SIPtemberART

So you want to know who will be at SIPtemberfest this year? Artists. We have so many crazy talented artists attending our little beer fest this year you could archive it.

SIP13artistPosterARTsmLet’s start with the artist responsible for this year’s sa-weet poster, Evan Chismark. Makes you thirsty, huh? The guy is talented. And he likes craft beer so it was easy putting him to work! His posters will be up soon and if you spot him at SIPtemberfest he might just sign a poster for you. Find him on facebook and get him to create something for you!

Next up we are excited to announce the brand new HopShop! A really slick new hop-focused retail shop that will feature a cool selection of beer-related shirts, hats, mugs and more. We will also have our limited edition SIPtemberfest shirts and new zip hoodies and hats! If you pre-ordered a t-shirt with your ticket purchase this year, you’ll find your shirt here waiting for you. Didn’t get your shirt yet? We will have plenty of stock and we take credit cards so come ready to HopShop!

And of course we have to credit the 20+ artists who entered over 60 entries in our Haiku Contest. Picking just one winner was super-dooper tough so we decided to pick four. Three honorable mentions will each win one ticket to SIPtemberfest and one Grand Prize winner who will claim two SIPVIP tickets! Congratulations to the winners and huge thanks to everyone who entered!

Honorable Mention – ML McLaughlin

Beer beer beer beer beer

Five tokens under my belt

Five more to go – yeah!

Honorable Mention – Colin R.

Missed the ticket sale

But refuse to miss the beer

Hook a brother up

Honorable Mention – Marci R.

These desperate times

Call for desperate measures

SIP tix are at stake

Grand Prize – Marcella L.

Tasty, frothy beer

Just feels so good 

when it hits the lips

Don’t forget – if you didn’t get them you still have a chance to win tickets by liking/following Meg’s Events on facebook and twitter or entering the Joke Contest!

And now for the main event: the artists we affectionately know as THE 2013 SIPtemberfest Brewers (and distillers!) We will announce their offerings shortly, and we are gonna have some treats for you and no mistake! Stay tuned for the details. but in the time being, please savor in the artistry of this line up:

  • The Alchemist – If you combine Mad River Glen’s and the Alchemist’s mottos you get ‘Are you ready for a Heady if you can?’ Heady Topper is as good as it is hard to find so especially if you’ve never tried it, the Alchemist is a stop that should be on your ‘early’ list.
  • Citizen Cider – Perhaps you are looking for a little something different? Citizen Cider is a booth to check out – they have wonderful cider that is crisp and refreshing like no other. It’s a great way to take a break from all the big beers and still satisfy your taste buds.
  • Drop-In Brewery – Also the brewing home of the American Brewers Guild Brewing School, you’ll find some inter-galactic brews from these guys! Drop in and check them out!
  • Fiddlehead Brewing – These guys brew full flavored beers with the true beer connoisseur in mind.  They focus on depth of flavor, freshness of ingredients, and incorporating local products when possible.
  • Grateful Hands Brewery – These guys are a small operation, producing teeny 20 gallon batches of dark and delicious ales that you need to try. Simple as that.
  • Lawson’s Finest Liquids – If you live under a rock, you might not know this, but LFL is worth waiting in whatever length of line necessary, especially if you’ve never tried it before. Plus the man himself might be the one serving you. Thank you sir, may I have another!
  • Lost Nation Brewing – IPAs, schmIPAs. Lost Nation specializes in low ABV% brews that will blow you away. They are making old style beers the new black. Get in before the secret is out.
  • Long Trail – Long Trail is bringing out the goods this year! Dang. We will fill you in later though. Good things. Worth Waiting for.
  • Mad River Distillers – The new kids in the Valley, we are psyched to have Mad River Distillers joining us this year! Be sure to check their locally sourced spirits that “are as clean as the crisp Vermont air and snow-fed streams.” Mmmmmmmmm!
  • Norwich Inn/Jasper Murdock’s Alehouse – These extremely well-crafted brews are only available at the Norwich Inn on one of their 6 taps or in 22oz bottles. Oh, and at SIPtemberfest! You might want to take advantage of that and save a token or two for this booth!
  • Otter Creek/Wolaver’s – You can find three lines of beer here: Otter Creek Craft Ales, Wolaver’s Certified Organic Ales, and “The Shed Brewery,” all of which are produced in small batches using natural Vermont water, domestic malts and hops, and their own top-fermenting yeast.
  • Rock Art – You might have heard of these guys when a Goliath Mega-corporation tried to tell them to change the name of their Vermonster beer. That is now old news and Vermont’s ‘David’ continues to brew top quality beers that are known for more than just their awesome names.
  • Smugglers’ Notch Distillery – This is the only detail we are giving you about what will be served at SIPtemberfest so pay attention. Two syllables for you: bour-bon.
  • Switchback Brewing – Switchback Ale is their flagship beer. It’s success has driven constant expansion for over 10 years and made the release of three Rotating Specials: Roasted Red Ale, Porter, and Slow-Fermented Brown Ale possible. What will they bring to SIPtemberfest…?
  • Tree House Brewing – Our Featured Outta-Stater! They are a wicked-good brewery from Mass! You have to stop by and not only try their beer, but meet these guys! They are a really cool crew cranking out some kick-ass beer.
  • Trapp’s Lager Brewery – If you’re looking for an American version of, say a tasty Austrian Lager, this is the place to stop. Trapp’s focuses on brewing  European classics right here in Vermont.
  • Zero Gravity – Nestled in the Burlington Hearth of American Flatbread, Zero Gravity cranks our beers that are equally as artisanal and quality as the pizzas you can pair with them.

 

Brew Haha!

We have SIPtemberfest tickets to give away! Want some? We have four ways for you to score and there’s no limit on how many times you can enter so get on it! We will announce winners starting in September which is right around the corner. Everyone loves winning!

  1. Joke ContestSo a dyslexic guy walks into a bra… We love a good beer joke! Got any to share? You could win a pair of SIPVIP tickets which each include 10 tasting tokens, a glass, a t-shirt and more PRO TIP: Of all the contests, this one has the fewest entries right now!
  2. Haiku ContestWe have lots of Beer – You want to SIP it all up – Enter while you can! We’ve received some amazing entries so far, but the beautiful part of haikus is they bring out the creativity in anyone. Try a few out and maybe you too could win pair of SIPVIP tickets (10 tasting tokens, a glass, a t-shirt and more, each.)
  3. Like Meg’s Events – A shameless plug, yes, but trust me, you’ll want to hear about the other projects Meg’s  Events is involved in! – Simply Like Meg’s Events on Facebook and/or follow megsevents on Twitter and not only will you be in the loops for some awesome upcoming fun-having, you’ll be entered in a drawing for the last remaining SIP ticket! This is just one regular SIP ticket, but it could be all yours! PRO TIP: Already liked and following? Name-drop Meg’s Events in a post or a tweet for brownie points! Enthusiasm never hurts!
  4. Beer + Food Photo Contest – Let’s face it, you’re gonna Instagram your favorite beer + food pairing anyway, so share it with us and you could win tickets to FRIDAY’s Meet the Brewers Dinner! #yummy!

So there you have it. Enter by commenting on this post, posting on Meg’s Events or the SIPtemberfest Invite, using Instagram or Twitter with #SIPtemberfest, or you can email siptemberfest@gmavt.net. Good luck and cheers!

10

In honor of the mere 10 tickets remaining to SIPtemberfest’s Friday Meet the Brewers Dinner, we offer you the Top 10 Reasons you should snag one of these puppies before they’re gone:

  1. You get to hang out with Vermont Beer Royalty. Mike Gerhart of Otter Creek Brewing and Sean Lawson of Lawson’s Finest Liquids are both prestigious award winning brewers. But even when they aren’t wearing all their bling around their necks, their knowledge, dedication and passion for craft beer are self evident so it’s no surprise these two are at the top of the pack in a crowded Vermont craft beer scene.
  2. You get to hang out with two wild and crazy guys. Not only are these guys two of the best brewers in Vermont, they are also two of the coolest, most laid-back beer geeks in the industry. Their knowledge of beer and brewing is immense but they are equally funny and easy going, and check their egos at the door.
  3. You might learn something. Mike and Sean will introduce their pairings for each course, explaining why they feel their selections work with each item on the menu. And if they don’t answer all your questions, you’ll be able pick their brains right there on the spot and see if you can’t pick up a few nuggets of hop-wisdom.
  4. You will love the food. There will be four courses of exquisite food prepared by Mad River Glen’s Mike Witzel. Most people know Mike for his belly filling apres-ski food, but he’s also a classically trained chef and will be serving up a dinner that will be as equally top-quality as the beers that Mike and Sean pair to it.
  5. You might win something. Our sponsors have generously donated some amazing prizes that will be given away on Friday. The prizes include brewery lunches, hats, glassware, gift certificates to some great restaurants and of course SIPtemberfest merchandise. All prizes have been beer-geek approved!
  6. You can call it a Date Night. Friday’s Meet the Brewers Dinner is an awesome excuse for a date night! It’s a fancy enough dinner that you can wear that nice outfit you ‘never have any place to wear.’ But it’s still casual enough that you’d pass if you just take a shower and wear a clean shirt. Plus this event is far more interactive than dinner and a movie, making for an evening full of great conversation as well as great food and beer!
  7. You might be in for a surprise! That’s all we can say about that. Sorry! We don’t want to ruin the surprise!
  8. You can make up for not getting Saturday Beer Tasting tickets. Say you didn’t get the memo and Saturday’s tickets were sold out by the time you got around to purchasing some. Oops! Well Friday’s Meet the Brewers Dinner is one heckova consolation prize. You’ll get to try tons of great beer, you won’t need to wear a raincoat if the weather is bad, you’ll get a souvenir glass and a menu and we’ll have SIP Merchandise for sale so if nothing else, you will have 2013 SIPtemberfest trophies to place among your other beer-geek paraphernalia. (PRO TIP: Sign up for FRESH SIPS on the top righthand side of the page and get these posts emailed directly to you and know exactly when tickets go on sale next year!)
  9. You can try something new at Saturday’s Beer Tasting. If you did get the memo and have tickets to Saturday’s main event, you can save yourself a wait in the lines of Lawson’s and Otter Creek and check out some of the other incredible brewers that you may not have ever heard about. Or maybe you’ll just lap the Lawson’s and Otter Creek lines until they’re sold out – it’s a tough call.
  10. You hate hearing me say ‘I told you so.’ Did I mention there are only 10 tickets left to this event? And by the time of read through this whole post there may be even fewer! This means that if you don’t act quickly you will be on the wrong side of another ‘Sold Out’ post… so don’t make me say it!

This is a limited space event so when these tickets are gone, they’re gone. Get your tickets before it’s too late! Cheers!