Welcome to TAPSM New York! Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana. -- Groucho Marx When we organized our first tasting that we held at the Culinary Institute of America, in Hyde Park, who'd have thought that ten years later we'd grow into one of the premier beer and food events in the entire nation? Unlike festivals that draw on breweries from far away places, we've always focused on the Hudson Valley. In 2002 we decided to expand and feature the breweries from all of New York. (Our good friends to the north, Unibroue, have been our supporters from the start and their beers have always shown a unique facet of the brewer's art.) While we've always been about great, fresh, locally produced beers, we've also been about great, fresh, locally produced foods. The re-discovery of how good beers can complement a fine meal has been, at least for a large number of New Yorkers, something we can hopefully take a little credit for. David Kukle and his staff here at Hunter Mountain have always aggressively taken on the challenge of matching foods to the beers our brewers bring and is equally deserving, if not more so, of credit in this renaissance. This year the theme is to take a look back at highlights from past years of TAPsm New York. Our approach has always been about variety and the ability to try beers from breweries that you don't often have a chance to visit, as well as foods you may not always have around the house. We've never been a beer-bash, and never intend to become one. The beers and the foods are the draw. Something else that sets us apart is our cooking demos where you have the chance to bring home some of what makes TAPsm New York so special. We're still here, so I guess we're doing something right. But we can't do it without our breweries and they can't do it without you. So please, Please, PLEASE, support them during the rest of the year. It's the tasty thing to do anyway, isn't it? Prosit! Bill Woodring President, Hudson Valley Beer and Food Festival, Inc. © 2008 TAPsm New York & Hudson Valley Beer and Food Festival, Inc. PO Box 295, Hunter, NY, 12442 800-486-8376