You read that right, folks. After the unplanned cancellation of last year’s festivities, Bristol Brewing is bringing back Firkin Rendezvous. Cue the applause.

If you don't know, Firkin is a word that describes a very specific size of barrel that holds cask beer. Cask beer is different than kegged beer in that the beer ferments in the same vessel that it is served out of. The beer, instead of being force-carbonated with gas, carbonates naturally and is either pumped out of the firkin or is poured out via gravity.

So cask beers tend to be less carbonated than the fizzy kegged beers most of us are used to, they are generally served at a slightly warmer temperature and many of the flavors that tend to "pop" with strong hops and carbonation will be rounder, smoother, and in our opinion, slightly more discernible.

We’re happy to help announce the breweries who will be attending the 15th Anniversary Firkin Rendezvous. As they say, good things come to those who wait, so for those of us who have been waiting since last year, we can’t contain our excitement.

Format-wise, Bristol is going a bit old-school. The plan this year is to bring the festival back indoors, into the brewhouse again, so get ready to enjoy some cask-conditioned beer shoulder-to-shoulder, like we all remember. Expect breweries to be scattered throughout the fermentation room and the barrel room, but there won’t be a tent outside.

Remember the old days in Bristol’s warehouse? This shot is from 2011!

Along with revamping the layout, Bristol also did a little rearrangement of the ticket levels. VIP is now the only level that is guaranteed beer and lunch (along with early access), along with a T-shirt and a jumbo pretzel, while GA gets a jumbo pretzel and has the option to add lunch. If you’re going as a DD, you do get lunch, but no beer (duh). According to Bristol, there will only be a limited amount of “Day-of” lunch sales, so if you’re doing the standard GA option, make sure to carb-load beforehand.

Ticket Levels:

Designated Driver - $15*

Must be 21 years old to purchase and willing to be an awesome Designated Driver. This ticket grants access to the festival an hour early at 1p.m., lunch and jumbo pretzel.

General Admission - $35*

General Admission tickets grant access to the festival from 2-5p.m., and include a taster glass and jumbo pretzel. *Optional lunch upgrade for $9.

VIP Admission - $60*

Lucky you! Your VIP ticket will grant you access early at 1p.m. That means that you get to taste these special one-off ales before the rush! You will also receive a commemorative taster glass, t-shirt, lunch and a jumbo pretzel.

*The ticket prices are early bird prices and are subject to change as we near the event.

Buy Tickets

Anyways, the information you came here for was the beer, right? Here’s the breweries you can expect at this year’s Firkin: