If you equate fall with beer festival season, you’re not wrong. But the season in the Delaware River Towns has become so crowded in recent years (which is a good thing for us beer lovers), it now begins well before the first frost. Like, as in this weekend.
Fifth Annual Corn, Tomato, and Beer Festival
August 13 | Flemington, NJ
This family-friendly festival unfolds along Stangl Road, a small side street that runs through what has become Flemington’s arts district. (Park at Liberty Village, on Route 12.)
Several area restaurants will be offering their riffs on the local corn and tomato harvest. Crowd favorites from previous festivals have included gazpacho, scratch-made empanadas, Mexican street corn, and heirloom tomato salad.
If your kid’s a finicky eater, fear not. There will also be plenty of traditional street-festival food, including frozen cheesecake on a stick. Eating may be a moot point anyway because there will be plenty of other attractions vying for their attention, including fire trucks they can climb aboard, crafts, face painting, and live music.
Great as all that is, you’re coming for the beer. The beer garden will feature 10 Jersey-based craft breweries:
- Lone Eagle Brewing
- Opportunity Brewing Company
- Conclave Brewing
- Czig Meister Brewing Company
- Jersey Girl Brewing
- Ashton Brewing Company
- Buttzville Brewing Company
- Flounder Brewing Company
- Jersey Cyclone Brewing Company
- Fort Nonsense Brewing Company
“The Corn, Tomato, and Beer Festival is the very best representation of all things New Jersey,” says Denise Torbik, a festival organizer. “At what other even can you get such an abundance of sweet Jersey corn, juicy, fresh tomatoes, and a variety of local New Jersey craft beers? Flemington puts it all together in one event with something for everyone.”
The rain date is Aug. 14.
Aug. 27 | Doylestown, PA
This festival, held on the grounds of Fonthill Castle, an Instagram hot spot, follows the format of a conventional beer festival. Your ticket* buys you a commemorative tasting glass and access to 15 craft breweries and distilleries from 2 PM to 5 PM, or 1 PM to 5 PM if you opt for a VIP ticket ($150).
A VIP ticket also gets you a curated selection of exclusive specialty beers and fare, access to a VIP-only tent and VIP-only air-conditioned areas.
*General admission tickets are $70 ($60 for Bucks County Historical Society members). Designated driver tickets are available for $25. Those ticketholders will have access to a selection of non-alcoholic beverages.
Proceeds will help support the education, preservation, and community programs at Fonthill Castle, a National Historic Landmark operated by the Bucks County Historical Society.
Featured breweries include:
- Triumph Brewing Company
- Great Barn Brewery
- Ship Bottom Brewery
- Two Rivers Tap Room
- Vault Brewing Company
- Blueprint Brewing Co.
- Flying Embers
- Geronimo Brewing @ Lilly’s Jury Room
- Mad Princes Brewing
- Round Guys Brewing Company
- Bluestem Botanicals
- Crooked Eye Brewery
- McAllister Brewing Company
- Free Will Brewing
- Neue Méthod Fermentation Project
This festival will be held rain or shine.
