There's rain in my beer.

My clothes were sopping wet, my hair was pasted to my forehead and everywhere I went I there were puddles. Despite these drawbacks, the 3rd annual NY Brewfest allowed me to sample beers from over 100 plus breweries this past rain-drenched Friday. The rain couldn’t hold back myself or the hundreds of other folks drinking in the rain.

Heartland Brewery and the New York State Brewers Association came together to put on the event. For fifty bucks, beer lovers of all levels could sample to their fill and test out their tolerance level. As the night went on, most people seemed to adjust to—or at least forget about—the constant rainfall and enjoy themselves. However, I think this had more to do with the amount of craft brews that were being imbibed.

Unlike the American Craft Beer Festival I attended in Boston back in June, this festival seemed more about just drinking than learning about the brews. One pourer described it best as “an absolute shit show.” Most of this was probably due to the horrible weather, but the lack of actual brewer’s present makes me guess that getting drunk was the end goal of the festival. Not that there is anything wrong with getting sloshed on delicious beers, but it was a different atmosphere then other festivals I’ve been too. I rarely had a moment to learn anything about the beers I was drinking and when I did, the volunteers often knew only what was written on the placard in front of the top. I was able to chat with a few pourers—the people at Elysian Brewing Company in Seattle and Schmaltz in New York were full of great beer info—but for the most part I was hustled out of the small tents as soon as I got my pour.

One thing I noticed about the festival was that I tasted more beers that I found utterly terrible than that blew me away. Perhaps it is due to my tastes shifted towards lower alcohol session beers lately, but a lot of the breweries were showcasing extreme, high-alcohol beers or some ridiculous brews (e.g. The Crème Brulee from Southern Tier brewing. It smells delicious, but I won’t be buying a bottle any time soon). My favorite brews were the beers featured on cask. There is just something about that warm, rich and smooth taste of a freshly poured cask ale. The Denver Pale Ale by Great Divide Brewing Company was one taste bud pleaser that I will be making an effort to purchase in the future.

Despite the hurricane-like rains beating on my head and the occasional stab with an umbrella the fest was a success. I drank my fill, and the turnout proved that the people of the city will continue to appreciate delicious craft beers. Even with the rain, people donned ponchos, slickers and garage-bags to have a good time and cheers to the future of brewing in this state. This picture pretty much sums up the event:

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The Brewfest was the kickoff night to NY Craft Beer Week. Until September 21, beer bars, breweries and restaurants will be uniting to celebrate good beer. Although I won’t be attending any of the neighborhood bar crawls, the 2nd annual Manhattan Cask Ale Fest will be taking place from the 19th to the 21st at the Chelsea Brewing Company. Hopefully the weather will be a bit drier since I’ll be getting there at noon.

Delicious Cask ale is here.