The Great American Beer Festival Costume Extravaganza

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The Great American Beer Festival opened last night. Hundreds of beer enthusiasts came to celebrate brews that come from every corner of the country from small batch, independent operations to long-time favorites made in large brewing companies. Aside from the beer highlights, which were many, the costumes stood out. Eater put together a gallery of the best costumes on the beer hall at the GABF last night. Other highlights: Silent Disco, a spectacularly fun area where folks are being given headphones playing (you guessed) disco, to which they get to rock their dance moves to the amazement of the headphone-less audience. And the Farm to Table pavilion where restaurants, some local, some not, pair two dishes with two beers. Lettuce wraps from ChoLon, headcheese from the Kitchen, and the pork stew from Wildwood stood out in taste and flavor. The head-scratcher: any pork and seafood combinations. Noteworthy sour brews: Crooked Stave's Persica, Russian River Valley's Framboise, and the Cambridge Brewing Company Cerise Cassee.

Most surprising thing was that even though the festival sold out in forty minutes in August, there are countless scalpers selling tickets outside the door for reasonable prices. One way or another, tickets are still available.

· More GABF Coverage [EDen]