2018 Riverbend Brew Fest and River Jam Kicks Off with Large Crowd

A crowd packed the downtown train shed Friday night. Organizers say the 6th annual Riverbend Brew Fest is the largest one yet.
There were 52 different breweries represented and over 100 beers for people to sample.

“Let everybody come out, try different brews, see what’s going on because the craft beer movement here in Alabama has really taken off. So we have pretty much all of the major breweries from Alabama and beyond here today,” said event organizer Ken Reynolds.

With such a large crowd, the breweries were doing their best to keep everything in stock.

“We’re really excited because the cans literally dropped today. Like they came off a truck from Grayton. They went to the distributor and they went from truck to truck and came here. So it’s the first time the consumer has seen the can. They are beautiful. We are having an amazing response. We already had to fill our bucket up again, so it’s going great!” said Erika Sherman with Grayton Beer Company.

And people tell us they enjoyed it all.

“We’re tasting all these great beers and meeting interesting people. It’s a fabulous time,” said Mike Miller.

“Excited about the new brewery that opened here in Montgomery not too long ago…Common Bond. Been to a lot of the breweries around the state. It’s great to have this event here,” said Tim Miller.

And they knew what they liked.

“I’ve tried a a raspberry hefeweizen beer and it was absolutely delicious,” said Gunnar Lund.

“Well, I just tried Trim Tab from Birmingham. They were really good. It was really citrusy, really light. I tried some that tasted like nail polish remover. But it was really great for the most part,” said Rachel Solomon.

Some of the proceeds from Brew Fest are going to benefit the Family Sunshine Center.

River Jam continues Saturday at 6pm at the Riverfront Amphitheater. It is free to the public.