On Saturday and Sunday picture this: Live music, good ole’ bar food, lots of people, and over 60 of the best microbrews from the area and beyond. Add it all together and you get one fun time. One would think that this would lead to chaos and a lot of bad drinking experiences, but this was surprisingly calm, relaxed, and respectful.

At the event, both overage and underage people are allowed in, but of course only the over-21 crowd was allowed to drink. My two colleagues and I proceeded to enter the fenced-off area where the action was. I would like to thank Adam Schwartz for the willingness to be the sober driver for the event. Those of drinking age were given commemorative pint glasses, complete with event information, free beer tickets, and wrist bands.

Upon entering, there were two large tents: one with the stage with live music, the other with the savory beverages. Upon looking around, you could see over 20 different brewers, each with at least two taps, around the edges and the middle section where, for $1, you could purchase a ticket to fill your glass with beer.

With the enormous amount of beer on tap, my drinking buddy and I proceeded to go around and look at the various types of beer—from Stout to IPA to Porters, it was all there. The colors varied from clear, to gold and golden browns, and even beers you couldn’t see through.

Some of the vendors included Troy Pub and Brewery, Harpoon, and Vermont favorites like Maple Leaf Brewery. There was only one beer which I thought was worthy of getting dumped out instead of drunk. It was called "NitroJava" and was even darker than Guinness. One of my favorite brewers was Vermont’s Long Trail Ales.