Brewfest!

Welcome to the 6^th floor.

Today's contributors are: Ann, Sara, Tabitha, Frank, Billy and Scott.

Subject: Brewfest

Last week was both Frank's and Ann's 24^th birthday. To celebrate they decided we should all go to Brewfest which features a whole lot of local New York breweries. It runs from five until ten, but we had to wait for Sara to get off work first, so we don't leave until five. The line to get in literally wraps around the South Street Seaport, and we don't actually get our 4oz tasting glasses and wristbands until a little after six.

“Wow, that line was a little crazy. I still don't understand why they only had two people checking Ids.”

“Yeah, that could've been done a lot faster. Oh well, let's drink!”

“Let's head over to the cask conditioned beers first, since they're only available for a limited time.”

“Cask conditioned? They are special?”

“Yeah, great stuff Tab. I don't think you'll like them, very dark and bitter usually.”

We push through the crowd and start tasting some of the cask conditioned beers, and predictably, I don't care for most of them. Since all of the tents are right next to each other, we end up on line for Rogue, which is right next to the cask conditioned ones.

“Those were pretty good. I like this; get a beer, wait on line for more beer while you drink the first one.”

“We might want to take it a little slower, we're really knocking them back like this.”

“Ann. Ann. That's the whole point! Cheers!” Scott says, clinking his glass with Ann's.

“Got to get our money's worth right Ann? Besides, what have we been practicing for if not this?”

“I wasn't aware that we were practicing at all, but maybe we should mix in some food. I know I saw some BBQ when we came in.”

“Food works too. We can make our way back that direction after picking out some beers along this row. I guess we can't try every single beer that's here.”

“Why not? Are you not up to the challenge Billy? Tsk tsk.”

“Dude. There are like 300 different types of beer here. Even in 4oz glasses, that's 75 beers. No one can do that.”

“Except Superman!”

“Aye! You're not Superman Scott!”

“Oooh! Mead! That's not beer, but I won't complain!”

“The Long Island Meadery? I've had those before, they're pretty good. I actually have an unopened bottle of Root Beer Mead back at the apartment.”

“Holding out on us Sara? We'll have to crack that open. Root Beer Mead sounds pretty good.”

“Well probably not tonight. We're doing pretty well so far.”

“Not as well as some of the people behind the booths apparently. Look at that guy, I think he's drinking faster than he's pouring.”

“I noticed that too. I guess you can't come to one of these things and not appreciate all the fine beverages around you.”

We do indeed stop and get some food, taking a break and listening to the live music. The seaport is awash with a mass of humanity, most of it tipsy if not outright drunk.

“That was a good idea Tabitha!” Sara says, as we emerge from inside the Seaport to use the bathrooms, instead of waiting on line for portapotties.

“Thanks, not that those bathrooms were amazingly clean or anything.”

“Come on girls! It's Belgium time!”

“Great beer and chocolate, what a great country!”

The Belgium beers are only available for an hour, presumably because they're much more expensive. Everyone else is aware of this too, so the rush of the crowd is strong around the booths, and we eventually taste everything we want to and are standing in front of an empty booth littered with beer bottles.

“Wow, these guys are all tapped out and gone already. Look at all these beer bottles, I guess they didn't bring enough beer.”

“Some of these breweries probably can't afford to give away that much free beer all night.”

“Yeah. This place is really really packed. I'm sure they did what they could afford.”

“As long as people remember what they drank and remember some of the breweries to try them again for real.”

“I've had so many different beers today, they're all blending together!”

“Well, there will be name recognition if you're in a store and looking for something at least.”

“I really liked that blueberry ale we had, where was that from?”

“That was Wachusett I think. I'm about ready to go. What about you guys?”

“I've had so much to drink tonight there's a brewfest in my bladder!”

“As long as there isn't a brewfest on the floor of the apartment when I get up tomorrow, you're fine.”

“Beer! Maybe we should stop for food on the way home.”

“It is only 9:30. I could do food. Or we could go to the beer garden in Astoria.”

“Beer garden! That place rocks!”

“Let's stick to food. Might as well just stop at that McDonalds near the subway. It's not like any of us are really going to taste anything.”

“Happy Birthday to Ann..Ha..Ouch!” Billy says, as Ann hits him.

“No singing. Especially not to me old man!”

“Oh okay. Angus burgers it is. I'll buy you dinner since It's your birthday.”

“Oh wow Billy, that's so nice. You could spoil a girl like that buying her Mickey D's like that.”