Sunday, April 25, 2010
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
BOARDMAN
Fifty-four breweries with 126 labels and more than 20 food vendors appeared Saturday for a sold-out beer show that drew some 1,400 people to the former Sam’s Club store on South Avenue.
“We have everything from your pilsners and lagers to barley wines and imperial stouts,” said Phil Reda, event organizer and owner of Vintage Estate Wine and Beer of Boardman.
“Every style of beer is being represented here,” he added. Beers ranged from those featuring a chocolate flavor to those with a taste of grapefruit.
A little more than 200 people attended a VIP reception that preceded the main public event, attended by about 1,200 people. Guests from seven states attended the event, known as the The Big Tap In at the Shepherd Event Center. Entertainment ranged from a pipe band to a polka duo.
Reda said he expects the event will generate $15,000 to $20,000 for the HandsOn Volunteer Network on Market Street in Youngstown, which places volunteers with nonprofit organizations. Reda said he plans for the Tap In to become an annual event.
“I’ve been to a lot of other beer shows, and this is one of the bigger ones,” said Mark Toth of Hubbard, a brewer with the Rust Belt Brewing Co. at the B&O Station in downtown Youngstown.
Among the flavors Rust Belt was featuring were coconut rum stout, Coke Oven Stout, Blast Furnace Blond Ale and Old Man Hopper’s India Pale Ale.
Among the far-away brewers attending was a group from Bluegrass Brewing Co. of Louisville, Ky., which calls itself Kentucky’s largest brewery.
Founded in 1993, Bluegrass has only one brewery and distributes to only five states: Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Virginia and Tennessee, said Phillip Dearner, sales manager.
Distribution is limited because “we can only make so much beer,” Dearner explained. The company produced 7,000 barrels last year and hopes to produce 11,000 barrels this year, he added.
The company was featuring Bearded Pat’s Barley Wine, which had been aged for 6 months in bourbon barrels, for the first time outside its Louisville brewery, he said.
Bluegrass Brewing Co. products are sold at Vintage Estates and Giant Eagle, he said.
“The food’s good. It’s something different to do on a Saturday, especially when the weather’s not real nice,” said John Lewis of Boardman, a Tap In guest, referring to Saturday’s intermittent rain.
“Some of the darker beers had some interesting fruits in them and coconut and things like that,” he observed.
Chris Naylor of Pittsburgh, who said he had never been to a beer festival before, was disappointed, having been shut out of the sold-out event shortly after it opened to the public. In addition to advance ticket sales, “they should sell them at the door,” he complained after being turned away.