We can’t supply you with booze-drenched music news and fail to mention this one: a two-day beer, food & music festival coming to NYC’s Governors Island this fall, with a bevy of brews and bands that are sure to make it a blast. OctFest, presented by Pitchfork and October, has blossomed into a full-weekend bash in its second year, and will be bringing a good buzz to Governors Island on September 8-9 2018 (Saturday & Sunday). Heading up the bill are The Flaming Lips, Vince Staples, Nile Rodgers & CHIC, Yo La Tengo, and BADBADNOTGOOD, with names like NAO, Girlpool, The Courtneys, and Shopping just recently added.
The coolest part of the lineup is the 50/50 gender split between performers; definitely uncommon in the festival scene and well worth celebrating. And now that you have a reason to clink glasses, you’ll have to somehow decide what to put in yours – which won’t be easy with over 250 varieties of award-winning craft beer on the menu. OctFest will welcome 90 breweries from 20 countries (including several making their debut); with Rogue Ales, Zero Gravity Craft Brewery, Bogota Beer Co., and Boxing Cat Brewery among the dozens that were just added to the impressive lineup. Notably, of the 16 Master Cicerones (preeminent beer experts) in the world, 2 of them will be on hand at this festival.
Details about the curated food program are still to be announced, but we bet they’ll have a serious plan in place to handle the drunk munchies. Passes are $75 for a single day and $140 for the weekend, including 15 beer samples per day (both days run 2-10pm, with breweries open until 8pm). Tickets are on sale here, and you can find the full music lineup, brewery list and the rest of the details on the OctFest website.
Article: Olivia Isenhart