Albany area beer connoisseurs were out in full force at the Rare Beer + Cask Ale Event as part of Saratoga Beer Week on Thursday 2/22. A dozen breweries were represented with some of best of the best and of course rare beers. We had some favorites for the night for sure and clearly so did all of the other beer geeks in attendance. 

We had the choice of everything from organic beer to beer with coffee in it. Peak Organic had a spectacular Hop Noir, which is an black IPA. We went back for seconds on this one - not sure if we were supposed to but it was good enough to break the rules for this one.

Another highlight for us were some of the offerings from our own back yard - the Adirondack Brewing Company had a Coffee ESB (Extra Special Bitter) and a barrel aged brown with 'cocca nibs'. It was hard to leave their table but we had many others to sample too.

Beer week isn't over yet - there is still a New York State of Mind event featuring New York beers and a Billy Joel tribute band (2/22) and also the Beer Summit is on Saturday 2/23. We always have some awesome beer in the area but we never have THIS MUCH AWESOME BEER in one place at the same time, so our suggestion - don't miss it!

Saratoga Beer Week happens from February 19th through 23rd in Saratoga Springs, NY. Prices to various events vary and are available online. If you love beer and a week of nothing but beer sounds good to you, then the Saratoga Beer Week is your kind of a week. It’s worth using up that rollover vacation time from last year, if you have it. Or just come for one day. Or two. Or the entire week – it’s entirely up to you.

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