Fifth Annual Bierfest hosted by The German Society of Pennsylvania
Review of the Fifth Annual Bierfest hosted by The German Society of Pennsylvania
In the land of Benjamin Franklin, a stone’s throw from the statue of Edgar Allan Poe’s raven, a
wonderful, glorious event took place on a day which was just as magnificent. The German Society of
Pennsylvania’s Bierfest. For those of you who want a quick recap, here it is:
Atmosphere: There were four main rooms that were serving beer and had all the action, which explains
why they are the only ones I know of, and why I wouldn’t know of more. There were happy people in all
of them, and some of those people were even in lederhosen and wearing drindls, which definitely
helped get to get a person in the spirit. Also, maybe because they sold a limited amount of tickets and it
was a lovely day outside, none of the rooms were overcrowded. This is a plus, because there was less of
a chance of spilling the precious nectar of the Gods.
Entertainment: In the PA Beer Hall, there was a Bluegrass band playing. It’s not my favorite genre of
music, but it was good. It didn’t make me want to drink more to forget it, so that’s good. In the German
Beer Hall there was a (brass? Not an entire one, just a trombone and some other nice instruments) band
playing a nice variety of songs, some German and some not (they played Sweet Caroline and other songs
like that at one point). In my opinion, the German beer hall definitely had the better entertainment.
Variety of Beer: There was a room filled with local, Pennsylvania brewers. And then another filled with
German beers. There wasn’t an enormous amount of them, but there were more than me and my
stepdad could handle. Plus, who needs and enormous amount of names when the beer is unlimited?
After a once through, you could start at the beginning again and they’d all taste different because your
insides would be halfway through fermenting.
Quality of Beer: Excellent. Which is another reason why the variety and range of selection didn’t matter
as much. You could stick with one brand get way more than your money’s worth.
Food: The food was excellent. There were sausage sandwiches and potato pancakes and other delicious
treats. My only problem with it was that there was not enough. It was free, which is probably why they
were small servings. There was a food truck right outside of the main entrance, but it was a little
inconvenient, for me at least, to take time out of my tour of my PA and German beer sampling spree to
leave the building to go buy food.
Price: When I first saw the price of the tickets, I was on the fence. But then I arrived, and readers, the
beer was free. All of it. As much as you could drink. Even with that amazing caveat, I did not see one
person lying on the floor. The attendees were either actually pacing themselves, or were some special
breed. Or they were smart about their beer drinking and somehow made themselves stick to one type
and didn’t do an entire taste tour of PA and Germany.
Overall grade: B+
Not a perfect A, because it wasn’t a month-long celebration and there wasn’t obvious access to water so
I could drink more.
Samantha Jade Thompson for Trenton 365 / Lifestyle By Amans Brindled
www.trenton365.com
https://www.facebook.com/amansbrindled/?fref=ts
Coverage from the 2015 Philly Bierfest