With less than 7 days and counting until the 17^th Annual Legendary Boonville Beer Festival, Anderson Valley Brewing Company and The Wee Boont Foundation are working hard to make this year’s event the best ever!  If you didn’t already know, every year we choose a “theme” and encourage attendees to dress up.  Well, this year’s theme is “The 80’s” and to top it all off we’ll be having a costume contest!  Whether you come as Crockett and Tubbs or a Valley Girl, we’ll award (1) Grand Prize for the most bitchin’ male and female costume.  Also, the official Twitter and Instagram hash tag will be #Boonville13, so be sure to include it on your tweets and IG pics all weekend because we just might be share them on our social networks and award some totally radical prizes for the most unique and original photos and comments!

We also wanted to take a moment and share some suggestions on how to make the entire weekend a fun and enjoyable experience for everyone.  That’s what our craft beer community is all about, right?  There will be over 70 breweries each serving a variety of porters, IPAs, strong ales, sours, wheat beers, and so on.  With UNLIMITED tastings from 1pm-5pm, it’s easy to get carried away in the moment of all the beer glory that surrounds you.  So please, just take a minute or two and read the tips below and the world will be a better place.  Well, at least Boonville will be.

1. Have a Designated Driver.  If you’re not planning on camping at the fairgrounds or at one of the dozens of the nearby campgrounds, don’t risk your life and the lives of others just because you want to sleep in your own bed.  One would think this would be a no-brainer, but year after year, we see at least 3-4 DUIs just on the way back to the brewery. THERE ARE NO TAXIS IN BOONVILLE, so you’ll either need to walk, stumble, or crawl to your sluggin’ nook or get a ride from someone who’s on the dissie stool.
2. Be respectful of our town and our volunteers.  For many of you brightlighters, this will be a “road trip weekend” for you and your friends filled with camping, steinber hornin’, hobneelchin’, and maybe even burlapppin’.  We welcome all of you to our home and encourage you to enjoy yourselves, but please be respectful of the local residents and businesses before and after the festival.  This means no peeing on buildings, vomiting on lawns, and shouting nonch harpins at shop owners and Boonters. (Yes, these things happen every year.)  Also, don’t forget that this is a charitable event that raises money for local non-profits throughout Anderson Valley.  Everyone that is working at the festival is a VOLUNTEER and all proceeds from the ticket sales go to the Wee Boont Foundation.  So, take the time to thank them and maybe even give them a high five!
3. Pace Yourself, Eat, and HYDRATE!  With temperatures forecasted to be in the 90s, be sure to drink plenty of water the day before the festival, and continue to do so throughout the day of the event.  Also, be sure to eat something before you begin your bahl hornin’ session. With so many beers to choose from, you may feel like you want to try them ALL.  If that’s really what you want to do, for goodness sake don’t try to do it in the first hour or two!  There’s plenty of beer, we promise.  Besides, you won’t look cool when you’re passed out on the south lawn while your friends draw inappropriate things on your face with a Sharpie®  (Side note: to those of you who like to get “primed” before the event by shotgunning Natty Light cans outside the gates, do us all a favor and just stay home.  You pay $50 to drink unlimited craft beer samples from dozens of brewers (many of whom personally travel hundreds of miles just to get here) who DONATE their beers and time just for the sake of sharing their pride and passion with craft beer enthusiasts, and YOU choose to piss on that by slamming cans of domestic lager right in front of them? Don’t be a chucklehead.)
4. Do have fun, stay cool, and enjoy the greatest beer festival of all time!  Bahl Hornin’!

Steve Miller is the Steinber Kimmie, Brand Ambassador and resident Beer Runner for Anderson Valley Brewing Company.  You can follow him @SteinberRunner on Twitter as he tries to run “just enough” from getting too soft in the middle.

The post Bring Back The 80′s At The 17th Annual Legendary Boonville Beer Festival (May 4th, 2013) appeared first on Anderson Valley Brewing Company.

The best part is the beer:  we’ll be  featuring our Mowkeef Saison and Mendo Mello on draft as well as a limited release (for the first time ever) of Mendo Mello 16oz swing-top bottles for sale exclusively in the tasting room!  If you didn’t already know, Mendo Mello is our Fresh Wet Hop Ale featuring 100% Estate hops grown here at the brewery in Boonville, and it’s awesome.  Don’t miss out on your chance to try it on draft or get a bottle to take home (limit 2 per person)!

More details below:

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