Wild Acres Beer Festival a Wild Success

About an hour north of Rockland, tucked down a gravel road,  is the most picturesque brewery.

Picturesque is not a word I would typically associated with breweries. However, Drowned Lands is so far off from a typical brewery it’s difficult to place it in the same category.

Earlier this month, I was invited to the Wild Acres Festival at Drowned Lands, a beer tasting festival comprised of 45 of the best breweries in the world. Not being a typical beer drinker, I was slightly wary to attend. However, armed with an open mind, a Tommy Bahama beach chair, and my husband (who would be in charge of testing the beers, poor thing,) we made the drive to Drowned Lands.

The name Drowned Lands comes from the breweries location in the black dirt region of the Warwick Valley. Over a century ago, the water would routinely rise and flood the surrounding area before receding, leaving layers of matter that decomposed. This ritual of rise, deposit, and decompose, created exceptionally rich and nutrient dense soil, making the area “dirt rich.”

Mike Kraai, owner of Drowned Lands, stated that their beer is inspired by this “richest soil in the country.”

Up above the soil is the brick building that Drowned Lands now inhabits. These bricks served many purposes before the brewery transformation, serving as a philanthropic youth rehab space influenced by Eleanor Roosevelt before becoming a state training school until 1976. Following the school, the building was a  medium security state prison before closing in 2011.

This history has preserved the untouched beauty that Drowned Lands now occupies. With that space, Kraai has created a brewery with room to roam.

There’s indoor seating, elevated deck seating, patio seating, and the undisputed star of the show, the lawn seating. There are swaths of beautifully maintained lawn to either borrow a Drowned Land’s Adirondack chair or set up your picnic blanket and chow down on the top notch food – all the while never feeling like you’re in the way of someone else.

Speaking of food, this is not your typical brewery gnosh. While at the Wild Acres Festival, I enjoyed Summer Ceviche, made of Gulf shrimp, peach and serrano aguachile, radish, red onion, lime, cilantro and basil served with tortilla chips,  and my husband chose their fennel and sausage pizza. Both exceeded expectations with their locally sourced ingredients, in-house fermented bread and dough, and dressings made from scratch. Other highlights on the menu include their grilled peaches with whipped ricotta, hot honey and toasted pistachio, the lamb lahmacun pizza with spiced lamb, tzatziki, and za’atar, and the lobster poutine with cheddar cheese curds and garlic and lemon aioli.

Now before I start drooling, let’s get back to the festival. The lawn was covered in tents with 45 of the country’s best brewers, offering up a little bit of everything. I have never attended a festival with drinking at the center, and wasn’t sure what to expect from participants and vendors. To my surprise, the mood was surprisingly relaxed and laid back. The vendors, who did not know we were here as “press,” treated us like we were old friends, pouring up tastings and chatting about their process. Most had been personally invited to the festival through friends, and many had been attending the festival for years.

They say the mood of a show comes from the star’s dressing room, and that saying held true here. Owner Kraai displayed genuine joy at seeing these brewers coming together and the patrons enjoying the day, exemplifying the brewery’s motto of “Slow Down. Stay Awhile.”

While we obviously couldn’t try everything, we were happy to see that there was a pint for every palate. There were even a few ciders and wines to try for the beer averse. Two of my favorites were the Jasmine Tea Infused Cider from Brooklyn Cider House and a dry, sparkling red wine called the Carbonic Concord from Wild Arc Farm. Todd Cavallo, Owner and Winemaker at Wild Arc, called it “grown-up grape juice,” and in the best of ways, it really was. My husband’s favorite were the Rockaway Brewing Company’s West Coast IPA and Drowned Land’s Sow and Gather IPA.

Overall, the festival was much more relaxing and day-cation-esque than I was anticipating. I’m looking forward to more trips up, especially as we ease into fall. Cheers!