Caboose Commons brings spring beer festival to Merrifield, round two

(Updated at 11:15 a.m. on 4/5/2021) Springfest is coming to Caboose Commons (2918 Eskridge Road) in Merrifield, rain or shine.

Caboose Brewing Company will host the event at its Mosaic District venue on April 17. This year’s lineup of local breweries includes Alewerks, Right Proper, Väsen, Honor, Sinistral, and Rocket Frog.

This is Caboose’s second attempt at organizing a spring beer festival after the COVID-19 pandemic shut down what was supposed to be the inaugural Springfest last year.

Caboose instead put together a socially distanced Hop Harvest Festival in September based on feedback from customers about how to create a safe festival experience.

“We had a great time bringing breweries together with beer lovers and got some great feedback to make Springfest even more successful,” Caboose Brewing Director of Marketing and Events Courtney Beazell said.

Building off its experience with the fall festival, Caboose is expanding Springfest with a take-home option as well as more options for tasting at Caboose Commons, including more table sizes and different seating times.

Guests comfortable attending in-person can reserve two-hour time blocks starting at 12 p.m., 3 p.m., and 6 p.m. Reservations can be made for tables of four (for $200) or eight (for $360) people. Each seating will include “14 beer tastings per person and exclusive presentations with representatives from each brewery,” according to Caboose Commons.

Along with the beer tasting, Caboose Brewing is hosting its second annual Community Hops Project, which lets customers grow their own hops from April through September.

The harvested hops are then brought back to Caboose Commons and brewed into a Community Hops Pale Ale that is returned in cans to the customer. There will be a virtual instruction series about how to care for the hops plants.

For $25, Caboose is offering one hop rhizome, access to the virtual instruction series, and a four-pack of the Community Pale Ale. Packages can be purchased through the brewery’s website.

“Our Community Hops project invites everyone to participate in the creation of one of our beers. It is educational and unique, and way more fun than making sourdough!” Beazell told Tysons Reporter.

Photo courtesy Caboose Brewing Company