New brewfest coming to Goffstown
A new event coming to Goffstown this weekend will feature more than a dozen beer options from area breweries — along with local food vendors and live music — all to raise money for local disabled veterans in need. The inaugural Mount Uncanoonuc Brewfest is happening on Saturday, Oct. 15, from 1 to 5 p.m. in the parking lot of the town’s former Shaw’s supermarket.
The event is being presented by the Worker Bee Fund, its beneficiary nonprofit organization, in conjunction with Mountain Base Brewery. Plans to hold a brewfest were conceived shortly after the brewery’s opening late last year, according to Worker Bee Fund founder Brian Hansen, following some conversations he had with co-owner Carrie Currier and her daughter, event coordinator Candice Pendagast.
To date, the Worker Bee Fund has completed around 30 home projects to date benefiting disabled veterans within an hour’s drive of Manchester.
“In a nutshell, what we do is fix up houses for people in really low income brackets,” Hansen said. “The idea is to help them age in place, and what that basically means is that when folks get older, it’s really nice that they can stay in their homes as long as possible. … As a result, we may go in and fix up their kitchen so that it’s wheelchair-accessible, or we’ll do like a full kitchen model or bathroom model or something like that. And we raise all of the funds ourselves.”
Set to take place rain or shine, the brewfest will take place in a cordoned off area in the south end of the parking lot, Hansen said, with plenty of tents and bar-height cafe tables for attendees. He expects around 14 breweries — nearly all from southern New Hampshire — to be represented, either via their beers being donated for the festival or the brewers pouring the beer themselves. Four-ounce samples of each featured beer will be available to ticket holders, encompassing several styles.
In addition to the beers, the brewfest will feature food options from a few local purveyors, including those that have hosted pop-ups at Mountain Base Brewery in the past. Squaloo’s BBQ of Manchester, for instance, which held its first pop-up at the brewery back in late July, will be there — chef Ira Street is known for traditional Midwestern barbecue staples and smoked meats. Other vendors at the brewfest will include Granite State Whoopie Pies, which will have fresh baked cookies, and The Bakeshop on Kelley Street, with its soft baked pretzels. Live music will be featured by the Robyn V Group, a young rock cover band based in Nashua.
At the conclusion of the brewfest, attendees can cross the parking lot and visit Mountain Base Brewery, which will be open that day and evening. The brewery recently debuted the release of its Grand Pumpkin, a vanilla pumpkin porter.
A three-barrel commercial nanobrewery, Mountain Base originally began as a homebrewing passion project for the Curriers — longtime residents of Goffstown — in their basement more than a decade ago. The brewery opened in the site of a former RadioShack inside the Shaw’s Plaza in mid-December 2021, across the parking lot from where the brewfest will take place. Currier said Mountain Base features anywhere from six to 12 rotating brews on a regular basis.
“[We keep] four or five [beers] on pretty consistently, just because we’ve … established some regulars at this point who drink specific ones,” she said.
Mount Uncanoonuc Brewfest
When: Saturday, Oct. 15, 1 to 5 p.m.
Where: 553 Mast Road, Goffstown (at the southern end of the parking lot)
Cost: $25 in advance or $30 at the door; admission is free for designated drivers
Visit: workerbeefund.org/events/brewfest
Event is rain or shine and 21+ only. All proceeds benefit the Worker Bee Fund.
Featured photo: courtesy photo.
