The Long Island Real Ale Festival
The second annual Long Island Real Ale Festival will be held on January 28, 2006 from 3 to 9 PM at the Blue Point Brewing Company in Patchogue, New York (161 River Avenue). Long Island’s five breweries will have cask conditioned ales available for sampling. DJ Swanson of John Harvard’s in Lake Grove has brewed a fine tasting barley wine for the event. Also, I’ve heard that Poor Richard’s Ale will be there. (Poor Richard’s Ale is brewed in honor of Benjamin Franklin’s 300th birthday, 17 January 2006, from a recipe that approximates the beer of Franklin’s time. Benjamin Franklin has become an icon for brewers and beer enthusiasts because of his famous quote: “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.”) There will be many other beers available also, some brewed by members of B.E.E.R. (Brewers East End Revival, Long Island’s homebrew club), and some (according to the Blue Point web site) from “guest breweries”. Admission is $25 per person and that gets you into the event, a pint glass, and four beer tickets. Additional beer tickets can be purchased for $6. I didn’t go to last year’s event because we had 19 inches of snow (something like that, it was deep), but despite that, the event wasn’t cancelled. Even if there is a raging blizzard, the Long Island Real Ale Festival will go on. See you there!
