While the mercury was heating up to a sultry record-tying 100° in Harrisburg on July 17, 1999, beer aficionados were keeping 100 percent cool at the Appalachian Brewing Company (A.B.C.) sipping and tasting India Pale Ales, Extra Special Bitters, and Wheat beers, as the Capital City Invitational Beer Festival took hold with twenty-seven of the region’s best microbrewers on hand. The first and second floors of Harrisburg’s premier full-service brewpub buzzed with excitement as beer novices and connoisseurs alike mingled from one brew station to the next, listening to microbrewers explain why their craftbrewed beers were the best.

Appropriately, lighter and crisper summer beers flourished as beer fest organizer and ABC brewmaster, Artie Tafoya headed the pack with two new summer brews — a dry “Golden Mountain Lager” with a medium hop flavor and aroma with a very smooth and slightly toasty finish; and a “Hinterland Hefe Weizen” made from German weizen yeast, creating fabulous clove and banana flavors. “White Trash,” a cloudy Belgian wit-style white beer made from wheat and malt, furnished by The Brewers Art from Baltimore, was their crisp and refreshing summer brew. The beach came to the Capital City in the form of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery from Rehobeth Beach, DE, bringing an “ApriHop India Pale Ale,” brewed with real apricots and finished with whole leaf Willamette and cascade hops. Harrisburg’s own Tröegs Brewing Company offered a simply-stated but complex “Tröegs Summer Beer” brewed with malted wheat, special spices and Belgian yeast which exhibited spicy, citrus aromas. “Hempen Ale,” compliments of Frederick Brewing Company, Frederick, MD, breaks no laws in beer circles with their summer ale brewed with hemp seeds. And, “Betsy’s Kristall Wheat,” served with lemon, was declared by the Independence Brewing Company, Philadelphia, as light and fruity and good for summertime.

Most of the crowd had a discerning palate as they thoroughly enjoyed learning about the latest news in brews. Those finding a favorite brewery left extra rich as they purchased logo-enhanced merchandise which ran the gamut from quality caps and shirts to beer soap and shampoo.

As beer sets the tone for hearty fare, festival goers lent some spare time to munching on a German buffet and lending an ear to the music provided by the Stevenson Twins, Marks Like a Dog and the Knormals. The German fare could be sweetened up with a golden “Raspberry Wheat” from Sly Fox Brewhouse, Phoenixville, and then washed down with some “Milk Stout,” a traditional English sweet stout, dispensed by Lancaster Malt Brewing Company, Lancaster.

Hop character abounded with locally familiar, Stoudt’s Brewery, Adamstown, serving up “American Pale Ale,” a style stemming from the Pacific Northwest. The Williamsport Bullfrog Brewery’s well-bittered “Red Ale” renewed some attendees taste buds, while Flying Fish Brewing Company’s flagship brew, “ESB,” invigorated others. And, a favorite of A.B.C. regulars, “Purist Pale Ale,” a cask beer, was also available from the first floor bar, where a perfect pint of traditional English-style beer was poured perfectly from an inconspicuous beer engine.