Youngstown Craft Beer Fest

To get ready for St. Patrick’s Day, the local “Irish pub” in the area hosts a huge week-long event. Thankfully, part of these festivities is a craft beer festival.

There were around 60 breweries, meaderies and food booths in a heated tent. It was set up well, but once you experience a beer fest like the Pittsburgh one, Youngstown is kind of disappointing. Don’t get me wrong, all I care about is the beer, but even that was… interesting.

The breweries that you know and love were, as usual, excellent, but there were a few that I personally didn’t care for.

Woodland Cellars, from Hubbard, had a mead that was heavy on the honey and had a gluey after taste. I normally love mead, but this one was disappointing. There was another mead there, but I don’t know what it was. It tasted just like cherry kool-aid and I really wish I caught the name of it.

That was probably my issue with the event. I knew that there would be some beer that I wouldn’t like, but half the time I had no idea what I was drinking. The signage and beer descriptions were either nonexistent or weren’t easy to read in the tent.

Breweries that I remember:

• Woodland Cellars (mead)
• Birdfish
• Paladin
• Wild Ohio- Cherry Bourbon
• Great Lakes
• Hopping Frog
• Cider boys
• Columbus
• Penguin City Beer
• Market Garden
• Masthead
• Noble Creature
• Modern Method
• Rhinegeist
• Branch Street Coffee

I guess I can’t be too picky, as I knew the guy who put on the event (not a fan of his) and I did get a great buzz on. I could go on and on about what I didn’t like about the event, but it did allow me to sample some beer I never had before and I got drunk.

Job well done.