On Friday night, I had the opportunity to attend the Empire State Brewing & Music Festival in Syracuse. Dozens of breweries were represented, from Pabst and Anheuser-Busch to Lindeman's and Ommegang. In between were New York State brewers like F.X. Matt, Brewery Ommegang, Middle Ages, Brooklyn, Flying Bison, and many many more.
What a pleasure it was to see all of these breweries in one place, accompanied by incredible music and good CNY food.
On the music front, Los Blancos provided fun, danceable rock tunes to a happy audience. The Blue Method, from Philadelphia, played amazingly funky blues and jazz jams complete with jangling guitar, super-hot sax, and phenomenal vocals. And BeneVento-Russo Duo, from (I think) Vermont, played alternately smoldering and super-hot jam rock from nothing but organs and a drum kit.
Food consisted of the usual CNY suspects (for anyone who goes to festivals and farmer's markets, anyway), including Dinosaur BBQ, Lao Village, and much more.
Probably the coolest vendor I saw was "Etch It" (http://mybarinabox.com/), a company from the Buffalo area that does custom glass etching on everything from shot glasses to mirrors - including pint glasses, wine glasses, mugs, and anything else made from glass. Definitely check out their web site, especially if you have an event coming up and want something memorable for your guests/patrons to take home.
More links, photos, and details coming soon!
Posted by jimj at July 11, 2005 08:48 AM | TrackBack