A Great Day For A Beer Festival

Today, my folks and I went to the first Maryland Harvest Beer Festival, held at Homestead Gardens. The weather was absolutely stunning, and the setup was tight but manageable.



Above is beer tent #1, where the throng lived; it also housed the most beer. Within was Bold Rock Cidery, Fordham Brewing, Old Dominion, New Belgium, Widmer Bros., Red Hook, Goose Island, Starr Hill, Kona Brewing and one more...darn if I can't remember.



This was the scene outside of the main tent. There was a small area for some live music (courtesy of The Colliders), a WRNR tent, the obligatory food stuff, and a smaller beer tent with more "macro craft".

By "macro" I mean Shock Top, Hoegaarden, Becks, Bass and Boddington's. By "craft", there was Omission (from the Widmer Brothers), a gluten free beer made _with_ barley. You'll have to grill them to determine how.

All in all, I'd say the Marionberry Hibiscus Gose, Oak Barrel Stout (first time having it on tap, and the Boxcar Pumpkin Porter were my favorites, in that order. Boxcar was so tasty I had to have a glass of it.

For next year, what would be nice for the organizers to allow you to print off paper tickets (tix handled via mobile phone this round), provide free water for designated drivers and better signage for glassware rinsing stations.

At the end of the day, the whole thing was very fun and I look forward to the next time!

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