For the first time since the COVID pandemic started, Atlantic City Beer & Music Festival was back indoors this past weekend. Good Time Tricycle, the promoters and absolute best buds of Drain Pour, are back in their element and better than ever. The whole weekend rocked, culminating with a legendary set by none other than the Supermen themselves, Goldfinger. Ever see a circle pit for a ska band before? Poser.

Drain Pour editor-in-chief Steve Esparra went to all three sessions and combed through every single beer to find the best for you, dear reader. The damage to his liver may never be undone you ungrateful neckbeards.

5) Beer’d Brewing Company “Barrel Aged Midnight Oil“
5.5% oatmeal stout aged in Maker’s Mark bourbon barrels for nine months with coffee and vanilla
The circumstances that led to me getting this beer poured are unbeknownst to me, as I don’t believe this brewery was even pouring at the event. Hungry for a snack, I went to one of the food vendors, I Want Pig Candy, for a sample of their delicious slow-roasted bacon. While I happened to be there, the guy behind the table (who, mind you, was dressed as a piece of bacon), saw that my taster glass was empty and offered me a pour of a bottle of beer he was drinking. If this was officially being poured at the festival, it might’ve been my beer of the weekend, but it was too good to leave off the list completely. I bought a bag of bacon just as a thank you.

If you really wanna be a stickler and say “That’s not fair,! This should go to an official beer vendor…” Goose Island was pouring BCBS and I drank very many of those with absolutely no shame. It’s not supporting if you’re not buying it off the shelves. I don’t make the rules.

4) Icarus “Pin-Yacht-A Shake: Oat Fluffed“
8% oated double IPA with Madagascar vanilla beans, toasted coconut and pineapples
Icarus is in the middle of moving their entire production facility from Lakewood to Brick, so one might forgive them if their creativity and quality suffered in the process. Well you would be a fucking idiot if you did that, because they’re possibly brewing the best they’ve ever been, made clear by this piña colada in a glass. Not too sweet or bitter or banana-boaty in the slightest, just executed flawlessly. Hurry up and open already; this move is taking longer than Slayer’s farewell tour.

3) Autodidact “Daylily“
5.8% flagship pale ale
The surprise of the fest for me. I know of Autodidact and have tried some of their beers, but the fact that this 5.8% pale ale tasted as crisp and clean as it did pouring from a jockey box is a testament to their process. And it tasted just as good at the beginning of session one as it did during session three (that is, before it kicked). These guys are on the way way up, so get up on them now so you can say you knew before they predictably get big and insanely popular. It may already be too late.

2) The Seed “The Ever Thinking Mind“
7.3% oated IPA
No surprise that AC’s finest and friends of the site made this list. You might think it’s bias, but honestly, there aren’t many breweries that can brew like The Seed does. They do not make bad beer. This IPA is perfection. I think by the time the weekend was over I didn’t even have to tell them which one I wanted, that’s how many times I went back for more. After stopping by the brewery before session 1, I came home with roughly half of their cold box. Be jealous.

1) Birdsmouth “Dry Hopped Lager“
5.5% dry-hopped lager
Hands down my beer of the weekend. There’s something to be said about one that keeps you coming back for more and more. Blessed with the best real estate of the fest, both very close to the entrance and right next to the stage, New Jersey’s lager-only craftsmen decided to collab with NJCB specifically for the fest. The result is a hop-forward, easy drinking lager that I can confirm you can drink 30,000 of in a three day span and be no worse for wear. Possibly the closest they will ever get to making an IPA, just be thankful that people who are at the helm know what they’re doing. Long live local lager.

Time to relax and and nurse my bender hangover for a bit. Hopefully the summer session can live up to what the O.G. just threw down, but it will be hard.