Do you smell that? It’s the scent of summer and from the looks of the past few weekends, it’s getting off to a great start. On June 16th there is yet another reason to love summer in New York City with the “Brooklyn Waterfront Craft & Specialty Beer Festival.” The inaugural day long event is a celebration of beer and the great ingredients and people who go into its creation. This grand event will be taking place along the Brooklyn waterfront in Williamsburg, with spectacular views of the Manhattan skyline with guests being able to drink in both sights and ales alike.

The LocalBozo.com team was fortunate to sit down with Robert Howell, Producer of the Brooklyn Waterfront Beer Festival. Mr. Howell took the time to lay out exactly how the festival is expected to run, from beer-centric seminars to strategies for keeping lines short and attendees content. After all, the day is about having fun and raising a sudsy glass to beer. Be sure to head over to their website and purchase your tickets today. Don’t miss out on the season’s first fun, drink-centric event along the waterfront.

LocalBozo.com: With beer and food festivals becoming the norm in New York City what sets the ‘Brooklyn Waterfront Beer Festival’ apart from the rest of the pack?
Robert Howell: We are excited about the waterfront venue which will be a breezy and scenic place to enjoy a day of Craft Beer Tastings from well over 80 breweries and food tastings from many local Brooklyn purveyors. As demonstrated during our past events, attendee experience and crowd management is at the center of our wheel house. Paramount to success in this regard is significant extra staff and personnel to insure that lines are minimized. Our success at our winter beer tasting was due to having so many “Pour Points” that lines were always minimized. We will also never over sell a venue. We control capacity to levels our staffing can handle efficiently to insure a first rate guest experience.

LocalBozo.com: What are the differences and benefits to both the VIP and Connoisseur tickets respectively?
RH: Both VIP and Connoisseur level tickets can enter the venue one hour early to taste their favorite beers before the GA population enters. Connoisseurs have their own Air-conditioned lounge and an outdoor patio overlooking the water, and get to sample an additional 15-20 rare beers not found on the main Tasting Tent.

LocalBozo.com:In your opinion what are some must visit breweries and food vendors for guests to get the most out of the day?
RH: There are so many great beer offerings to taste on our list. http://bkbeerfest.com/featured-breweries-beers The summer seasonals are just coming in, and many of our international specialty beers are not available at your local stores. Some fun ones to try include Birrificiio Bruton’s Lilith and Momus, Mountain Goat Austrailian Pale Ale, New York City’s 508 Brewery’s Saison and Double Black IPA, Innis and Gunn Rum Cask and Wandering Star’s Ultimate Summer Session Rye. Delicious snacks and food offerings are available for purchase from a variety of gourmet and specialty local food purveyors like Sheep Station, Brooklyn Star, Cornelius, Morris Grilled Cheese, CoolHaus, Sigmund’s Pretzels, South Brooklyn Pizza, and more.

LocalBozo.com: The intimate 50-person seminars with craft beer experts is a fantastic way to bring knowledge to the consumer. Will there be hands on aspects like tastings occurring during these events?
RH: Our seminars are “Women in Craft” and “Urban Home Brewing.” “Women in Craft” will focus on how to connect with like-minded women beer lovers for knowledge, networking, and opportunities in the craft beer field. The women on this panel are beer-knowledge powerhouses. During the “Urban Home Brewing Primer” our home brewers will be providing samples of what they created in their urban living spaces. It’s very interesting to taste a top quality beer made in someone’s small apartment. Anyone can do it, and you do not need a lot of space.

LocalBozo.com: What is being done to keep lines and waits to a bare minimum for both food and drink?
RH:Our site is designed specifically to mitigate lines and line confusion. As demonstrated during our past events attendee experience and crowd management is at the center of our wheel house. Paramount to success in this regard is significant extra staff & personnel to insure that lines are minimized. Our success at our Winter beer Tasting was due to having so many “Pour Points” that lines were always minimized. We will also never over sell a venue we control capacity to levels our staffing can handle efficiently. We are aware that recent events have had trouble in this area, but the promoters of the Brooklyn Waterfront Summer Craft & Specialty Beer Festival have proved through previous events that proper staffing & food & beverage distribution points can deliver a high-quality guest experience.

LocalBozo.com: Since the festival is taking place in mid-June, what are the organizers doing to help keep guests cool and comfortable throughout the days events.
RH: The majority of our venue will be tented to provide shade, and our venue has terrific waterfront breezes. Tap water will be available for free and, and ice cold bottled water will be available for purchase. We will have CoolHaus selling the NYC’s best cold ice cream snacks. Oh…and of course, there will be an abundance of ice cold beer!

LocalBozo.com: What are organizers doing to keep the event both local and Green?
RH: We are using all local restaurants and food trucks. Some of Brooklyn’s top restaurants including South Brooklyn Pizza, Sheep Station, Cornelius and The Brooklyn Star will be serving their signature dishes, along with local NYC food trucks The Morris Grilled Cheese Truck and Coolhaus. Coolhaus will be serving ice cream sandwiches, and their wrapper is even edible so there is no waste! Our tasting glasses are also made of glass instead or paper or plastic and we’ve found that everyone takes these home as a souvenir to use again, which minimizes waste.

LocalBozo.com: Is there anything additional you would like to tell the readers of LocalBozo.com about the ‘Brooklyn Waterfront Beer Festival?’
RH: So many other cities get credit for their thriving Craft Beer communities. We’re talking Portland, Denver, Seattle and we feel New York City and its boroughs are equally thriving, and should be in this dialogue. There are NY Craft Beer Brewers & pioneers upstate, and in all five boroughs. Early craft bars like Blind Tiger, DBA, and Jimmy’s No. 43 who have been doing great craft beer for years, and beer drinkers everywhere are being more experimental with trying new tastes. We work closely with the Craft Beer Community here in NYC, and we want to contribute to putting New York & its 5 boroughs on the Craft Beer map as top Craft Beer Destination. We hope all New Yorkers will come out and taste these great beers, while checking out the Brooklyn Waterfront, and surrounding Williamsburg area. It’s an awesome place.

- The LocalBozo.com Team