How did Blue Point run out of tickets?
I didn’t realize that there was a quota, or even a need for one.
That circus tent could hold half the population of Long Island.
It was a good job that I didn’t wait until the last minute or the last week, to purchase my pass for several hours of casky goodness.
My buddy was out of luck though; a last-second decision to accompany me this year was thwarted by a total lack of available entry tokens come November.
We tried to secure an additional ticket for him by other (possibly legal) means, but gave up after a couple of days.
I was on my own again, facing down a hundred plus casks.
Walking across the front parking lot from West Main Street it all looked exactly the same as in other years.
There was the usual line of about sixty folks waiting patiently on the far edge of the lot, alongside the brewery building.
But as I joined the line, I had barely five minutes to wait before someone came along to check my ticket and hand me a wrist band and glass; all very streamlined this year.
The other indication that something was different this time, was the sound of merriment coming from behind the fence in the general area of the tap room beer garden.
A peek through a crack in the fence revealed casks, and people already enjoying them.
Hmm, looks like it’s going to be a tight fit this year.
Sure enough, these were the VIPs with early entry privileges, normally hidden away in a corner of the back lot outside the usual marquee.
This year no marquee, it was going to be a smaller shared space, made smaller still by the kilted army of the Northport Pipe and Drum band, who soon led us into the event.
It was crowded, but I knew the drill.
As the band revved up their bagpipes and charged into the melee, I quietly slipped in behind them and made for the closest cask.
“Hello Nigel!”
Damn, sussed again.
It was one of the Long Island cask regulars whom I have met at events all over the Island, from Port Jeff to Patchogue to Franklin Square to Bay Shore.
I was happy to see a friendly face; there would be three more in the crowd, two more from the Island and one from NYC, plus a couple behind the sticks as well.
My days of anonymous drinking are long past, it would seem.
That closest cask turned out to be a (Simcoe) dry-hopped version of the T1 Belgian Tripel from Transmitter; the dry hop did a great job of hiding its strength, it was dangerous and delicious.
It would go straight into my top-5 list.
I had checked off the brewery list while I was sitting on the train, and decided that I wanted to accomplish three things, well other than just enjoy myself:
- Sample the beers from any and all NYC breweries; there were just four casks this year from three breweries, Transmitter, Other Half and Wild East.
- Sample at least one beer from the breweries that were new to me; again, there were three breweries in this category, Carib (from Cape Canaveral FL), Moonfish (Riverhead NY) and Rites (Bay Shore NY, in the old TBC location).
- Check out what the homebrew clubs had to offer this year; both Brewers East End Revival (B.E.E.R.) and Long Island Beer and Malt Enthusiasts (L.I.B.M.E.) were present with about ten casks between them, including several ciders and my overall favorite, an English Dark Mild from one of the B.E.E.R. homebrewers.
I also wanted to try some of Blue Point’s own brews, as I usually end up overlooking them and focusing on the exotics.
But I only saw two casks from them in the beer garden, and it took me three loops of the garden and several beers before I realized that there were additional casks (and proper bathrooms) inside the taproom … many more casks.
Including one labelled as Bass Pale Ale, nah it can’t be.
A little strong at 5.5% but a perfectly sessionable ESB style beer.
It made my top-5.
As did another beer with a name from the past, Mackeson Stout brewed in Florida by Carib Brewery USA.
This was not the sweet and harmless stout loved by my mum, or blended with cider by my mates when we were still all kids, this was a 7.8% barrel-aged beauty.
Carib also brought along a peach cider, and for a brief moment I was sorely tested, but I ended up sampling both, individually.
Rounding out my top-5 was another cider, from another homebrewer, this time a fig, honey and rosemary cider from one of the L.I.B.M.E. brewers.
I found all of the ciders were excellent, and there were several that I sampled.
Sadly there were no meads this year, and happily there were no hard seltzers, not that there is really anything wrong with that.
The most challenging brews incorporated black garlic and kielbasa, but even they were interesting, if not particularly sessionable.
I wasn’t sure how the new festival format was going to work out when I first entered, but by the end I was very impressed.
It was quite intimate, if you can call a couple of hundred folks crammed into a garden intimate, and I ended up socializing and schmoozing much more than I have done in the past.
It was a lot of fun, and I would be happy if they repeated the exercise in future years.
I just have to make doubly sure that I get my ticket well in advance.
Scorecard w/e 11/11/25
In the past week the Cask Whisperer has enjoyed the following casks:
- Old Glenham Black Country Mild @ Jones Wood Foundry
- Old Glenham OGB Session Bitter @ Jones Wood Foundry
And also had more than a few tasters at the 21st Annual Blue Point Cask Ale Festival:
1940 Spicy Lime Light Kolsch: Lime & Jalapeno |
B.E.E.R. The Darkness English Dark Mild |
B.E.E.R. Crisp Fall Dew Drop Simply Brown Sugar Cinnamon Dry Cider |
Berlin Stalk’n’Hops Sweet Corn Cream Ale |
Blue Point Bass Pale Ale |
Blue Point Anchovy Blitz Beer |
Carib Caribe Peach Cider |
Carib Mackeson Stout |
Eastern Front Acme Atomic Ale |
DUBCO Helles Lager: Kielbasa |
Ghost Lady in Red: Swiss Miss |
L.I.B.M.E. Figure 8 Cider: Fig, Rosemary & Honey |
L.I.B.M.E. Sleigh Ride Winter Warmer |
Long Ireland Black Garlic Marzen |
Moonfish Kolsch: Sauvignon Blanc Staves |
Other Half Broccoli: Mango Terpenes |
Other Half (Root+Branch) So Green: Nelson & Eggers Special Hop |
Po’boy Whipped Crisp Bee Apple Pie Cider |
Rites Garlands Berliner Weiss: Sweet Woodruff Syrup |
Saint James Hot Honey Fig Stout |
Schnitz Tropi-horn Pale Ale |
Terrapin Lu-au Naturel |
Transmitter T1 Belgian Triple: Simcoe |
Wild East Red IPA |
Upcoming Cask Events (Festivals and Otherwise)
- November 13th @ 6pm: NYC Cask Crew and Wild East will be executing a Cask Takeover at The Shakespeare in NYC.
- Save the dates! The 2026 edition of NERAX will be from March 25th to 28th next year.
Upcoming Random NYC Casks
- This Thursday, November 13th we see anniversary parties at both City Swiggers and Vinyl Beer on the UES, both featuring gravity kegs from Eckhart Beer:
- The City Swiggers party kicks off at 4pm and features Eckhart Czech Amber Lager in gravity keg.
- The Vinyl Beer event kicks off at 7pm and features Eckhart Altbier in gravity keg.
- Between these events and the Cask Crew get together at Shakespeare, it is looking to be a busy evening.
NYC Cask Venues
Known Operational/Active Beer Engines
- Jones Wood Foundry (x2)
- Fifth Hammer
- Wild East
- The Shakespeare (x3)
- Drop-off Service
Occasional Pins (worth a follow on Instagram)
- Strong Rope
- KCBC
- Tørst
- Blind Tiger Ale House
- Threes Brewing
- Brouwerij Lane (First Friday Firkins)
- The Owl Farm
Cask Venues Reachable from NYC by MTA or NJ Transit Train in Under two Hours
Metro-North Hudson Line
- Draught Industries, Beacon NY (one handpump, Old Glenham beer range).
- Coopers, Beacon NY (one handpump, Old Glenham beer range).
- Happy Valley Arcade Bar, Beacon NY (one handpump, Old Glenham beer range).
Metro-North Harlem Line
- The Ambleside Pub, Mt. Kisco NY (four handpumps, Old Glenham beer range).
Metro-North New Haven Line
- Marlowe Artisanal Ales, Mamaroneck NY (one handpump, Marlowe beer range).
- Nod Hill Brewing, Ridgefield CT (two handpumps, Nod Hill beer range).
NJ Transit NJCL Line
- Triumph Restaurant and Brewery, Red Bank NJ (one handpump, Triumph beer range).
