Celebration Of Bold, High Alcohol Beer In Worcester This Weekend

WORCESTER, MA — A celebration of bold and often high-alcohol beer is coming to Worcester this weekend featuring breweries from across New England.

This is the second annual imperial beer festival staged by Greater Good Imperial Brewing Company, which was the first brewery in the U.S. to focus solely on imperial brews.

The first imperial festival held in 2022 attracted about 30 brewers and 500 people to Great Good's Millbrook Street headquarters in Worcester. This year, the festival will feature about 50 breweries, according to the organizers.

"We came up with Imperial Fest as a way to celebrate the style that we’ve built our brewery on, and lean even further into our commitment to truly being the authority in imperial craft beers," Great Good CEO Colleen Quinn said in a news release. "The response from the breweries we partnered with and customers was so overwhelmingly positive that this year we decided to do something we think we’re pretty good at — make it bigger!"

"Imperial" beers can come in any style, from IPAs and stouts to sours — Greater Good's "Funk Daddy" imperial sour IPA won a medal at the 2021 Great American Beer Festival — but share characteristics like very bold flavors, and very high alcohol content, typically above 8% ABV.

Saturday's festival will also feature a contest where beer drinkers can vote on their favorite imperial brews. The winner will be featured on tap at Greater Good for a month after the festival.

Here are some of the breweries scheduled to attend:

• Allagash Brewing Co. (Portland, ME)
• Altruist Brewing Company (Sturbridge)
• Belleflower Brewing Co. (Portland, ME)
• Bent Water Brewing Company (Lynn)
• Branch & Blade Brewing (Keene, NH)
• Castle Island Brewing Co. (Norwood)
• Common Ground Ciderworks (North Brookfield)
• Double Down Brewing Company (Worcester)
• Greater Good Imperial Brewing Co. (Worcester)
• Kettlehead Brewing (Tilton, NH)
• Mast Landing Brewing Company (Westbrook, ME)
• Mayflower Brewing Co. (Plymouth)
• Milk Room Brewing Co. (Rutland)
• Modestman Brewing (Keene, NH)
• Oakholm Brewing Company (Brookfield)
• Odd By Nature Brewing (Neddick, ME)
• Penny Pinchers Brewing Co. (Millbury)
• Progression Brewing Company (Northampton)
• Redemption Rock Brewing Co. (Worcester)
• Second Wind Brewing Company (Plymouth)
• Seven Saws Brewing Co. (Holden)
• Start Line Brewing Company (Hopkinton)
• Timberyard Brewing Company (East Brookfield)
• Thirsty Robot (Fitchburg)
• Twisted Fate Brewing Co. (Danvers)
• Untold Brewing (Scituate)
• Vitamin Sea Brewing Co. (Weymouth)
• Wachusett Brewing Co. (Westminster)
• Widowmaker Brewing (Braintree)
• Wormtown Brewery (Worcester)

Find tickets and more details on the 2023 imperial festival here.