The
City of Rockford kicked off the 2014 fall season with an all weekend-long downtown
Harvest Fest celebration and
Rockford Brewing Company was on hand with live music, food, and 20 different beers flowing between the pub and outdoor beer tent. Each day featured exclusive tappings with Saturday’s activities including a
chili cook-off and the
Coq2Fly 14.7 mile group bike ride from Brewery Vivant which included the tapping of a new collaboration brew.
I paid a visit to the beer tent on Friday where new beers featured included 3 different Harvest Ales with one of each featuring Chinook, Cascade, and Centennial hops. Also included on tap were the last kegs of the 2013 Butternut Spiced Ale (which has aged wonderfully,) and the equally delicious 2014 Brewers Grove Beechwood Brown “tree beer”. Food available in the tent included chili lime chicken drummies, and traditionally grilled bratwurst. Friday’s live entertainment was provided by duo Channing & Quinn, and Delilah DeWylde & The Lost Boys.
As was the case with last spring’s Fly2Coq bike event, this year’s return trip included a new collaboration beer with Brewery Vivant, with each brewery brewing up a Coq2Fly Autumn Ale but using different yeast strains to showcase the different flavor profiles. Also currently in the planning stages for Rockford Brewing Company is a new batch of Butternut Spice Ale, as well as this year’s Belgian Multigrain Anniversary Ale. Several brand new yet to-be announced beer recipes are also in the works to be tapped at various locations downtown as part of this year’s Rockford Pub Crawl which has been a Rockford Brewing Company tradition on the night before Thanksgiving. The previously announced kitchen expansion and rooftop deck is currently planned for sometime in 2015.
