Foodie Weekends in the Capital District - Hoptember Harvest Festival Part II

All down the Hudson Valley producers are being encouraged to cultivate hops by legislators as well as the burgeoning craft breweries. This is good.  Local hops encourage local beer. Local beer was on offer in spades at Hoptember Harvest Festival last Saturday along with local ciders and spirits and some delicious food that's perfect with beer.  All that along with a jolly crowd made this festival a true delight.  Put it on your calendar for next year.

Dutchess Hops has built out quite the welcoming verandas - on Saturday they also had the good sense to have huge tents for beer, whisky and food lovers. I swiped this from their website.

There was a little bit of a market at the entrance, but the real action was in the beer tent. Table after table of brewers and volunteer pourers were there to help you discover the local flavors of the Hudson Valley.  Many brewers weren't even into having a banner or flyers - they just brought the beer.

A cigar tent!

I went for the cider and wasn't disappointed!!!

"Just a half-inch, please"  yeah, that's how I was tasting as well.  That's enough to enjoy the bouquet and the unfolding of all those amazing flavors.

No food on toothpicks at this festival - hooray!  They also limit ticket sales so that there were only very short lines.  THIS is very good organizing.

The hops are harvested!!!  Let's have a festival!!!

It was on and off rain, but the tents covered everyone when it was on, so the party wasn't dampened.

There were a few non-beer vendors - this man was offering his syrups for tasting and they were excellent.

Denning's Point was offering a few of their whiskeys and we learned a good deal from side-by-side tastings.

The crowd at this festival was one of the things we enjoyed the most.  It was a mix of ages, so not dominated by any definite kind of response to the beers.  We thought is was exceptionally jolly, but that could have been because we were exceptionally jolly.  I also think it was because of the organization and thoughtful setup of the festival.  It wasn't too crowded.  The food was well made and served - it was easy to have a wonderful time.

LorreBob sez watch for this one next year and get tickets before they are sold out.  Be prepared to relax and taste some marvelous products of the Hudson Valley hops revival.