Sunday at the Chelsea Cask Ale Fest

Hazy mondays are kinda becoming our "thing," as sunday becomes the new saturday, after thursday become the new friday, and monday through wednesday hastily research ways to keep up. Yesterday, sam and the deacon visited the underrated and underattended Chelsea Brewing Co. Cask Ale Festival, which I want to say had 42ish (Sam?) beers on cask, from all corners of the country. For $20 worth of tokens, the deacon had 8oz samplers of (in order):

Troegs (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania) Javahead Stout (7.5%ABV)
(BeerAdvocate: unrated)

Clipper City (Baltimore) Heavy Seas: The Great Pumpkin (8.0%ABV)
(BA: B+)

Magic Hat (South Burlington, VT) Big Stout (?ABV?)
(BA: unrated)

Highpoint (Butler, New Jersey) Ramstein Classic Hefe-Weizen (5.5%ABV)
(BA: B)

Chelsea (NYC) 1000 Gyle Imperial Mild (10.9%)
(BA: B+)

Blue Point (Patchogue, New York) Oatmeal Stout (4.5%ABV)
(BA: B+)

I can't find an ABV% on Magic Hat's Big Stout, it's not on their site or on BA, but as a Belgian-style Imperial Stout it ain't under 5. But you get an idea how exclusive these beers were, with fresh brews from major craft breweries that don't even have BA grades yet. Yum.

So, some heavy ABVs for a Sunday, huh. What can I say. God made beer for man, man made Sunday for God, it makes logical sense. Sitting in the near empty Chelsea Brewery, sampling awesome cask after awesome cask with no bar waits, bathroom lines, and fine weather accompanied by open harbor-side tables and benches...you couldn't ask for a better Sunday afternoon. If only the Sox and Pats hadn't choked it...ahem. COULDN'T ASK FOR A BETTER SUNDAY AFTERNOON.

For the record, Magic Hat's Big Stout was my favorite, followed by Clipper City's heavily spiced Imperial Pumpkin. I'll have to keep it mind for our forthcoming Pumpkin Ale sampler day (nominations accepted!), if it's available at Whole Foods Bowery or American Beer Distro, that is.