Bottoms Up!
Celebrity beer pourer and Kellogg High School football coach Tim Kimberling was one of the volunteers from the Kellogg Booster Club who helped at Brewsfest 2023.
Joshua McDonald
Braden Thomas and AriAna McDonald had a blast sampling the more-than 40 different beers and ciders that were available during Silver Mountain Brewsfest 2023.
A group of people enjoy some beer and the live music during Brewsfest on Silver Mountain.
To say the beer garden area at Brewsfest was packed, may be an understatement.
As the live music got going, people made their way out of the beer garden and down toward the stage on Silver Mountain.
KELLOGG –– The weather was perfect, the music kept the energy just right, and most importantly – the beer flowed.
1,200 people packed the tubing hill area of Silver Mountain this past Saturday for BrewsFest 2023 – as Shoshone County continued its streak of stellar summer events.
More than 20 breweries and cideries offered up more than 40 different varieties of beer and cider for each zythophile to sample.
Folks had their picks of IPAs, APAs, lagers, stouts, porters, Hefes, ambers, sweet ciders, dry ciders – and everything in between.
Each year it feels like Brewsfest gets more popular – both with the people attending the event and the number of breweries who want to be at the event.
Silver Mountain Event Coordinator Gus Colburn is just happy with how much everyone seems to love the event.
“My favorite thing about Brewsfest is the people that make it a yearly tradition,” Colburn said. “People use the event to celebrate engagements, birthdays, and anniversaries. It's fun for me to see people kick back and enjoy their time on the mountain with loved ones.”
The 20-minute ride up Silver Mountain’s famous gondola helps with crowd control, which can be especially helpful when you’re dealing with a party like Brewsfest. With the event selling out, people making their way up the hill in short waves allows everyone to have the opportunity to see everything each brewery had to offer.
“1,200 people is the sellout,” Colburn said. “We want to keep it comfortable for people up there without cramming too many people in the event space. 1,200 is a great number with the amount of room we have on the tubing hill to keep it enjoyable.”
One of the cooler aspects of the event is how Silver Mountain has turned it into a fundraiser for any local organization that wants to spend an afternoon pouring beer.
While many of the breweries have representatives from their companies bring their kegs to the event – with volunteers helping with the pouring, they can discuss their processes and tell drinkers what makes their beer or cider so unique.
This year, under the organization of Amy Miller, the Kellogg High School Booster Club took on the responsibility of keeping everyone’s cups nice and full.
Kellogg resident Braden Thomas went to Brewsfest for the first time this year, and now he thinks he’ll be an every-year attendee.
“You expect to go up and try beer,” Thomas said. “What you don’t expect is the amazing views, perfect weather, and just how many beers and ciders that will be available. I’m already excited for next year.”
Colburn always likes to keep an eye on who runs out first – usually an indicator of popularity, this year was no surprise.
“One Tree Cider is always a crowd favorite, they consistently blow through their kegs and I believe they were the first booth that ran out,” Colburn said. “Overall we were very excited with how the event turned out and are excited to keep the party going for years to come.”
EDITOR'S PICKS
I was able to sample roughly half of the beer and ciders available at BrewsFest 2023. I'm not much of an IPA drinker, so that allowed me to try almost everything that wasn't an IPA.
Of the 20 or so drinks I tried, I kept track of my favorites.
Ranking them in a countdown style:
- Porch Glow Amber from No-Li Brewery
- Halo Huckleberry Hefeweizen from Lewis and Clark Brewing
- Suns Out Cider from Trailbreaker Cider
- Mango Tango Summer Ale from Bale Breaker Brewing Company
- Huckleberry Wheat from Radio Brewing
and the grand champion...
- Lemon-Basil Cider from One Tree Cider House
