Get those pretzel necklaces ready. It’s festival time in New York.
Three beer festivals are scheduled to take place in and around New York City over the next few weeks.
Spider Bite Beer Co. pours at last year’s Belmont Park beer expo
First up, is the International Great Beer Expo at Belmont Park in Elmont with day and evening sessions scheduled for Nov. 9. Samuel Adams Rebel IPA, a hopped up West Coast-style brew, will make its East Coast debut at the sixth annual edition of this event, which features some 50 breweries and a hundred-plus. Tickets are $45 online and $55 at the gate, although a $23 discounted admissions can be found at Goldstar. A word of caution: the event space is partly open to the elements and unheated. Photos from last year’s expo showed many attendees attired in warm clothes and coats. Starfish Junction Productions is the event promoter.
On Nov. 13, from 7-10 p.m. Great Brewers/Union Beer Distributors presents The Craft Experience, which they described as “the most exclusive event of its kind.” The event pairs an impressive list of 125 domestic and international craft breweries and 30 little-known craft distillers under one roof. That roof is Center 548, a three-floor event space near the Chelsea Piers at 548 W. 22nd St. Manhattan. Brewery owners, brewmasters and distillers will be hand, too, to talk about their products. Regular tickets are $89 and a VIP admit, which offers an opportunity to start tasting an hour before the official start, sells for $125. Union Beer is a major craft beer distributor in New York City, Long island and five other downstate counties in New York as well as a distributor of Anheuser-Busch InBev products.
The scene last year at the Lexington Avenue Armory
Finally, there is the New York City Craft Beer Festival spread over three sessions on Nov. 23 and Nov. 24 at the Lexington Avenue Armory at E. 68th St. in Manhattan. The Hand Crafted Tasting Co. (an affiliate of concert promoter Mad Dog Presents) puts on the event, which is focused on fall and winter seasonal beers. Seventy-five breweries are expected to participate, each serving up two beers. There’s also an extra-charge Connoisseur Club, which includes harder-find beers and edibles and an extra hour of sampling. Tickets are $55 for general admission, $75 for VIP admission (an extra hour to sample) and $25 for the Connoisseur Club. Saturday general admission tickets are sold out.
Are you planning on attending any of these?