| St. Boniface Craft Brewing Co. 1701 W Main St | Ephrata, PA 17522 (717) 466-6900 www.stbonifacebrewing.com |
St. Boniface Craft Brewing Company held their second annual Bonifest on Saturday, June 6, 2015.
The event kicked off at 11am on a warm, mostly sunny day in Ephrata, PA.
Featuring food trucks, live music, raffles and, of course, lots of great beer, this second go-around of the event was just as awesome as last year and appeared even better attended.
Since the area where tables were set up for last year’s event is now occupied by the sweet new brewing system, a giant tent was erected in the parking lot housing tables for attendees, the stage and the alluring firkins tapped for the event (more on those later).
Tickets were an incredibly affordable $9 in advance and $10 at the door. Donations of canned food to benefit the less fortunate in the community were accepted in exchange for raffle tickets to win various prizes.
Food was provided by Souvlaki Boys serving up delicious gyros and other Greek fare, Rocky’s BBQ dishing out the perfect compliments to a warm summer day, The Fridge served up wood-fired pizzas from their mobile oven and Sugar Whipped served up irresistible desserts.
The tunes came courtesy of The Last Time, The Vinegar Creek Constituency Duo and Jake Lewis and the Clergy.
But the best part of the event was, obviously, the incredible brews. St. Boniface has consistently produced some of the area’s absolute stand out beers and many of their usual offerings were available, including 3LB IPA and, in cans, Libation DIPA and Paidiea Pale Ale. Also available were Offering #20 Pilsner (which we tried green from the fermenter back when we recorded podcast episode 48 at the brewery) and Offering #21 Red Ale, my first beer of the day.
Of course, a special event requires special brew offerings and they did not disappoint. Two firkins were tapped, the first was Hegemony Imperial Stout on Cacao Nibs, which was a delicious take on the already excellent stout.
The second was 3LB IPA with Habaneros and Simcoe hops. It goes without saying this was Steph’s favorite part of the day. She even insisted we get there early, hoping to be the first to get a taste. It turned out it wasn’t being tapped til later in the day, but Steph was still first in line. I have to say, not being the pepper beer nut that she is, I still very much enjoyed this firkin as it wasn’t super hot but was super flavorful. Plus, you’ll always have me at Simcoe.
In the taproom Lemonade Slushy Shandies in Mild Ale were available, a favorite of the usually wine-drinking member of our party, Marilyn. Also inside was Berliner Weisse on Raspberries and Libation Infused with Nectarines, probably my favorite quaff of the day.
We had a great time this year and look forward to the next one. Many of our awesome beer friends were in attendance, including Bart and the gang from Hop Hedz Gear selling their usual super cool beer apparel alongside St. Bonfest event tees. And I won one of the raffles, scoring some St. Boniface glassware for future libation enjoyment.
Be sure to look out for next year’s Bonifest – sure to be even bigger and better – or, ya know, just stop by the taproom and enjoy some truly exceptional beers.
