Julia Herz at the Brewers Association sent me a nice invite to the SAVORcraftbeer.org festival - but I’ve already bought tickets. In fact, I bought several pairs of tickets! I’m going to be giving away tickets to be my guest at this fabulous new food and beer festival, to be held in May 16-17, 2008 in Washington D.C. at the Andrew Mellon Auditorium. Just sign up for my recipe enewsletter before April 30 to be eligible for the SAVOR ticket giveaway.If you prefer not to wait,  tickets are on sale now, at $85 per person for each session.  The festival will sell out soon, and here’s a list from Julia detailing why this event is such a draw: “1) The U.S. had 1,449 total breweries in operation during 2007, including 1,406 small, independent, and traditional craft brewers. So the majority of breweries in the U.S. are craft brewers and craft beer is showing the most significant growth in the beer category.

2) This is a national festival with a local tie to each region in the U.S. Of the 48 craft breweries at SAVOR representatives from all 8 regions will be there.

3). Never before have craft brewers personally presented their beer and food pairings (and as a plug, note that many of the cookbook’s recipes will be featured and served!)   http://beertown.org/events/SAVOR/beers.html. This is your opportunity to personally meet many of the rock stars of the craft beer scene and taste firsthand why pairing craft beer and food is such a hot topic.

4) Brewers and owners in attendance include The Boston Beer Company, The Brooklyn Brewery, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, F.X. Matt Brewing Company, Flying Dog Brewery, Harpoon Brewery, New Belgium Brewing Company, Rogue Ales, Reyes Beverage Group, and others. New Holland Brewing Co. beervangelist Fred Bueltmann is on the organizing committee, and he says, “It’s both a food festival and a craft beer festival, designed to bring in connoisseurs who enjoy and are serious about culinary appreciation of craft beer.”

5) SAVOR is happening during and because of ‘American Craft Beer Week’ (May 12-18) which is why Washington D.C. is such an appropriate location.

6) In addition to the main attraction of tasting in the great hall, there are educational salons. Dave Lieberman, of Here’s To Beer and the Food Network, is speaking. Beer vs. Wine is a topic presented by Sam Calagione and Marnie Olds; Craft Beer and Seafood pairings presented by Hugh Sisson, Cross Drinking without social stigma will be a talk; Beer and Cheese and Beer and Food are all topics at SAVOR.  http://beertown.org/events/SAVOR/schedule.html

7) The Brewers Association, presenters of SAVOR, also organizes the Great American Beer Festival, the World Beer Cup (the Olympics of beer) and establishes the beer style guidelines many refer to as the main guidelines to follow.”

And I’ll add a point to consider - if traveling to DC from out of town, remember that hotels are in demand in May due to graduations from the many colleges and universities in the area. I’ll have more information about affordable hotels within easy distance of craft beer destinations posted next month.