The St. Patrick's Day beerfest was an all round good time that was more about celebrating the beers of Harpoon than day St. Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland. Despite the torrential rains and scores of people (dressed in green of course!) being crammed in two huge tents, the crowds and wetness didn't really bother me. Everyone was in a good mood and there were rarely any lines to refill your free cup. The extra special treat of the day was the availability of Harpoon's Winter Warmer, which I indulged myself in with two pints.

Yea, it got crowded.

Props to Harpoon for their organization of the Fest. People had to buy beer tickets rather than paying cash at the bar and that made things flow very smooth. They offered a free shuttle to the brewery from South Station and the initial line to enter went fast. The beer on tap-Hibernian, UFO, UFO Raspberry, Winter Warmer, Cider and I.P.A-tasted amazing off tap and reaffirmed my thinking that Harpoon might be my favorite brewer of beer. With two beers in my top five favorite brews of all time (Winter Warmer and Raspberry UFO), there isn't a single beer of theirs that I don't like. Sorry, but I can't say the same for Sam Adams.

From three exposed letters on my shirt, at least four people felt the need to tell me that the Orioles sucked.

Along with beer, there were a few bands playing in the background and food being served. One group that really made me crack up was this band with a drummer standing up and singing lead. Their cover of "Blister in the Sun" was so unnecessary but made so much sense being the only song the crowd knew and could sing along to like at one huge frat party. While I was rapidly downing a pint of Hibernian, I snagged a corned beef and cabbage sandwich. I'm not sure whether it was the beer but the sandwich was slamming-very moist and extremely tender, a perfect match for the dark Irish ale.

And I thought the Dropkick Murphy's were the only band to exploit their Irish nationalism!

In between the drinking, I wandered onto a tour of the brewery but I couldn't hear a word from the guide. I'm sure it was fascinating and all the vats looked cool but I could care less how they make their beer, just that it tasted awesome.

I attribute my enjoyment to the festival to one thing: money. Because there was a cover to get in and charge for every beer ($5), the event drew a more civilized crowd that wasn't there just to pound beers. While I did see one guy with a row of tickets the length of his body, I didn't see anyone puking and no drunken fights broke out while I was there. For once, it was nice to go to an event in Boston and not be repulsed or annoyed by the behavior of the locals.

Beer + Corned Beef Sandwich = Good Times.

Word is that Harpoon throws a similar event in the fall for Octoberfest and if it's anything like this one (of course it will be, just substitute everything Irish for German-sausage and sauerkraut instead of corned beef and cabbage, polka for celtic jams, etc.) then I'll be there, ready to do it all over again.