Roc City BrewFest 2015

This year I had the opportunity to attend the Roc City BrewFest, which is in it's second year I believe. I contacted the person in charge in advance hoping to procure a volunteer spot for me and some friends and it worked out that I was able to wristband entrants as they passed security and then after about an hour or so enter the festival myself. There were two such sessions, 3 hours each, which after wrist-banding I was able go to and taste a lot of different beers. The second session I even had a friend join me in this endeavor and he managed to meet up with a couple Army Reserve buddies, so we went from booth to booth with them geeking out on beer and tasting notes/votes. One of his friends owns a bar in Syracuse so this was sort of an opportunity for her to taste several different beers.
All in all, I was a bit disappointed with the beer and the quality of the beer as well from the kegs. Almost every vendor's beer was being poured by volunteers, they were using kegs that do not do the beer justice, they were pouring from pitchers and did not know much more than the cliff notes about the beer, This was definitely a festival for people who just wanted to get drunk, not for those who desire to have a thoughtful drink.
This is what all I tasted (sorry I do not in all cases have very extensive tasting notes as it is difficult to drink with one hand and put information into an ipod or phone with the other when there are practically no tables, and I forgot my ipod the 2nd session at home):

Session 1:
1) Dogfish Head Namaste - [no notes]
2) Elysian Dragonstooth Stout - astringent, roasty, coffee, espresso, burnt coffee, dark roast notes.
3) Left Hand Sawtooth Ale - candied peach aroma, citrus, seltzer water, bitter.
4) Elysian Loser Pale Ale - tropical fruit, citrus, mango, thick mouthfeel, hop balanced, bitter finish, slight haze, gold/amber color.
5) Westbrook White Thai - lemongrass nose, clove, not much bitter, witte, belgian yeast, slight sourness.
6) Galaxy St Stusan Ale - bubble gum nose, banana, plum, sweetness is nice, reminded me of banana peel astringency.
7) Smuttynose Winter Ale - nose vanilla and fruity, brown ale? confusingly underwhelming, sweet, sugary, some alcohol.
8) Troegs The Master of Pumpkins - clove, nutmeg nose, cinnamon, pumpkin puree, some bittering hops, slight haze, orange/amber, sourness.
9) Sixpoint The Crisp - dry, grassy, fresh, biscuit, nose is citrus and floral, great head, white foam.
10) Sixpoint Bengali - tropical fruit, melon, grassy, fresh, cream, not too bitter, good bitterness, fruit punch.
11) Custom Brewcrafters Twang Belgian Farmhouse Ale - spicy, peppercorns, tasted like a witte with herbal notes, touch bitter.

Session 2:
12) Abandon Nut Brown - not super nutty.
13) St. Lawrence Sugar Plum Winter Lager - too much candy sugar beet aroma, nice plum sweetness.
14) Galaxy Andromeda IPA - nice aroma and hop flavor falls a touch short of great, not overly bitter for 58 IBU's.
15) Three Huskies Howling Simdorado - was not an accurate representation of the actual beer, caramal malt balanced, little hop aroma/flavor.
16) Three Huskies Wooing Wit - decent Belgian, coriander touch of orange peel, not big Belgian yeast notes.
17) Victor Brewing Cherry Dubbel - not sure this was the correct beer, hard to get the name, but it was a tasty dubbel.
18) Victor Chinook IPA, not sure this was the correct beer either, it just said IPA.
19) Beau's All Natural Brewing Co., Bog Water - herbal but not super tasty of a blend.
20) Jack's Abby Hoponious Union - tropical fruit, pine, good aroma, sessionable.
21) Bayou Teche LA 31 Boucanee - super smoky, great cherry flavor.
22) Bayou Teche LA 31 Biere Noire - [no notes]
23) Westbrook IPA - [no notes]
24) Stillwater Artisnal Cellar Door - very lemony citrus.
25) Flying Dog Raging Bitch Belgian IPA - too warm to give accurate tasting notes.
26) Bronx Rye Pale Ale - spicy.
27) Oskar Blues Old Chub Nitro - not as smooth as I thought it would be, better in the can?
28) Smuttynose Vunderbar Pilsner - good full bodied malt bill.
29) Troegs Perpetual IPA - bitter.
30) Stone Go To IPA - bitter pine, resin.
31) Bell's Smitten Golden Rye Ale - spicy.

I apologize for the lack of depth in the notes department, and to those breweries whose beers I am misrepresenting. That is not my intent. If fault lies somewhere it should lie with the festival organizers. I would not pay $35 to go to this festival in the future unless they can learn to keep the beer fresh and offer more than basic standard offerings from pretty much every non-local/regional brewery. They also promised this one would be big and it was rather small in my opinion. They missed some really good breweries in the Rochester area, namely Rohrbachs, and I think tried to conceal this fact by not showing on their webpage what breweries would be attending until a couple days beforehand--as well as promising that the list was not conclusive. Nor was it accurate when many of the breweries did not show up! See their site here.

My favorite brews of the festival were: Dogfish Head Namaste, Victor Cherry Dubbel, Stillwater Artisanal Cellar Door, Jack's Abby Hoponious Union, Three Huskies Wooing Wit, Galaxy Andromeda IPA, Sixpoint Bengali.