What a fun event! The Saratoga Brewfest was the perfect way to spend a sunny Saturday afternoon.
The Saratoga Brewfest was held at a beautiful, picturesque family farm in Ballston Spa, New York. It featured over 100 different beers, a special Belgian-style beer tent, food, local venders, and live music.
And the best part about the event (besides the beer, of course): the gorgeous weather! Holy amazing! We totally lucked out, which made the beer festival all the more enjoyable. Beer + sunshine = very happy Tina! 😎
Mal and I arrived at the Brewfest promptly at 1:30 pm for the VIP session.
As VIP guests, we enjoy a variety of beers not available in the general session as well as an opportunity to meet and greet with a variety of brewery reps and local business owners. We also had access to private restrooms (booyah!), private seating, and live music. Plus, we received a goodie bag and a catered lunch. Pretty awesome, huh?
Obviously, Mal and I were psyched about our VIP status!
At 3:00 pm, the event opened to the public, which meant that it was time to try a whole slew of beers– a number of which I had never tried or even heard of!
Clearly, I was psyched!
Over the next couple of hours, the event got more and more crowded, but there was never a long wait to sample beer. In the past, I’ve attended brewfests where I ended up waiting in lines for the majority of the event.
This beer festival, however, was different because there were several tasting tents, positioned all over the farm, which spread out the crowds and gave people plenty of room to move around.
And the pours of beer were massive!! The tasting glasses were 5 ounces each, so it probably took people awhile to drink them before they wanted to sample another one.
I tried a bunch of different beers from new (to me) breweries, but I didn’t end up falling in love with any specific one. However, I got to try a number of beers from my favorite breweries (Peak Organic, Victory, Dogfish Head) that I’ve never tasted before, which is always fun.
All in all, the Saratoga Brewfest was a fabulous event! I can’t wait for next year! In fact, Mal and I are already making plans for 2012– we think it’d make a great weekend excursion with friends.
A huge thank you to A.J. of Saratoga Festivals for hooking Mal and me up with tickets! We had such a blast!