There are tons of things to do on a weekday in the Big Apple, however, nothing beats attending the highly anticipated annual Craft Experience.
On a random Tuesday, followed by the main event on Wednesday, the anticipation builds as tons of people gather outside waiting to enter three floors of epic-ness filled with infinite, local and national breweries, distilleries, and spirits right in the heart of Chelsea.
Text. Tweet. Instagram. Repeat.
There was also enough grub to provide a landing pad and satisfy every sense of of your palate.
Get your taste buds ready to dance!
First stop is obviously the first floor. Once we pick up our official entry pass it is time to put on the drinking slippers and take care of this situation – and thank goodness everything is alphabetically organized.
One hundred and three liquid motivators- aka adult beverages await and first on deck is Abita breweries. Four delicious concoctions of hop beckon for their place on board. Two down and suddenly, it’s as if the Purple Haze sets the mood for the remainder of the event.
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- Craft Experience
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- Craft Experience
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- Craft Experience
Next stop is the Two Brothers Brewing Company, Flag Hill Spirits, The Bronx and Peekskill Brewery, Middle West Spirits, New England Distilling, Sixpoint Brewery then down the list we go accompanied by gulping pints of water in between.
Time to pay respects to the second floor – is your writer going to make it through the whole thing?
Yes, because that is what a true champion does. A true champion perseveres through liquid adversity, sucks it up (literally) and keeps it going until the finish line.
Hello BluePrint Mixology! This is where we need to be. A huge square of delish beverage entitlement calls for us to indulge in everything they serve.
Bring it on!
A few rounds in and we are feeling AWESOME until organic Tequila crashes the party. Tequila should be the anomaly of any occasion. It’s respectful to extend the invite but no one really expects it to show up.
123 and Dolce Vida Tequila, hats off to you because you win this round. Bittermens, FEW Spirits, and Ministry of Rum – you can’t keep up after this.
The third floor packs in more fun with cameos from Blue Mountain, Full Sail and Magic Hat Breweries, Naked Flock Ciders, Moonlight Meadley, Bengali Tiger, Avua Cchaca, and so many more.
That’s right keep drinking the kool-aid!
Oh we forgot to mention the edible delights in-between. Mini Lobster salad on croquettes, grilled cheese sandwiches, shrimp, delicious imported organic chocolate, and cheese- more please.
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- Abita Beer
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- Craft Experience
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- 123 Tequila
No wait, we wanted more of – everything- right!
Gosh darnit – as much we want this madness to continue, sadly we wipe the tears away as the event dwindles down. Why?!
Well, one thing we can say is that the Craft Experience ranks super high on the cool meter. Do we want to repeat it again in 2014? Heck ya we do and we will see you then!
By: Laura Artis
T: @Lauraslifeonink