Homebrew Beer and Food Recipes

My wife Leslie, my friend Mike, and I all signed up for bartending the first shift of the day. This was our free ticket into the festival, where tickets were running $30 for ten 4oz. samples. Working as staff basically gave us free access to the all the craft brew samples we could swallow and a chance to chat with the brewers and distributors.

The blues music provided continuous background for many great beers. I paced myself throughout my session, which allowed me to try over 20 different beers. I was sure to try all the octoberfest offerings and any IPA that was available. Mike had a massive headache from a previous night of wine drinking, so he had a hard time with the tasting. Luckily I wasn't around to witness him revealing what he ate for lunch in front of a number of onlookers! My wife spent the day bartending for Bill at Magic Hat, flirting with him and a friendly lesbian that was helping her serve. Sounds like fun to me.

Nobody else seemed to need much help, so I just wandered from booth to booth talking with some of the brewers and grabbing a bag of ice here and there. I think the weather kept the crowd at around 1000 people this year, which pales in comparison to the 2000 in attendance last year.

Here are a few of the pictures I took to capture the celebration.

Berkshire Octoberfest was my personal favorite out of the five octoberfests I sampled. It had a wonderful malty finish and the hallertauer hops rounded it out nicely. A close second was Newport Storm's Regenschauer Oktoberfest. While I really liked this beer, I thought it was a little bit citrus for the style.	Magic Hat had the best display setup by far with hand-hammered metal work.. My wife loved serving up four different beers, including the popular #9. I really enjoyed drinking the Batch 371 they had on draft.
Peach beer done right! Paper City really took fruit flavored beer to the next level with 1 Eared Monkey. I have never been a fan of fruit beers, but this brew was perfectly crafted. They also shared a few other beers, including their wheat beer featuring a yeasty banana nose.	The Tap came through with several of their quality brews. Scott from Yeasty Boy Inc. also showcased a true cask conditioned belgian dubbel, "almost". He even recommended I swing by some time to pick up extra yeast whenever I need it. :)
Dog Fish Head never disappoints. I helped them serve up their 7.0% ABV Punkin' Ale and 60 Minute IPA. Check out their display covered with cascade hops.	I didn't get a chance to help out at the Nerax booth. Pictured here is Dave, head brewer at Concord Brewery, priming the beer engine. The casks were tempermental, probably due to being unsettled during transport.
Hazed & Infused made a showing, with its heavy dry- hopped aroma, along with their spellbinding Mojo India Pale Ale.