30 breweries and smoked Vermont meats

Flight of beer

Because the only thing better than drinking craft beer brewed locally is drinking craft beer that can't sit still and bounces off the walls if you give it too much sugar brewed using local ingredients, you're going to want to hit this two-day, three-session celebration of suds. Hyper-Local brings together 30-plus New England brewers (not to mention vinters, meaderies, and "artisan beverage makers") whose boozy offerings incorporate everything from area oysters and grapes, to hops, berries, and chocolate. Assuming hyper-local isn't local enough for you, kick things off Friday night at their inaugural Home-Brew Showcase/Club Jamboree, in which folks who brew beer in their garages will be pouring 28 different samples (ranging from cream ales and dandelion wheats, to rye saisons and pink haze salted braggot), trading tips, answering questions, and winking suggestively at each other. While the home-brewers geek out over their latest concoctions, move on to unlimited 2oz pours from some of your favorite area brewers, like Mayflower, Portico, and High & Mighty, not to mention relative newcomers like Maine's Rising Tide, Battle Road, and Down the Road Brewery.All that drinking making you crave a plate of Halal-style chicken or lamb? Well, The Chicken & Rice Guys will be psyched, because that's exactly what they're slinging. (But don't worry -- you can also snag bags of Q's Nuts, or some smoked and cured meats straight from the Green Mountain State).Finally, to ensure you arrive home safely and/or don't spend the evening worrying about your 1997 Neon getting ticketed, the Hub's new car-sharing service, SideCar, is offering free rides to and from the fest, if you download the app.

Barley, hops, and beer ingredients
Beer from Mayflower Brewing
Meat from Vermont Smoke & Cure
SideCar ride-share app