Breweries get the spotlight at Gate City BrewFest
The Gate City BrewFest, slated for Saturday, Aug. 24, at Nashua’s Holman Stadium, is Chelsea Davis’ brainchild.
Davis, the marketing manager for Bellavance Beverage Co. in Londonderry, used to travel to other beer festivals and discovered that it was a lot of work.
“What we realized,” Davis said, “is when we attended brewfests, it felt like we did a lot of the work with them — getting our different breweries there and just really trying to go above and beyond. So we thought to ourselves, ‘Why don’t we do our own?,’ which is how this came about, really. It’s really a showcase of all the Bellevance beverage products, plus some out-of-state breweries, some other breweries that are local that maybe self-distribute.”
“This is like my baby,” Davis said. ”The idea I had was 12 years ago, and now that it’s Year 10, it’s crazy — it’s older than all of my actual babies.”
“Each brewery needs to submit special paperwork, Davis said. “If you are a vendor and you want to sell food, there’s different paperwork to submit. … There are definitely a lot of moving parts, a lot of paperwork, and just making sure that everything is done by the book so that we can have a successful event and follow all the rules.”
Which is why she was so happy to turn that side of the BrewFest over to PAL. The Nashua Police Athletic League, or PAL, is the organization that benefits from the BrewFest. According to Jen Miller from the Nashua PAL, it is worth some work to be part of the festival.
“The Gate City Brewfest is in its 10th year,” Miller said. “We’re very excited, bringing out some special things specifically to help us celebrate this event. We have just close to 100 breweries, serving several brews each. So there will be lots of different samples available. The majority of the brewers are all from New Hampshire, so they are all locally sourced. And we have a lot of other really interesting beverages. We have hard cider, spirit-based seltzer, as well as a good selection of our non-alcoholic drinks for our DDs [designated drivers] and to stay hydrated on the field.”
603 Brewery of Londonderry is one of the local breweries. Parker Wheeler is the Director of Distribution and Sales for 603. He said the BrewFest is a good time for the brewers who attend.
“When they [Bellavance Beverages] come to us every year, we frequently say around the brewery that it’s one of the best beer festivals that’s put on every year,” Wheeler said.
He is looking forward to taking a variety of drinks to GateCity.
“We’ll bring two of our flagship beers,” he said, “which is the 603 IPA and the 603 double IPA. We’ll also be featuring our new non-alcoholic hop water, which is called Fizzy Hop. It’s essentially a sparkling water infused with hops and just a good opportunity for people to try out something if they’re looking to stay away from some alcohol and just get some refreshing hydration. We will also have a couple of our hard seltzer flavors. And then we have a VIP beer as well. That’s actually going to be one of our strawberry wheat beers that we just released recently.”
The Brewfest, which runs from 1 to 5 p.m., will also feature music (Bradley Copper Kettle and Friends, Slack Tide and Sippin’ Whiskey), kid-friendly activities (the Nashua PAL Kid Zone, face-painting, bounce houses and games), food and other vendors. The scheduled food line up includes Creative Cones, Crumbl Cookie, Donali’s Food Truck, Poor House BBQ and more, according to the website.
Folks only there for the food can get designated driver tickets for $15; children 12 and under get in for free. A VIP ticket, which runs $70, allows for a noon admission, a special seating area and light snacks.
Gate City BrewFest
Saturday, Aug. 24, from 1 to 5 p.m.
Holman Stadium, 67 Amherst St, Nashua, 718-8883
General admission tickets are $35 in advance or $50 at the gate. Designated Driver and Teen tickets are $15. Children under 12 are free. Proceeds support the Nashua Police Athletic League. Visit gatecitybrewfestnh.com.