Field of Beers Widens at Chelsea ‘Brewfest’
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More than a dozen top brewers from across the country will join the city’s fine beer festival, NY Brewfest, tonight after lobbying to be included in the festival.
The inaugural event last year, which sold out, was open only to New York state-based breweries. As beer makers increasingly look to New York as an important player in the fine beer market, organizers said, the country’s best brewers have sought to join the festival, which kicks off at the South Street Seaport tonight at 5 p.m.
“People now come from all around the world to learn how we here in the Northeast make top-quality beer.” the owner of the city’s Heartland Brewery, Jon Bloostein, said.
About 16 newcomers from outside New York will join the 59 New York breweries that will pitch tents and tap kegs at tonight’s festivities.
“Because of the success of last year’s event we’ve been trying to get in,” a marketing director for the company that owns Spanish Peak Brewing of Bozeman, Montana, Justin Fisch, said. “Its great exposure for us.”
Spanish Peaks plans to bring about seven kegs of their Black Dog and Honey Raspberry Ales, Mr. Fisch said.
The craft festival comes as beer has undergone a revival in recent years with thousands of small microbreweries producing high quality beers.
Tickets for the event, which include beer, live music, and plates of barbecued meat, are $55 at the door.