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Brewtopia Beer Festival, New York City, October 20– 21 2006

By October 21, 2006August 7th, 2009Beer Events

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The Brewtopia event at the Jacob Javits Center in Manhattan was another great experience, though decidedly different from the GABF. With BeerAppreciation associate Paul Leonard, I hosted a booth, Brewtopiadispensed beer lore, talked about ingredients, beer history and beer favorites with hundreds of New Yorkers and handed out tasting cards. While we disappointed a few visitors — “You don’t have any beer?” and my favorite, “You mean don’t make money off this?” — most enjoyed talking about beer, ingredients and culture. Restaurant owners and beer distributors asked how they could tap into the field of craft beer enthusiasts by hosting beer events.

BeerAppreciation speaks at Brewtopia I had the opportunity to address attendees in the lecture area following Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head. Sam talked about his books – his new Extreme Beer book and his successful: Brewing Up a Business: Adventures in Entrepreneurship from the Founder of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery,about DogFish Head’s history of success. He graciously stayed for my presentation on beer history and congratulated me afterwards.

The Brewtopia event was mostly a social event for New York City beer appreciators and attracted a younger crowd than did the GABF. The Philadelphia-area beer appreciator would find it worthwhile to attend Brewtopia for an evening next year. In the few moments I wasn’t staffing the booth, I wandered over to Dogfish Head to sample the 90 Minute IPA, to Legacy to for the Midnight Wit, and to the North Coast Brewing booth to taste their amazing “Thelonius Monk” Belgian ale. If you attended this event, please send me your comments .