I’ll get back to that.
The importers of Brooklyn beer had Garrett Oliver, no less, manning their stand, where he happily dispensed samples of some of their more innovative beers. No time for any long conversation, of course, but at least I could give my appreciation for him mingling with us mortals.
Another legend was als there, Anders Kissmeyer of Nørrebro Bryghus. As was reported recently, he has been forced to step down as manager of the brewery. They have been sensible enough to keep him as an adviser and ambassador of the brewery, and it was nice to be able to pay tribute to one of the founders of the Scandinavian craft beer movement.
