Alefest of Zallûna

Excerpt from Rick Elves' "Cascadia through the Back Door: Surujabâzar and the Northern Plains":

For traditional Cascadian fun, nothing beats a good old-fashioned ale tent. Surujabâzar is Cascadia’s ale capital, and its ale tents come complete with rivers of beer, cheap food, noisy fun, and traditional dwarven oompah music.

The partying gets turned up a notch every fall, when the city celebrates the Alefest of Zallûna, in honor of the Goddess of Ale. The festival lasts just over two weeks, starting in the third week of the harvest month and usually ending right before the first snow. The Alefest kicks things off with an opening parade of more than 6,000 participants. Every night, it fills seventeen huge ale tents with about 2,000 people each. A million gallons of ale later, they roast the last ox.

The Zallûna Meadows fairground (southwest of the city walls) erupts in a frenzy of drinking, dancing, and strangers strolling arm-in-arm down rows of picnic tables, while the beer goddess stirs tons of brew, ox legs, and karl sausages in a bubbling cauldron of fun. During the fair, the city functions even better than normal. It’s a good time to sightsee, even if ale-hall rowdiness isn’t your cup of tea.

Wandering through the legions of happy ale-drinkers in the ale halls, it occurred to me that, unlike with wine, more money doesn’t get you a better ale. Ale is truly a people’s drink, and you’ll get the very best here in Surujabâzar. Connoisseurs have their favorite brews — and to get it, they don’t pay more...they simply go to the ale hall that serves it.