Thousands of enthusiasts gather at the Genys & Friends festival

More than 1,300 guests gathered in Žemieji Šančiai for the Genys & Friends craft drinks festival, a local tradition that has grown from a small brewery event into a sold-out meeting of European makers.

The festival began in 2017 as Craft Beer Day, organized at the brewery to introduce visitors to craft drinks. It later changed its name and expanded. Organizers said tickets sold out two weeks before this year’s event.

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Over time, Genys & Friends has become a community gathering.

On September 5, brewers from the United Kingdom, Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania joined the gathering. Visitors received a festival glass and used it to sample more than 100 different flavors. They could keep the glass as a souvenir after the event.

The drinks were paired with selected street food, while the music program included an acoustic concert by Akli. DJs B Ore and Eroott played vinyl records before and after the performance, and a vinyl market offered hundreds of CDs and records. The festival also introduced a new hop-based non-alcoholic drink created by Akli and Genys Brewing Co. Organizers said they plan to continue the Genys & Friends tradition next year.

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We sold out the tickets for every festival before it began. This year was no exception, and we announced it was sold out two weeks before the event.