We were at the Beer Dome Basel and tried to try our way through over 100 beers from more than 25 national, continental and international breweries.
The market hall in Basel attracts the masses, usually with street food from all over the world, this time with craft beer from all over the world. The street food stands are there permanently and complemented the great beers on a culinary level for all the hungry craft-beer-drinkers that came to try the beers.
The organizers (normally operate the Bierlager, Bierrevier and Bierjohan) did not miss the opportunity to position Basel even more as Switzerland’s leading craft beer city. The guest list included well-known names such as Mikkeller from Denmark, Cloudwater from England, Garage Beer from Spain, or White Frontier and Blackwell from Switzerland.
Unknown US craft-brewers
But there were also a lot of newcomers (at least for Switzerland) like Aslin, Barrier Brewing, Tripple Cossing, Finback (all from the USA), Gipsy Hill (UK), Flying Couch (DK) and so on.
New England Style remains trendy
All these breweries brought with them almost everything the beer world has to offer in terms of taste, with the Hazy category (New England Style Pale Ale/IPA, Double/Tripple Dry Hopped) clearly the most available, followed by all kinds of sour beers and some double digits Imperial Stouts (with more than 10% ABV.). I personally will remember “Virtuous Stains” from Alefarm, a Gose with Calamansi or the Pantao Blend 2, a barrel aged wild ale from Mikkeller Baghaven. The only absence from the currently trendy craf-beer-styles was the modern lager beers (India Pale Lager, Dry Hopped Lager, etc.), where White Frontier sent the only representative into the race with a dry hopped Kellerbier.
By the way, the crowds spread out very nicely in the large hall, which is certainly worth a visit even without Beer Dome Basel going on, just because of the beer bar, which is the largest craft beer bar in Switzerland with 40 taps and 700 beers in the fridge – everything can be taken out of the fridge before 7 pm.
We are sure to be back when the happening takes place again next year. Just like everyone else from the small Swiss craft-beer-scene, which has already gathered here this year and visibly enjoyed the well-organized festival.