Beer under the gray October sky: Photos from OCtoberfest 2018

We were a little nervous looking at the forecast the week leading up to OCtoberfest, but when everyone on the Eastern Shore began canceling their Halloween events scheduled for the 27th, we just held our breath and crossed our fingers.

It wasn’t a beautiful day, but it didn’t rain and we didn’t totally freeze. And somehow, even with the dismal weather forecast for Oct. 27, our fourth annual OCtoberfest, co-sponsored by OCDC and the Town of Ocean City, saw its largest number of attendees yet. Approximately 1,000 beer drinkers and 400 non-drinkers (not including four-legged friends) showed up to Sunset Park on a cloudy, cool October day to warm up with seasonal stouts and session ales and by dancing the afternoon away to the sounds of Johnny Bling.

I served my first pouring time at a festival at the Dogfish truck, along with some friends who were kind enough to volunteer, and aside from losing feeling in my cold, numb fingers, it was actually a lot of fun. I learned:

1.) People really like heavy-duty stouts, specifically Dogfish Head’s Siracusa Nera.

2.) Brewery reps have a really cool job, at least sometimes.

3.) It pays for the reps to be there at festivals! Sometimes they just don’t show up, and volunteers aren’t able to answer all the questions that festivalgoers have about the beer and the brand. Especially when the brand makes really good beer, and people want to know where they can pick up a six-pack or where else it’s on tap. Us lowly volunteers can only shrug and say, “uh, you can probably find out online somewhere?”

Anyways, it was a really fun festival, and some of our favorite photos are below. See you next time at Love on Tap, Feb. 23!