What can I say that hasn’t been said already?  The Philly Craft Beer Fest has returned for a third year, bringing what seemed like more people and less breweries.  I’d never been to the late session before, but I would definitely recommend it.  We enjoyed at least 40 beers and I ran into quite a few people who I haven’t seen in a while (John, Eric, & Jake—hi!).  We also made a few friends with our tasting sheets (next year, I’m printing them out like it’s my job).

Emily took a more non-traditional
approach to beer descriptions…

I started off strong…

but by the end, anything goes.

So, what did we taste?  Check out the sheets!  I decided to scale down the rating system to 4 choices:  :(  :|  :) and a double  :) :) .  This seemed to work really well for the crowded tasting room and limited drinking amount.  We ran into Chris from BeerHeads.com, and I got a Philly Beer Geek t-shirt for $5 cause, well, I’m a beer geek.  We played some beer bingo, wondered what was with the multiple cigar vendors, and snagged a few extra tasting cups.  Philly pretzels were going for $2 a pop—definitely the best deal for extending your drinking abilities.  My two favorites were the St. Somewhere Lectia Divina and the always alluring River Horse Double Wit.

By the end, I was happy to beat the crowds out the door and ended up at Tap Room for a brisket sandwich and a Great Divide Yeti.  This was a bad choice—my taste buds were already destroyed, and this was like pouring gasoline on an open fire.

Did you make it to the Craft Beer Festival?  What was your favorite beer there?  Let us know!