Imagine a huge Italian marketplace full of restaurants, food/beverage counters, bakery, retail items and even a cooking school. That's Eataly.

Boasting over 120 years of history, Lavazza was created by the tenacious and intuitive Luigi Lavazza, the first to create coffee blends from beans of different origins. In 1895, he acquired a small grocery store in the heart of Turin. The location is still open today, while the company has grown to be the symbol of Italian espresso worldwide. Lavazza shares Eataly’s passion for quality. Our caffè offers a wide menu of Lavazza’s traditional Italian espresso-based drinks, American coffee drinks, and housemade pastries for an authentic “colazione all’italiana,” or Italian breakfast. 

• Mountain Man Marzen
• Hellish Winter IPA
• Old Oak Stout
• Vienna Calling
• Warm Springs Pale Ale
• Lovers Leap IPA

• Blonde Ale: Light, Zesty, Brigh, 4% ABV
• Logger Lager Pils: Noble, Crisp, Dry 5.2% ABV
• Pale Ale: Refreshing, Floral, Clean, 5.2% ABV
• IPA: Familiar, Fresh, Piney 6.5% ABV
• Porter: Chocolate, Coffee, Balanced 6.5% ABV
• Double Bit IPA: Bold, Juicy, Deceptive 8% ABV
• Frost Notch Winter Ale: Smoky, Warming, Malty 7.6% ABV

Sophisticated Hound Brewing Company (Princeton)

• COMING SOON, but they did have some sweet giveaways and pretzel necklaces, which I proudly wore around for the remainder of the festival. 

In addition to the crazy amazing beer, they also had a bunch of food vendors available. I ended up getting a few hot dogs (because after beer, who doesn't want a hot dog?), and tried a smoked pulled pork slider with apple coleslaw from Bar-B-Qued Beast, which was very tasty. 

Food vendors included: Bar-B-Qued Beast, Chara Hummus, Garcia's Latin Market, Mylan Concessions, Old Goat Kettle Korn, Parks Specialty Peanuts, Sassy Gals Gourmet Treats, The Frosted Mug and Two Fat Cousins Barbecue Sauce. 

It was also very cool that Brewstel did a beer/food pairing menu throughout the afternoon. 

There were a variety of other vendors, too, like Loving WV and RevIVeU, which was doing breathalyzers. That is such a cool, smart idea. I did it and made sure my BAC was low enough to drive home after this. Very smart - that plus the free waters. When do you ever get FREE waters at an event? It's rare.

AND, AND, AND because there were a bunch of drunk adults, there were awesome games like giant jenga (which I won), giant cards, giant checkers, cornhole, beer pong and good music.

I have never had more fun at a craft beer festival. They're always fun, but this one was so smart, so well-thought-out, and had a real high-quality selection of West Virginia breweries. They were out there talking about their passion and upcoming projects. I love that the focus was on our local folks and promoting the craft beer industry in the state. As someone who works in marketing, I understand the attention to detail, and it's the small touches that really make this shine. We had really solid breweries, the food was good (though I always think there could be more), the free water, the breathalyzers, the fun games ... it really made for a fun event for all of us to share our love for craft beer.

Started in New York, before relocating to New Hampshire and expanding from there, this French-style confectionery makes some of the most coveted chocolates in the Northeast. One of the signatures is the dark shaved chocolate (available for mail-order). It’s a mix of three to four dark chocolates from South America and the Caribbean, generally warmed with 2% milk. However, you can go as fat as you want — whole and skim are offered, as well.