Please welcome Andy MacWilliams back to the site!
If you’re reading this then you come to Snallygaster for the rare and obscure. Yes, many in line with you will treat the Saturday afternoon like a college football tailgate. Not you though. You have a list in your pocket. It has the big names on it. Those big names are likely to have big lines, though. Suggesting you avoid the lines for great beer would be naive and hypocritical. I will be waiting. Yet, I am here to tell you that you should try some beer that is sure to not have a line. It’s not because it’s lesser, it may be readily available, or obscure, or overlooked. It will be tasty. So while you’re hunting for hyped beer, take some of these suggestions too.
Lambic is on your list. Probably at the top. Neighborhood Restaurant Group has a near unmatched ability to bring coveted lambic from the best producers in Belgium. 3 Fonteinen has a variety of riches to choose from. When I get to the front of the line, I will be sampling the Doesjel Blend 40. Doesjel, which roughly translates to “dead body,” typically comes still or with very low carbonation. That allows the heavy portion of leathery, funky 4 year lambic in the blend to shine. If that sounds good to you, then stop by Pen Druid to try their lambic style offering: II. Spontaneously fermented down the road in Sperryville, Virginia, this is blended with estate harvested honey. The other big lambic name you’re tracking is Cantillon. If you don’t recognize that brewery then you are lost and need help. But which offering for your glass? Grenache 2024 is the play. 5% alcohol and a bottling seldom seen, it’s a riff on their beloved Vigneronne label. If this riff is to your liking, then try a blendery known for riffs: Mieza. I will be trying both beers on offering (I am Mieza’s #1 superfan), but specifically Ruins of St Giles is worth your time. Locally, Alex Lynch is blending on par with the best lambic houses.
My first time going to Hill Farmstead was like the Mongolian pub scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark. No sun, snow all over the road, wind whipping, and then into a cramped tasting bar built next to a few fermentation tanks. Now I can bike down Capitol Hill and sample the super hyped saisons in the middle of Pennsylvania Avenue. I love Snally. Hill Farmstead recently made a run through the DC market but I did not see Anna Pear pop up anywhere. This wine barrel aged saison was conditioned on Siberian pears. Fitting, given the brewery’s remote location in Greensboro, Vermont. And if this was on your target list, then I recommend you also try Stillwater Pictures of the Past Stateside. Hill Farmstead and Stillwater opened their doors in the same year and before the hype train got behind Hill’s funky stuff, Brian Strumke was banging out new world versions of old world classics. Aptly named, Pictures of the Past Stateside is a brand new release from Stillwater celebrating their 15th anniversary. It’s packed with things you like: Citra, Nelson Sauvin, Motueka. It will also highlight something you didn’t know you liked: Stillwater’s innovative approach.
You’re an experienced beer drinker, so you know to start your day with the lower alcohol items and scale as the afternoon moves on. Quality lager abounds at Snallygaster with Bierstadt Oktoberfest and Schilling G’Suffa leading the Oktoberfest charge. For the uninitiated, “G’Suffa” translates to “chug” and both beers can be happily consumed en masse. If lower alcohol, quaffable beer is what you want, then the tipple brewed closest to Pennsylvania Avenue is a must have. Lost Generation’s Rise Anew is a brand new offering sure to quench your thirst Our beloved DC lager producer is a quick refueling stop before you move to longer lines. Interested in other low ABV offerings that keep the party going? Check out Mike Stein’s write ups on the ciders and the OG imports you can find at the fest, as well as Jake Berg’s article on shift beers.
Snallygaster is best attacked with a group. In particular, two or three person squads are recommended. This way, when you wait in line for Monkish Faint Torch, your partner can grab a sample of Sins Forgiven and save yourselves another wait. Both the Willet barrel aged stout and triple dry hopped hazy are must haves. But if you want a feel for Monkish, cruise by the Burial table and try Nowhere Left to Go. This beefy quadruple IPA is sure to represent both breweries. Burial is a consistent favorite at DC Beer shares.
If haze is what you seek then you will have no shortage of quality options. And I feel like I know a thing or two about hazies. Whether it’s North Park Dank Before Dying, all of the Fidens on offer, the Track Double Yolk or Messorem Temporalis, there will be super hyped pulp up and down Pennsylvania Avenue. And if you’re going to wait in line for those, then there are a number of beers that are sure to impress with shorter lines. I’ll start with Long Island south shore stalwarts Root + Branch, who specialize in DIPAs with oats and wheat. Doe is dry hopped with the things you want: Riwaka, Mouteka and Simcoe. Two Virginia breweries teamed up to brew Bigger Cat, which will be available in Ocelot’s jockey box though The Veil collaborated on the recipe. Both brewers excel at big beer and this one clocks in at 11%. Looking for lighter? Hit up Foam to try their Local Dork. The 2025 version is made with Chinook hops grown just 20 miles south of their Burlington, Vermont brew house. Brujos is a new brewery for Snallygaster and a new brewery for me. “To war!” is the rough translation for Ad Arma, and the 2025 vintage of this triple IPA could incite a donnybrook on your tongue. I am incredibly reluctant to pump this next brewer up because it was my favorite new brewery at Snally in 2024 and I’ll be heart broken if there is a line this year. But I have to give CLAG their (hop) flowers. CLAG is short for “cocky little Asian guy” and the beer screams cocky, but certainly not little. They will be pouring a hazy single and a hazy double, both with hop blends including Simcoe. This is a must stop and maybe, just maybe, Kha will be pouring a surprise bonus bottling like he did last year.
You are rounding third and heading home. Literally. It’s big beer time. 3 Sons is known for their high octane creations and their ability to barrel. This makes Big Sxxxy a must have. You love barleywine. You like bourbon. You’ll like Big Sxxxy. If you’re brave enough, head over to Barreled Souls to try Double Barrel Aged Bombs Over Barley. I vacation very near to Saco, Maine and Barreled Souls every summer and I always stock up on their beefy offerings before I come back to DC. At 17.2% ABV, Double Barrel Bombs is the second heaviest offering of the day. Consider it a digestif along the lines of Underberg.
While we’re talking barleywine, Aslin’s U Street caught my eye on the lengthy festival list. It has spent 28 months in bourbon barrels before it hits your glass: 16 months in Heaven Hill barrels and then 12 months in Weller barrels. It’s sure to remind you of your favorite annual Goose Island release. Veil’s STARVE project makes an appearance and clocks in as the heaviest beer available at 18.5%. This is a blend of barleywine, some aged over six years. You’ll get a combination of unique barrels: Weller, Cognac, Willet, Sam Adams Utopias. Take a small sip and see if you can find all those things. If pure unadulterated barleywine is what you seek then do not overlook Sierra Nevada 2018 Bigfoot. Wave me off. That’s fine. You’re reading this saying, “I’ve had Sierra hundreds of times. Bigfoot comes out every year!” And you’re right. Move along. Leave all of the barleywine for me. Back in 2009, RFD in Chinatown hosted the Lupulin Reunion and Ken Grossman was asked about aging beer. He talked about how Bigfoot goes on a roller coaster ride while it’s in the bottle. Some years you crack a vintage and it’s on a high, the next year that same vintage may be on a low. Ask yourself: would Sierra bring a vintage to one of the most important beer festivals in the U.S. if it wasn’t drinking well?
Stouts are the final station for this train though and we have breweries posting up with real weight. Someone needs to tell Ology that this isn’t a competition. But if it was, their lineup of Irrefutable Logic variants would be in line for a gold medal. At the front of the line and struggling to decide? Irrefutable Logic: To the Cloud will be my choice. One of my favorite beers of Snally 2024, and one of my highest rated for the year, was Side Project’s Anabasis #7. While Thai bananas, or bananas in general, aren’t my favorite adjunct, I’ll be waiting in line for Continuance #7 this year. There is another banana stout on the lineup you may find very a-peeling (A+ dad joke). Bottle Logic has rebrewed Mass Action and swapped the coconut from the 2021 batch for banana this year. But all of those are likely to have hearty lines. Inner Voice is a new one for me. Last Available is their imperial stout aged in New Riff bourbon barrels with vanilla and coffee and is 100% worth a shot. Sapwood has also proved themselves to be one of the best regional barrel-agers out there. Barrel Threads 2025 is a blend of stout aged in Heaven Hill and Weller barrels. Yes please. Belleflower is quietly becoming the best brewery (next to Allagash) in Portland, Maine. I’d line up to try whatever they were bringing, but the good news is, there will be no line and they have Flashlight Tag for you. At a mere 8%, this peanut butter boosted stout will give you that late-event protein bump you need. Crooked Crab also came to play. They have quietly been moving up my rankings for local favorites. If I have my way, my farewell beer on Saturday will be Russell’s Reserve Barrel Aged Pumpkin Spiced Beast. And if I can pronounce the beer name 5 times quickly at this point of the festival then I’ll be doing alright. Before the pumpkin pie spices are ever added, this spends six hours in the kettle and the seven months in the barrel.
Snallygaster is truly one of the preeminent beer festivals in the world. It provides the opportunity to try the super hyped, the impossible to find, the innovative and the unknown. I hope some of my recommendations hit for you and direct you to some shorter lines. Not that I am above waiting in line for great beer. In fact, I’m heading to queue up for Cantillon now.
