5 Vital Tips for Surviving the Hudson River Craft Beer Fest

If you want to have the best time of your life at the Hudson River Craft Beer Festival on September 19, just follow these five tips supplied by a beer expert.

Ben English from Remarkable Liquids knows beer. He also knows beer festivals. If you're new to the Hudson River Craft Beer Festival or your memory of last year's event is a little foggy, Ben has five important things you should remember to make the most of this year's fest.

1. Dumping out beer is fine
This may seem counter-intuitive, but Ben tells us that it's important to remember the purpose of a beer festival. This isn't some sort of endurance competition or drinking challenge. There will be over 200 beers available to sample, making it impossible to try every single one. If you taste a beer that you just don't like, don't feel like you need to finish the whole thing. Just dump it out and move on to the next. Learning what beers you don't like is just as important as finding out which ones you love.

2. Hydrate
Most people don't think that you need to stay hydrated if you're drinking beer all day long, but it's the key to ending the day in a vertical position. Alcohol dehydrates you, so it's important to keep drinking water. Ben says that the rule of thumb is to have one glass of water for every glass of beer. This will keep you running even in the hot sun, and help you regulate your alcohol intake so you can make it through the entire festival.

3. Remember your sunscreen
Ben says that at all of the outdoor beer festivals he attends the number one thing most people forget to do is to slather on the sunscreen. Once the beer starts flowing and the music starts pumping, you're not going to want to stop to apply SPF 15 even if you did realize you forgot to. Being hung over is bad, but waking up with a hangover and a painful sunburn is way worse. Trust us.

4. Don't forget to eat
The Hudson River Craft Beer Festival won't only have world-class beer, but there will be culinary chefs cooking up some of the best food. Gourmet food trucks and award winning barbecue will all be available, so make sure to plan on saving some time to eat. Trying to make it through a beer festival on an empty stomach is a mistake. Beer will make you feel like you're full, but with nothing to soak up the alcohol in your belly you're doomed to a rough night and an even rougher morning the next day.

5. Ask lots of questions
If you want to educate yourself about beer and the brewing process there's no better place than the HRCBF. The brewers who've created the hundreds of beers available to sample will be in attendance to answer any questions about their beers. What better way to learn about the different styles of beer and the ingredients that make them special than by hearing it from the person who spent hours brewing them. Brewers love to talk about their craft. Take advantage of the opportunity to learn from them.

Ben English will be at the festival with Remarkable Liquids which represents some incredible beers. Check out this beer from Mikkeller that he brought us that was made with an ingredient that sounds disgusting but is actually surprisingly delicious.