2013 Ameri-CAN Canned Craft Beer Festival – Recap w/ Photos

Two Saturday’s ago was the Ameri-CAN Canned Craft Beer Festival at the Scottsdale Civic Center in Scottsdale, Ariz. This unique festival captivated me from the minute I heard about it (this year was my first time attending). After all, my favorite beer, Heady Topper, comes in a can, as well as many of delectable brews from around the country. Canning is definitely the new black.

The festival came through. It had an impressive array of well-known and talented breweries serving up some of their best beers. The location was impressive too, with lots of grass and varied terrain, creating different pockets of breweries like a chain of hoppy islands. Moving between these groupings was much fun, as they were somewhat geographically themed. I remember the groupings being Local, East coast, West coast and Midwest. It wasn’t exact, as Goose Island was located near The Lumberyard. Imagine that.

What really sold me about the festival was the East coast grouping, because proudly pouring were breweries like Sixpoint, DC Brau, Cigar City, and Sun King. I had Resin, 3 Beans, Bengali Tiger, On the Wings of Armageddon, The Public, Jai Alai, Osiris and others. The World of Beer tent had Daisy Cutter from Half Acre, which was as good as I’d hoped.

It was also satisfying to finally get some fresh Gubna from Oskar Blues, which almost never happens here in Flagstaff. 21st Amendment’s presence at the festival was welcomed as well, and even standing in the long line in irritating heat to try an extremely small pour of Lower de Boom barleywine was worth it. Other impressive beers were the Maui Brewing and Lost Abbey Lemongrass Saison collaboration as well as a fantastic Belgian pale ale from Revolution Brewing called A Little Crazy.

I usually enjoy the food at beer festivals and this was no exception, though I admit I only tried food from one place. It was so good I kept going back. It was The Grilled Cheese Truck, and their Cheesy Mac and Rib (filled with macaroni and cheese with sharp cheddar, BBQ pork and caramelized onions) was mind-blowing. It was good as you’re imagining right now.

Even though it was hot as hell, as well as the random alarmingly small pour here and there, I had a blast at the AmeriCAN Festival. The bands were playing solid music, the food was great and there were amazing beers being drank. I even scored some cans of Sixpoint Resin to go. I’m really looking forward to doing it again.