Beer lovers will have more than 150 craft beers to choose from at the first Columbus Beerfest on Friday and Saturday at the Columbus Convention Center.

There have been four festivals in the past three years in Cincinnati, where the festival was started as a fundraiser for The Big Joe Duskin Music Education Foundation.

Duskin was a premier pianist from the Cincinnati area who loved to perform in-school educational presentations, event coordinator Craig Johnson said.

The foundation seeks to preserve the memory and ideals of Duskin by paying local artists to spend time in under-privileged schools teaching music and encouraging students to play an instrument.

Johnson ran one of the first multi-tap pubs in the Cincinnati area featuring a variety of craft beers. “All the growth is in craft beers,” Johnson said, citing the 9.2 percent increase in sales of craft beers last year.

The Columbus Convention Center will be set up with a ring of booths featuring the different craft beers.

Admission includes 25 beer tickets, each good for a 5-ounce sample.

“We want people to be willing to experiment with different things,” Johnson said.

“Twenty-five samples will allow people to feel free to try something new instead of hiding their tickets,” he said with a laugh.

In addition to the beer tasting, there will be live entertainment each night of the festival.
Local breweries and beer will be at the festival, including Elevator Brewery and Draught Haus featuring 13 different kinds of beer.

For those with advanced tastes, Connoisseur Tasting Seminars are offered Saturday afternoon prior to the tasting session. Eight seminars hosted by a variety of experts from different beer companies offer individuals a chance to learn about the inner workings of a brewery.

He said that if it goes as well as they are hoping, there should be close to 1,500 people in attendance each night. The goal is to raise enough funds to continue the event each year.