Burp Fest at Lititz Craft Beer Fest 2026

The Lititz Craft Beer Fest was born from a road trip and a lightbulb moment. Jason Best, a member of the Lititz AMBUCS — a local chapter of the national nonprofit dedicated to creating mobility and independence for people with disabilities — visited small beer festivals in western Pennsylvania and realized that a similar event could be a powerful fundraising engine for the organization's charitable work. He brought the idea back to fellow member Patrick Moulds, and together they pitched it to the AMBUCS board. The board said yes, and in 2014 the first Lititz Craft Beer Fest was held in this charming Lancaster County borough. That inaugural event hauled in $57,000 — a figure that immediately validated the concept and set the trajectory for everything that followed.

The growth since then has been remarkable. What started as a scrappy first-year effort has become one of the most sought-after tickets in the regional beer-fest world, drawing more than 3,000 attendees and featuring up to 75 breweries and cideries pouring over 180 sampling options in a focused three-hour window. The festival moved to TAIT, a unique production and event space on West Lincoln Avenue, giving it a venue with character to match the town's storybook appeal — Lititz was famously voted America's Coolest Small Town by Budget Travel. More importantly, the Lititz Craft Beer Fest has now raised and donated over $800,000 to charitable organizations, with the 2025 edition alone generating $65,000 after expenses. For an event that runs just three hours on a single Saturday afternoon, that charitable impact per minute is hard to beat anywhere in the country.