I would like to make a sequel to a diary that I wrote not too long ago about beer and brewing by kossacks. Since I don't have enough experience writing about politics, I like to focus on my strengths and writing about beer while mixing in politics seems to work best for me.
The original diary is here: Kossacks that Brew
This weekend is the annual Vermont Brewers Festival and one of my favorite weekends out of the year. I spent four hours yesterday trodding through the muddy grounds where the festival is held, overlooking beautiful Lake Champlain and the Adirondack mountains. This is the 16th year that this festival has been held and it's my 5th year of attendance and 2nd year of volunteering.
I bet some of you think that working a beer festival is much like working a political rally. Not quite, but there are crowds of people excited to try beer and mingle with the brewers, which is one of the bonuses. My duties were to check upon servers to make sure that they took tickets before pouring samples and to pick up trash. The weather held up ok and it didn't rain from the start to the finish, which was better than last year when it was nearly rained out.
In Vermont, brewers are very much like rock stars. In the past, I'd make a habit of introducing myself to them but nowadays, I'd rather give them privacy. I don't think it makes sense to make a celebrity out of someone when they seem like they don't want or need the attention. It's fair to me.
I look forward to attending later. For my troubles, I received a t-shirt, parking pass, meal ticket, water bottle and $20 off admission (which is $25). Not bad and worth the time. Doing this gives me the opportunity to support local brewers and support Vermont in general. It makes me feel good to participate.
As for brewing, haven't brewed anything new. The rye pale ale I mentioned in the first diary is ready and highly drinkable. It's probably my best effort to date out of 11 batches.
Cheers and raise a beer to kossacks that brew!