The video advertising the 6th Annual Bloomington Craft Beer Festival shows glass after glass of locally brewed beer being passed between smiling bartenders, customers and friends. People wear wigs, IU gear and bread necklaces to soak up all of the brewskies.
This year’s event, which is a fundraiser for the Brewers of Indiana Guild, will take place Saturday April 9 at Woolery Mill.
“It’s like an artform,” said Iris Dillon, the guild’s event coordinator. “There’s so many different elements, so many things a brewer can do to make their beer more special. Artists are very passionate and creative people and that’s how brewers are with craft beer.”
Fifty-five Indiana breweries will be featured at the festival, including many from Bloomington. Coffee, water and food will also be available at booths from Yogi’s, Upland Brewing, Uel Zing, Pizza X, NoCo & Butcher’s Smokehouse and Indiana Craft Jerky.
Early bird tickets cost $60 and will allow guests to enter the event at 1 p.m., an hour early. General admission tickets cost $40, and ticketholders can enter at 2 p.m. Last pour will be 5:45 p.m.
Ticketholders will be able to drink unlimited beers, as long as they behave responsibly, until the last pour. Attendees will be given 3 oz. souvenir sampling glasses at the door to try drinks. Once people have entered the festival, they cannot leave and re-enter.
The festival is only 21 and older attendees. Dillon said they are close to reaching the 4,000 ticket limit.
In order to encourage safe driving, designated drivers will only pay $10 per ticket and will be given free water, coffee and soda. There will also be a community bike ride to the fest starting at noon leaving from 4th Street and the B-Line Trail.
The festival is being proceeded by Bloomington Craft Beer Week, which features events at local bars and restaurants. A schedule can be found on the Bloomington Craft Beer Week Facebook.
The festival’s website claims it is one of the only events in Indiana that directly benefits the state’s brewing community, which consists of more than 100 of the craft breweries, employs nearly 8,000 Hoosiers and creates an economic effect of more than $1 billion.
“It’s partly education, to make people aware of craft beer and what it does for the economy,” Dillon said.
Dillon said her organization is one of only two guilds throughout the country who do not charge a membership fee. The money raised at the guild’s three annual festivals goes toward helping them advocate for breweries in the Indiana state legislature. It’s because of them, for example, that breweries are some of the only place in Indiana where beer can be purchased iSundays.
Proceeds from the festival will go to the The Lotus Education and Arts Foundation.
“The Bloomington festival is the only festival that only has Indiana breweries participating,” Dillon said. “So that’s really exciting.”
