They say beauty is in the eye of the beer holder. But did you have any idea how well art and beer go together? Try going to etsy and searching ‘beer’ and you’ll be amazed – either by the amount of awesome crafty beer art or how crafty beer drinkers are, or both! But whether beer craft, or craft beer is more your flavor, one thing their respective creators have in common: they do it for the love of beer.

All of our brewers and distillers are artists in their fields, but in particular, we’d like to highlight these three for continuing to raise the bar as far as quality and innovation go.

• Bobcat Cafe & Brewery – Claude Monet’s work is usually applauded by art lovers who see the overwhelming beauty that emanates from his canvases but overlook the complex technique and composition of the work. Similarly Bobcat head brewer Mark Magiera applies passion, creativity and precision to his beers resulting in beers that are absolutely amazing, both to the average beer lover who will appreciate the overall flavor and the beer connoisseur who will delight in all the finer notes his beers carry.
• Zero Gravity Brewing – Housed in the artisan pizza restaurant American Flatbread, Zero Gravity beers are intentionally artistic by nature. With flavors that are perhaps less common to American palettes, ZG’s beers would be the Joan Miro of Vermont beers, with a sort of beautiful and playful chaos to them. But because of their complexity, they are also wonderful beers to pair food with, allowing you to adventure toward flavor combinations that you’d never expect to enjoy! Most recently Zero Gravity’s Grissette (5%) was paired with Dark Chocolate Covered Orange Peel  and it was pretty much mind blowing.
• The Alchemist – What a year it’s been for the Kimmichs. They open the cannery, and then their pub gets flooded and they can’t reopen it. But when life drowned them with lemons, John & Jen refocused their energies on producing one beer perfectly. And according to both beeradvocate.com and ratebeer.com, they are doing just that.  Their masterpiece, Heady Topper has become one of the best and hardest to find beers, typically selling out twice a week . So only a year after opening, the cannery is already undergoing an expansion, which rumor has it will allow for some resurrections of our old pub favorites! For the meantime, however, we are very excited to have them pouring Heady at SIPtemberfest!

So that’s the last of the of the brewer highlights! We will post the complete beer menu tomorrow so stay tuned! Sign up for Fresh Sips (top right hand side of the this page) and get our posts emailed directly to you!

Please remember that if you are selling tickets amongst yourselves that you NEED TO EMAIL US with any ticket name changes!! siptemberfest@madriver.com. Don’t make us tell you no! If your name isn’t listed, we can’t let you in unless you are with the ticket purchaser. Period. This means YOU! Thanks and cheers! 🙂

At this point we are all aware that Vermont has both the most cows and  the most craft breweries per capita than any other state in the Union. Which means it’s a darn good thing cows aren’t allowed in bars.

In classic Vermont fashion, of our “big” brewers, only one and a half crack the Top 50 Largest Craft Breweries list. But they are all on the 2012 SIPtemberfest Brewer’s Line Up:

• Long Trail Brewing Co.– The 15th largest Craft Brewery in the  US, Long Trail opened it’s doors in 1989 and has been happily cranking along ever since. They also pay serious attention to the impact they have on their local environment and practice an environmentally minded brewing processes. PLUS, in addition to bringing some high octane players to SIPtemberfest, they are also bringing kegs of Water and will be teaming up with the Mad River Path Association in our Water Tent. They will be serving up compostable cups of refreshing water so you can stay hydrated and not let the high octane get to you!
• Otter Creek Brewing – Otter Creek opened it’s doors in 1991 with their Copper Ale. In 1997 their Wolaver’s became the first USDA-certified organic brewery. But in addition to being at SIPtemberfest on Saturday, they will be sitting along side Lawson’s Finest Liquids on Friday at our Meet the Brewers Dinner and Tasting at Mad River Glen. So you’ll get the chance to both SIP and  Savor their beers.
• Magic Hat Brewing Co – Not known for being plain, Magic Hat has always put a special twist on their brand, embracing unique flavors and creating some of the most incredible artwork in their labels. You also get a beer fortune ever time you pop the top. For example tonight’s fortunes were: “Be a traveler not a tourist” and “How much for the goat?”
• Harpoon Brewing Co – The Half brewery on the aforementioned  list, Harpoon boasts 8th amongst the largest craft breweries, however since their big sister facility has a wicked Boston accent, Vermont can’t take full credit. Nonetheless, Harpoon is spot on with their brewing and has a vast selection of beers – and even cider, which they will be pouring at SIPtemberfest.

And just a couple quick and friendly reminders:

• Saturday tickets are SOLD OUT. They will not be available at the gate.
• You do not need to bring your ticket. We will be checking you in by your last name.
• You DO NEED TO BRING YOUR ID NO MATTER WHAT!
• If you are buying/selling tickets amongst yourselves that’s fine BUT!!! YOU MUST EMAIL US SO WE CAN CHANGE THE NAMES ON OUR END! siptemberfest@gmavt.net.

And most importantly:

• We will be releasing the full beer menu soon so stay tuned! (Get the Memo! Sign up for Fresh SIPs on the top right hand side of the page and get these posts emailed right to you so you’ll never miss a drop! )

There are some New Kids on the Block  coming to SIPtemberfest!

Ok, so these new kids are more known for their brewing resumes than their dance moves. Collectively they have had their hands all over the Vermont beer seen, but they are all new to SIPtemberfest and we couldn’t be more excited about our rookie class:

• Drop In Brewery – Steve Parkes and Christine McKeever-Parkes have been dreaming of owning and operating their own small brewery for two decades. Now Drop In Brewery produces quality craft beers, but also quality craft beer education with six month classes. Swing by their booth to find out more!
• Grateful Hands Brewery – SIPtemberfest is excited to announce the off site debut of Vermont’s newest nanobrewery! Brewer Ricky McLain likes his brews dark and his current line up of a porter, a black IPA and a brown ale are each brewed in 20-gallon batches, and only available for growler fills on the second Saturday of each month.
• Fiddlehead Brewery – Owner and brewer Matt Cohen is anything but a rookie in the brewing industry.  But after 14 years he’s now the head brewer and owner of his own brewery: Fiddlehead Brewing. Now “Matty O” thoughtfully cranks out well-balanced beers using interesting and exotic ingredients on his quest to craft the perfect pint.