All Hands on Deck at Ales for Sails

Friday, Feb. 7

Attending Ales for Sails is your best way to navigate the frigid winter months. Bring your crew and trim your sails because it's fair weather for partying at the Bayfront Maritime Center (BMC). If you are a landlubber and have never been to the BMC, you're in for a treat. It's one of the most amazing places you'll ever drink a beer … or many beers.

Located right behind the Blasco Library on Presque Isle Bay (not to be confused with Bayfront Maritime Museum), the BMC is one of those places in Erie that you may be unaware of. The people there are doing things for our community that will astound you, from building and reconstructing boats to providing programs for high school students, immigrants, refugees, and veterans.

Now that you know your beer drinking is for a good cause, let's discuss the beer itself. Twelve breweries. All local. The captains of each brewery bring their best game every year to vie for the coveted People's Choice Award, so no bilge water will be served. There will be a full buffet and hors d'oeuvres circulating to help you get a square meal. Plenty of booty is on board at the gift basket raffle.

Ahoy, mateys! This event sells out every year, so get your tickets online without delay. In fact, the ground floor gets full to the gunwales sometimes with happy revelers. That's when you should climb the rigging to the top deck and check out the brewers up there.

If you're driving, don't get three sheets to the wind, but if you have a helmsman to get you to safe harbor, feel free to heel a bit. No one will keelhaul you as long as you don't keel over or make too many waves. So put a port in your left hand, and bottoms up!

— Bryan Toy

6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. // Bayfront Maritime Center; 40 Holland Street, Erie, PA // admission $40 per person, pre-sale tickets available via Eventbrite.com // bayfrontcenter.org/ales-for-sails