September 21, 2005
Hop Fest 2005: More Brews, More "Stuff", More Rain
The 2005 Madison County Hop Festival was held last Saturday, September 17 at the Madison County Historical Society's headquarters in Oneida, New York. Hop history lessons were provided via slideshow presentations and hands-on artifacts of a time when hops were a major cash crop in Madison County. Vendors of hop-related products were on hand, as was the Syracuse Irish Session, a group of musicians playing a wide variety of Irish music that perfectly fit the misty weather and historic scene. A beer tasting, featuring about two dozen breweries, was held to raise funds for the historical society.
The guests of honor!
More information, including photos, is below the "fold":
Ommegang always has great beer and great gear. I really enjoyed the Duvel this year; unfortunately for me it's even more expensive than Ommegang! 
Volunteers poured the beer and every last one of them was friendly and knowledgeable. Maybe someone can explain to me, though, why representatives from the actual brewery were not allowed to pour or even talk about their beers.
Chris and Tammy are there every year - usually they are at the Ommegang table but this year they were pouring something a little more mundane. They ran out of it early (they were only provided with a single case) and had a chance to sample some of the other brews as a result. They gave me some good advice about volunteering next year.
Middle Ages was well-represented, with Beast Bitter, Syracuse Pale Ale, Grail Ale, and ImPaled Ale, plus Swallow Wit and Duke of Winship on draft!
This is the information area - among the groups present were a beer can and brewerania collector's group, a wine- and beer-making supplies company, and the New Woodstock Historical Society.
The barn at Cottage Lawn has hop fines along the outside and hop presentations and artifacts on the inside.
The Syracuse Irish Session sounded great:
At almost 5 PM, it was time for the raffle prizes to be drawn and given away.
The Syracuse Newspapers covered the event as well.
For information about other events, check out the web site of the Madison County Historical Society.
Posted by jimj at September 21, 2005 09:08 PM