Third Annual Jupiter Craft Brewers Festival- Saturday, January 24 2009

by Christina Tarr
(Jupiter, Fl)

As the Jupiter Craft Brewers Festival approaches, the countdown begins to one of North Palm Beach Counties most exceptional weekends. As the date draws nearer, my mind begins to go through the endless possibilities of booths, staffed by a variety of local and national breweries giving out bubbly samples of their finest brews.

2009 marks the third consecutive year of the festival and it looks like it will be the best so far. There are even more breweries and local restaurants than in years before, and the festival has added an extra night of festivities and beer drinking - the Field of Beers. This exciting addition to the festival is a 250 person limit food and beer pairing that will offer fifteen teams of chefs and brewers the chance to create balanced partnerships between fare and beer. This will be held in Roger Dean Stadium (training site for the Florida Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals) on Friday night. Tickets at $70 per person are going quickly and its recommended to buy as soon as possible.

The festival itself features over one hundred samples from breweries as far west as the Kona Brewing Company in Hawaii, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company and Stone Brewing Company from California, Rogue brewing from Oregon, Merchant Du Vin from Washington and other various brewers from Colorado. The Northeast is also sending some of its best, including: Dogfish Head from Delaware, Penn Brewing representing Pennsylvania, and even the mega micro brewer Sam Adams from Boston, Massachusetts. Not to be outdone by the out-of-staters, we have all of our locals, such as the Lager Head Brewers from Bx Beer Depot in Lake Worth, the Corner Cafe and Brewery in Tequesta, and Inlet Brewing Company from Jupiter. This represents only a small number of the myriad of fine breweries, distributors and restaurants which, while all packed into the small area of Abacoa Town Center, seem to offer endless possibilities.

The festival has not only food and drink, but also entertainment. The finest and funniest of last years entertainment had to be the Oskar Blues Brewery 'silent disco.' You enter a tent, put on a pair of headphones, and dance away to music heard only by you and those in the tent wearing the headphones. This creates quite a sight to anyone on the outside of the tent, who, while unable to hear the music, can most definitely see the dancers moves.

Tickets for both activities are available from the festival website,
Jupiter Craft Brewers Festival