This past weekend’s Inaugural Everett Craft Beer Festival was a hit. 27 Washington breweries took over a few blocks of downtown Everett to pour more than 60 beers, and attendees enjoyed the great beer, music and fun.

With my dad in town visiting from Chicago this weekend, we headed out to a hike up in that direction (Big Four Ice Caves), which gave us the perfect excuse to stop by for some beers at the fest. We arrived not long after the doors had opened and didn’t stick around for much more than an hour, but the weather was beautiful (at least at that point), the beer was flowing, and the locals seemed to be enjoying the fest. A couple blocks in downtown Everett were blocked off for the occasion, which made for a perfect setting.

Owner/Brewer Kirk Hilse of Twelve Bar Brews.

There were several small or newer local breweries featured at the fest, including Foggy Noggin’ (longest line award), Brickyard Brewing, Twelve Bar Brews, and Dirty Bucket Brewing. A few of my favorite samples were my first taste of pumpkin beer for the season, Elysian’s Night Owl, the very solid Brickyard IPA, the roasty Supertonic India Black from Twelve Bars, and a tasty, special release Belgian Blonde from Georgetown Brewing.

Cheers to the Washington Beer Commission for adding another great festival to the lineup of events they put on throughout the year.

My dad’s first ever beer festival!