Results and more from the Washington Brewers Festival

We just received some information from the Washington Beer Commission regarding totals from last week’s Washington Brewers Festival.

Attendance

Although the exact numbers are not yet known, we do know that attendance was approximately the same as last year. Impressive, considering the weather. While Sunday’s weather was sub-prime at best, Friday’s weather was nothing short of sublime. Friday night’s crowd was larger than anticipated—it appeared to be the largest Friday night crowd in festival history.

Top Token Collectors

The top token collectors (by brewery) were:

1. Black Raven Brewing (by a landslide)

2. Schooner Exact Brewing

3. Northern Lights Brewing

4. Foggy Noggin Brewing

5. Diamond Knot Brewing

To call it a landslide is an understatement. While other booths may have enjoyed the occasional line, the backup at Black Raven was enormous all weekend. The Coco Jones Porter is worthy of the attention. That’s the Black Raven beer we heard most people talking about.

Schooner Exact brought a lot of different beers. No doubt the Seamstress Union Raspberry Wheat was a big hit, but my favorite (with a name I shouldn’t repeat here) was the blend: two parts Raspberry Wheat and one part Brown Ale. Sinfully delicious.

To be sure, Diamond Knot makes great beer, but their charge into the top five was certainly aided by the fact that Michael Wilton (guitar player for Queensryche) was pouring his Whip Ale at the Diamond Knot booth on Friday night. Diamond Knot brews Whip Ale to Wilton’s specifications.

Pictured below is Don Webb of Naked City Brewery and Taphouse with Michael Wilton of Queensryche. To read the complete post visit the Washington Beer Blog.