“This constantly-growing directory currently lists 500+ worldwide excuses to swill brews all day, complete with locations, festival links, and “highlights”, which in Helsinki means “international beer celebrities” (Spuds McKenzie? Alex from Strohs? They won’t leave my dog alone with that Medina.).”

To kick off the weekend, we accepted a coworker’s challenge to drink 7 beers on the 1 hour flight (only 40 minutes of drinking time, as you can’t buy beers until the plane levels out). The challenge isn’t so much the drinking, but the sweet talking required to procure 7 beers from the stewardess… I mean “flight attendant” (that’s the PC term right?) I got 5 from the sexy sky siren, Jeff could only manage 3 beers.

I had some delicious beers at the festival, including some very fine brews from Alaskan Brewing Co, He’Brew, Lost Coast, Chau Tien… I’ll write the rest when I can remember them, everything is still a little hazy. Here’s one of the local celebs we ran across:

Afterward, we ended up driving up onto our friends’ lawn in a Volkswagen van with a traveling Canadian metal band (don’t ask how we met up with them, we’re not exactly sure). Our long-haired friends threw an impromptu unplugged show and we drank into the night with a bunch of friends and a dozen or so people who were drawn in by the drunken jam sesh. All in all, I must stress: go to a beer festival this summer and every summer. You won’t be sorry.