First, thanks very much for your loyalty and support of our show and your interest in this year's event. The response from friends and beer lovers like you guys make all the work and preparation worthwhile. Second, please accept my apologies for the lack of updates so far on the website. We have had some internal issues and we will be keeping the website more up to date from now on.

Connoisseur Session Information

The main differences between the sessions will be as follows:

1. The afternoon show will look and run exactly as always (menu attached), except that we are going to limit attendance to 1200 patrons for shorter lines and better buffet access. We've had about 1500 the last several years and it was feeling too crowded for my tastes.
2. At the Connoisseur Session, we will be serving a gourmet menu of fine food (attached) right in Presidents Hall with the beer so that our guests can mix and match food and beer pairings. We will have several stations around the hall and we will have recommended pairings listed at the tables. Personally, I think the menu looks awesome. Please let me know if you agree (or not!).
3. ONLY 400 PATRONS will be admitted. This means there will be short lines and our guests be able to chat much more freely with the brewers and reps than ever before.
4. Patrons will receive a nicer souvenir sampling glass at the evening show.
5. Brewers will be asked to bring some special, limited-supply beers to the evening show that will not be available during the afternoon.
6. We hope to have a cooking (with beer) demonstration instead of the BrewForum Seminars, but this is a work-in-progress and we don’t have details yet.
7. Our guests will experience a nicer ambiance at the evening session as well. There will be cocktail tables with nice linen, better plates and silverware, nicer lighting and good entertainment right in Pres Hall.
8. Probably a few other things I'm not thinking of at the moment, but that gives you the idea.

Basically, the Connoisseur Session will be a very nice stand-up beer dinner for 400. We are also planning to host a series of local beer dinners here in State College during the summer... check periodically with the website if you're interested. Have you been to any of our previous beer dinners at The American Ale House or The Penn Stater? They have been lots of fun for us and for our guests.

Perhaps you have noticed if you've been coming to the evening session the last several years that the credibility of our "Drink Less, Drink the Best" philosophy has been, to put it charitably, strained. We always said we emphasize quality, not quantity. Well... we had to do an integrity check and we came up lacking in our own eyes. It's always a very fun evening, but some folks were getting just a bit carried away and we decided to "upscale" the event in order to return to our original mission.

I hope this helps you to make your decision. We would love to see you at the evening since that's our new "baby". Please feel free to write or call back with more questions. Our contact information can be found under "Contact Us". Thanks again for being among the greatest and most loyal beer festival patrons I've ever seen.