Thirsty crowd quenched at sold-out Milton Beer Fest
Jun. 13—MILTON — The last time Derek Fisher found himself tapping beers beneath a tent at Milton Beer Fest, he was a home-brewer. Now, he's a co-owner of Pineknotter Brewing Co. in Northumberland.
"This is what got us started in the business," Fisher said during Saturday's sold-out event. "Everybody encouraging us to open up our own place when we were at brew fests."
After a one-year hiatus because of the pandemic, Milton Beer Fest returned in 2021 with 1,500 tickets sold. About 50 breweries, distilleries and wineries served craft drinks, which paired well with food vendors' diverse grub and live musical performances on the grounds of Veterans Memorial Park and Milton Moose.
The Milton Beer Fest began in 2017 as part of Milton's Bicentennial. It has continued in the years since as a fundraiser for T.I.M.E., The Improved Milton Experience.
"I can't thank the universe enough for the beautiful weather, the timeliness of allowing people to gather again. I'm really just thankful at a time when a community like Milton needed it the most," said Vanessa Venios of T.I.M.E.
Fast-moving lines held steady in front of the dozens of pop-up tents placed about the festival grounds. Servers quickly tapped beers and poured drinks, replenishing glasses as fast as thirsty guests replenished the lines.
"Really, this pilsner people are going nuts for," Rob Dwyer, of New Trail Brewing Co. in Williamsport, said of The Ground Walks dry-hopped Keller pilsner. "It's very refreshing on a nice hot day like today."
It was warm beneath the sun at full strength but as the festival wore on, cloud cover brought welcome shade.
Next to New Trail's site, Shawn Guay and Precious Counsil poured sample shots and a signature drink for Nomad Distilling Co., also of Williamsport.
"Come on in, guys, lots of room," Counsil said as she deftly handled the crowd before concocting a trio of drinks. "This is our peach shine with ginger beer, fresh lime juice and a simple syrup."
Friends Aryn Dubosky, Bridget Pelosi and Anabelle Aten carried those three drinks just a few steps, clinked each others' glasses and sipped through straws.
"The fresh mint brings it to the next level. It's very nice," Pelosi said.
The friends all are graduate students at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. They made the 155-mile trip together.
"We drove a converted shuttle bus here. I'm not kidding," Aten said, laughing.
"Otto the Adventure Bus," Dubosky called out.
The size of the crowd impressed Shane Popewczak, a brewer with Covered Bridge Brewhaus of Shamokin, and so did the crowd's energy. Server Kelsie Stewart moved fast to fill glasses of the brewery's Coconut Porter, Nude Peaches Sour, Dim Wit and Ho-Butt Lite.
The crowd favorite on Saturday? That was the peach sour, Popewczak said.
"It's light, crisp, like biting into a fresh peach, man. It's good stuff," Popewczak said. "I wish I would have brought more T-shirts and stickers because things are going really well. It is packed."
