FIBC @ NY BrewFest 2010

Ten thousand people, three hundred beers, one hundred brewers but just six kegs of Red Wagon IPA and Lighthouse Ale. We did it. You did it. We did it together, all ten thousand-plus of us. We poured and tasted and chugged and danced (along to live bands) and noshed (on gourmet pretzels) and laughed our way through New York Brewfest 2010. Set on Governor's Island, the most picturesque best-kept secret off the southern tip of Manhattan, we couldn't have dreamt up a better crowd or better weather. This was hands down one of the most exhilarating events we've been a part of to date. Check it out for yourself:

The lines were long, but the day was beautiful, the music was great, and the beer just wouldn’t stop flowing. All in all, a great recipe for a BrewFest.

Everyone was given a small sampling glass, but they definitely added up. By the end of it, people were more than happy to show us their beer faces.

Alas, all good things must slowly come winding down to their end. Beer-drinkers, who have an innate knack for sensing such things, were camping out by the Fire Island booth to get as much delicious beverage as they could possibly imbibe before the event shut down. Fire Island Beer Company stickers were being snatched off the tables in the dozens and stuck on the most inappropriate of places.

After all was said and done, we packed up our booth and headed for the ferry. We then ran into a human traffic jam of about a thousand people, all trying to get off the island. The combination of a day at BrewFest and the ongoing World Cup led to some very interesting chants as we waited for the ferry with nine hundred and ninety-seven other beer fans.

It took about an hour to cover the last hundred yards to the ferry, but we finally made it back to the mainland. Then came the final part of our journey: finding a taxi. In the midst of high-fiving BrewFest survivors who may or may not have recognized us from earlier in the day, we wandered through the deserted Financial District for about twenty minutes with Fire Island Beer Co. president Jeff Glassman and his friend Victor, as we tried to find a cab. Jeff was pulling around a cart loaded with all our promotional materials, included the giant wooden box you can see in the earlier photos. That's how you know you've got a cool boss.

All in all, it was quite the day, and if you didn’t make it out this year, you owe it to yourself as a beer fan to make it to the next one!