With such a booming industry, and an increasingly fervent culture, the Conservatory was bursting at the seems with vendors and attendees. Last year, the event dribbled onto the outdoor patio to accommodate a few extra brewers. This year it consumed it. And tented areas sprawled like shanty towns further out into the conservatory grounds in multiple directions. Natural eddies form in certain rooms, helping create spontaneous run-ins with friends and colleagues, and before you know it, an hour has gone by. In a few short hours, it was nearly impossible to make your way around to every brewer, and in fact, many found that by the end, they had actually missed a few of the smaller off-shoots completely. I found Laugunitas at the very end of one of these jaunts, a double-tapped jockeybox on the edge of it all, iced down and ready to pour their IPA and Undercover. Seeing my paper soup cup in hand (this was a bit of a small scandal actually), Kevin from Laugunitas kindly swapped me out for some proper glassware.