Mary E. Sauvageau was a longtime employee of the Gardner School District. She started out as a crossing guard, became a substitute teacher and then attended college to become certified as a paraprofessional. She coached soccer, attended every basketball game and worked in the after-school program.

On May 9, The Knights of Columbus, 110 S. Main St., Gardner, will host the Greater Gardner Homebrew Tasting and Competition. All proceeds will benefit the Mary E Sauvageau Memorial Scholarship Fund to help a Gardner student with college expenses.

Live music will be provided by Firelake. There will be guest judges from many area breweries, including Wachusett Brewing and Lefty’s Brewing. Yours truly has also been asked to be a guest judge. Come on down and meet the brewers, say hello, and enjoy yourself.

I was fortunate to be asked to pour beer at the Lefty’s Brewing Company booth at Brew Woo in April. It was a change for me to be on the other side of the taps. In that small amount of time, I learned a lot about how to enjoy a beer festival. Here are a few tips:

Ask the person pouring what he/she likes. The person pouring the beer has already sampled everything – to make sure the tap lines are functioning, of course. And prepare to be surprised. Everyone who asked me was presented with a 50/50 mixture of Chocolate Oatmeal Stout and Graham Cracker Porter that tasted amazingly similar to a S’more. If you didn’t ask, you didn’t know. Speaking of which, watch for a new beer from Lefty’s based on that concoction.

Stay hydrated. You will be drinking a large amount of small samples. They add up quickly. Make sure you have a bottle of water with you.

Rinse your tasting glass. Skip this step, and you’ll miss out. Not rinsing the glass mixes small amounts of your previous beer with your just-poured beer, and that is, as Martha Stewart says, “not a good thing.”

Finally, follow the crowds. If you see a large group of people around one booth, go there. There is a reason everyone is there. Maybe they are giving out free stuff like T-shirts or glasses. Perhaps the person pouring the beer is extremely attractive and dressed like its July in Miami. More likely than not, it is because what they are pouring is especially good. That was the case with the Not Your Father’s Root Beer booth. Do you like root beer? Would you be interested in an alcoholic root beer? If so, grab this newcomer to the Massachusetts beer scene. Don’t expect any review from me about hop profiles or biscuit malt presence because neither of them are here. It tasted like root beer and nothing else. I could not believe there was alcohol hidden in there and neither could the festival-goers waiting in line to use their last few tickets for another taste.

By Kerry Cyganiewicz