Harbor Island Beer Fest

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The past Saturday afternoon, September 24th I attend the 3rd annual Harbor Island Beer & Cider Festival. They say it’s the worlds largest beer festival with over 200 breweries pouring 400+ beers and ciders along with food vendors and live music.

The event was held under the big tents at Harbor Island Park in the town of Mamaroneck which is about a 40 minute train ride North from Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan.

Rain threatened the day when I woke in the morning but by the time I got to the event the sun came out for a beautiful day of beer and cider drinking. It was a huge event and I concentrated on the ciders and any interesting beers I could find including sours, gose, stouts and porters.

Beer, Bourbon, Bacon & BBQ

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This past Saturday the New York City stop on the 2016 Beer, Bourbon and BBQ fest tour took place. It’s an event that says it will “put a big apple in the mouth of the pig”. The event was held in two sessions, an afternoon event with a bacon focus and an evening event with a bbq focus with both events serving various beer, cider and copious amounts of whiskey.

The event was held at The Tunnel on 608 West 28th Street in Chelsea, Manhattan. It was at rail freight terminal, turned nightclub, turned event space with a very distinctive brick-lined tunnel shaped main room. Unlike last Saturday, the weather cooperated this time around and there was no blizzard to slow things down. I attended the evening session and it was crowded with a young, casual crowd.

Lions, Tigers & Brews

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This past Friday and Saturday evening the Lions, Tigers & Brews craft beer festival was held at the Central Park Zoo in Manhattan. Over 60 craft breweries poured their products in an open air tasting in the park.

I attended the event on Saturday. It seemed like it would be a rainy day but the rain held off for the evening. The event got a good crowd of mostly young folk enjoying the brews in a unique venue with a live band and a DJ providing the entertainment. it was a party.

Note to event organizer; with four hours of an open beer-bar, you need more port-a-potties.

I sampled some ciders and some nice IPA’s.

Souvereign Cider: Apple & Honey, Dry & Crisp

Woodchuck Cider Co.: Gumption Cider

California Cider Co.: Ace Pear Cider

Magner’s: Pear Cider

Knee Deep Brewing Co.: Simtra Triple IPA

Mermaid Brewing Co.: IPA & Pilsner

Saranac Brewery: Legacy IPA

Long Trail Brewing Co.: Limbo IPA

Braven Brewing Co.: White IPA

Kuka Beer Co.: Belgium Plum Witte

Spoetzl Brewery: Shiner Prickly Pear

Illusive Traveller: Grapefruit Ale

Smuttynose Brewing Co.: Shoal’s Pale Ale

Empire Brewing Co.: Amber Ale