There is nothing more exciting than getting ready for one of the best beer festivals on the East Coast. If you have followed us in years past, you know that we always attend TAP-NY at Hunter Mountain. It is a great way to ring in the spring season and try some of the best breweries both old and new from around New York State.
It takes us about two hours to get to the festival grounds and it is one of my favorite parts about the trip. 
There is so much beauty to be seen in upstate New York. 
Over the years the festival has grown with as well as the number of breweries that are there. All together this year there were near 80 breweries and over 7,000 people that attended TAP this year over the span of two days. Those are some great numbers and I can only imagine they will go up again next year. 
After checking in and getting verified it was time to plan out the attack and which breweries we would hit first. 
I just love getting this pamphlet every year. They go out of their way to list every vendor table, food tent, brewery, and map it all out so it’s easier for you to get where you need to go. 
The doors opened promptly at 1pm and thirsty beer drinkers ascended on to the mountain to get their fix of fresh New York beer. 
It is always nice to get an actual glass when you go to a beer fest. TAP does it right. 
I spent a lot of time at the outside tent visiting all the breweries that were making their first appearance at TAP. We have a whole separate article on that as it ate up most of my time this year. 
Good Nature was a brewery that I remembered very fondly from last years TAP. It was great to see them back. Rabbit In The RyePA is a fantastic beer and most certainly worth a try for any hop head out there. 
Last year we had the pleasure of meeting Barrier at the festival, they are a creative group of guys making some fantastic beer out on Long Island. Instead of bringing your run of the mill styles this year, they opted to bring nothing but smoke beers instead. 
The best part about this festival is the food. Everything from brats to finger foods and sandwiches can be found throughout the venue. 
The live music is also a good time. The Christine Spero Group was breaking down some really awesome jazz. 
Despite the recent macro acquisition I was eager to try Blue Point’s Mosaic Session. It was pretty damn tasty and refreshing to boot. 
It is cool to see the occasional bottle being shared at some of these tables. Rushing Duck had their Russian Imperial Stout, Ded Moroz. 
While The North Brewing had bottles of their Inspirational Beer Breakfast. An imperial stout with a heavy hop nose. 
Inside was a huge selection of vendors selling everything from license plates to jam. I found this one particular vendor, Dutchess Hops. Locate at Eastern View Nursery, in Lagrangeville, NY. Dutchess grows a wide range of American and English Hops. It is great to see the agriculture start to take place on the east coast. 
You can’t go to TAP and not have the only New Jersey beer there. Our friends from Ramstein have been attending this festival since it’s inception. How you may ask? Owner Greg Zicardi found out that his brewery lies in the Hudson Valley by taking a ruler to a map some years ago. Since the festival was for brewers in the Hudson Valley, they let him in. They always have fun at this festival and it’s great that they still come up. 
One of my favorite beers from last year was Sauer Peach from Sloop Brewing Company. They were brand new to the festival last year and have really stepped their game up this year bringing along three sours that had me glued to the booth for a good twenty minutes. 
You would think you could hit every brewery that was there but you can’t. After hitting all the new breweries and visiting with old friends, I think I clocked about 40 different beers on untapped and realized that witching hour was among us and the festival was over. TAP-NY was a blast this year as always but this is only the tip of the ice berg for our coverage from the event. Stay tuned for Part 2 as we have some fresh faces from the festival that we want to share with you. -Brian