The Washington Brewers Festival in its 3rd year is getting better every time. They had 55 breweries represented and well over 135-150 different beers to try. That’s about 2-4 different beers each brewery. Some came with a huge line up and had 4-5 beers ready to pour and others with just there signature 2 or 3. The cost was pretty low if you bought ahead of time you spent about $15 dollars to get in which also got you a sampling glass and drink 6 tokens. Pretty good deal if you ask me and if you paid at the door it was a simple $20 bucks for the same package. You can get more tokens at the door or through out the facility they had them for sale. Don’t fret if you forgot the cash they too the plastic also and ATM machines where also found. It was simple 1 token per 5oz pour. All you had to do is find a beer you wanted to try and go stand in a very short to no line and you asked for a specific beer and they poured you a 5oz glass of the fresh beer. Now I did see some people rating the beers and taking notes on th each tasting some also where using the map that was provided to find there way through the maze of breweries and people. It was easy to get lost and be at the wrong end of where you wanted to be trying a different beer. In the morning times it was easy to just walk right up and get a pour with n seconds as the afternoon sun came through and more people 
arrived it was a little bit of a wait. Some breweries like Laughing Buddha had a line of 20-30 people at certain times. Laughing 
Buddha has only been around for about 8 months and there beers are getting rave reviews. The Ginger Pale ale was the big hit for most. Now for the beer geeks the big rumblings where for the Laughing Dog Brewery out of Sandpoint Idaho. They served a Dog Zillia Black IPA. People where talking about this beer as one of the best for the festival.
Now there was also food available and plenty to go around. You can choose from big burritos to fill that empty feeling or you can get a Mongolian meal and top that off with some lamb gyro’s to help your stomach. I also saw the line for the corn on the cob and the shaved ice got big also when the sun came out. Still need morre then listen to the live music and watch the beer keg toss. Now if you brought kids and this being fathers day weekend you could have stopped and watched the kids play on several inflatable slides, make craft projects or just hold your hand as you sampled some great beers. Under one tent they where selling tee shirts from almost every brewery. I must mention that is one of the funniest things to watch and see is what kind of shirts are out there in the brewing/beer world. It is very hard to find one or two the same unless it was a club that was represented. You can see breweries from all over the world represented, saying that will make a sailor blush and a take the 1st amendment to the limits. It was fascinating.
Great times where had. This festival will grow each year and I see it becoming one of the better festivals to attend in the Pacific Northwest. I am booking my Fathers day event right now for next year being at the 2009 Washington Brewers Festival.
