ALTAMONT – The long awaited, highly anticipated Farming Man Fest returned to Indian Ladder Farms on Saturday, July 16, following a break from the pandemic.
The all day event featured 28 breweries, four distilleries, seven bands, four DJs, and nine hours of the best beer experience in New York.
The festival, which is a celebration of New York’s breweries and the industry, started in 2014 but just for brewers. It was more of a networking event for maltsters, brewers, and hop growers. There were about 10 breweries at the first festival.
The event allowed visitors to drive through the century-old orchards of Indian Ladder Farms to a beautiful field in the back of the farm opening up to a breathtaking view of the Helderberg Escarpment for a full day of live music and craft beverages.
The highlight of the night was perhaps the namesake collaboration beer that began its fermenting process almost two months before.
Indian Ladder Farms Cidery and Brewery Head Brewer, Scott Veltman, had chosen not to taste “Farming Man the Beer,” until festival day. Other area breweries who collaborated with Indian Ladder Farms Cidery and Brewery are Artisanal Brew Works, Bound By Fate, Brewery at CIA, Common Roots Brewing, Helderberg Mountain Brewing Co, Mixed Breed Brewing, Paradox Brewery, Plan Bee, Unified Beerworks, Warbler Brewing, Walt and Whitman Brewing, Wayward Lane, and Woodstock Brewing.
Music featured The Jagaloons, Televisionaries, The Abyssmals, Bruel County, Bad Boys, BattleaXXX, Mystery Girl, The College Farm, and will feature DJs Big Ed, Ritz Carlton and Spacewolf with Masterpeace.
The full list of breweries at this year’s festival is as follows: Arrowood Farms Brewery, Artisanal Brew Works, Big aLICe Brewing, Bolton Landing Brewing, Bound By Fate, Brewery at CIA, Brooklyn Cider House, Browns, Common Roots Brewing, Community Beerworks, Creature Comforts, Frog Alley, Helderberg Mountain Brewing, Mixed Breed Brewing, Nine Pin, ONCO Fermentations, Paradox, Rare Form, Rip Van Winkle Brewing Company, Rockaway Brewing, Saint James Brewery, Single Cut Beersmiths, Strong Rope Brewery, Unified Beerworks, Wayward Lane, Whitman Brewing Company, Woodstock, and The Warbler Brewery.
There will also be four distilleries participating, Albany Distilling Co., Four Fights Distillery, Kings County Distillery, and New Scotland Spirits.
