One of my favorite things since moving to the city has been NYC Craft Beer Week, which I’ve enjoyed since it kicked off in 2008. Some background for the uninitiated: The first year was a little rocky, with neighborhood bar crawls that you could buy a passport to which would be valid for one night. My sister, her boyfriend, and I did the one in downtown Brooklyn - which actually included bars deep in Carrol Gardens, a bit of a hike from our point of origin, but we had fun. Last year, they changed the logistics so that there was one passport everyone could buy for the week, which you could use at participating bars all across the city (typically for a $2 pint, or two $1 8 oz pours, of something good and local). The passport also included maps broken down by neighborhoods so that you could plot out a bunch of different bars in one night. I don’t have our passports anymore, but I think all told we hit clear over two dozen bars with our passports, which more than made up for the price, as my sister had a Craft Beer Week connection who got us the passports at a discount.

This year we have been lamentably lax. Craft Beer Week kicked off last Friday, and while we’ve been around the city we haven’t even bought passports yet. This is partly because we’re living a bit more frugally now, and partly that my sister once again has a discount but wasn’t getting the passports until the middle of the week. They’ve also once again tinkered with the format, so that the once pricey passports ($35 last year) sell for $10, but beers cost $3 instead of $2. So we’re not as worried to lose out on the smaller discount, and hopefully we’ll be making up for lost ground this weekend. But tomorrow night we’re finally kicking it off, and we’ll finally be able to taste this monstrosity (described here):

Brewed by Shmaltz Brewing, Captain Lawrence Brewing, and Ithaca Beer Co., Geektoberfest will feature a specific beer from each brewery to be blended and barrel-aged in whiskey barrels. All of the beers are originally brewed in the state of New York, and Geektoberfest will only be available on draft during NY Craft Beer Week. The beer represents each brewery and the folks at NY Craft Beer Week’s exuberant appreciation of the mecca they call home, New York.

I can’t wait!