St. Paul Summer Beer Fest is Sunday

​On Sunday, celebrate all things beer at the second annual St. Paul Summer Beer Fest. The event is now the largest craft beer festival in the state, with 78 breweries participating, including Louisiana's Abita, Oregon's Widmer, Vermont's Magic Hat, Kansas's Tall Grass, and New York's Ommegang--makers of local fave, Hennipen. Midway Stadium, the home of the Saint Paul Saints, hosts this popular outdoor event.

Here are more details:

This is a great opportunity to try some hard-to-find brews with your beer-loving brethren. The festival will also have food--burgers, hot dogs, and pizza--which all go well with brewskis, and live music featuring bagpipers, the Como Ave. Jug Band, and the Jack Brass Band.

We spoke to Mark Opdahl, co-founder of the festival, to get his take: "We are just beer geeks who wanted to start a festival and run it the way we thought it should be run," he says. With hundreds of beers to sample at the event, Opdahl advised festivalgoers to "drink lots of water, and bring some snacks with you--I recommend pretzels, because they cleanse the palate. This is a long festival--pace yourself, take some breaks, and listen to the music."  

Last year the festival was a sellout, and currently only a few hundred tickets are available, so be sure to check on tickets before you go.

What: St. Paul Summer Beer Festival

Where: Midway Stadium, 1771 Energy Park Drive, St. Paul
When: Sunday, June 20, VIP admission is at noon, and general admission at 1 p.m. The festival last until 5 p.m.

Price: $30 general admission, $40 VIP admission. Admission includes unlimited beer samples and a commemorative glass.