A huge crowd sought refuge from Saturday’s heat at the bottom of a cold glass of microbrewed beer.

“We expected to sell out, but not this fast,” said restaurant owner Rodney Mayo, organizer of the Palm Beach Craft Beer Festival, as he watched a long line snake out of Meyer Amphitheatre. All 1,200 general admission tickets and 300 VIP tickets sold out within an hour of the festival opening, Mayo said.

Mayo owns restaurants including Respectable Street Cafe in West Palm Beach and organizes other downtown festivals such as Moonfest. He said he organized the festival as a fundraiser to appeal to the demand for good craft beer he has seen at his restaurants.

Proceeds went to nonprofits such as the Surfrider Foundation, an environmental group Mayo said he chose because he wanted the first event to have a surfing theme. Another recipient was the Warm Hearts Pet Rescue no-kill animal shelter, which Mayo said is trying to raise $7,000 to stay at its Boynton Beach location.

Saturday’s festival featured major names in microbrewing or independent brewing, such as Delaware-based Dogfish Head ale, as well as Florida-based breweries and foreign microbrews, such as Belgium-based Petrus. It also included a surfing simulator, a steady stream of local bands and a hot air balloon on a tether that rose 50 feet into the air.

One festival highlight was a home-brewing contest where 17 amateurs submitted their kitchen creations with names such as “Bromance” and “Blasphemy” to vie for a $500 prize. Ron Weiland of the Palm Beach Draftsmen, a Lake Worth-based home-brewing club, ran the contest and served up each brew to three judges, who scored them on a maximum scale of 50 points based on aroma and taste.

January Cassidy of Lantana said she got the idea to mix eight liters of Mountain Dew with 2.5 ounces of cherry wheat beer during fermentation, giving birth to “Blasphemy,” out of sheer curiosity because she drank plenty of Mountain Dew.

“I really love beer, and I love to do everything myself,” said Cassidy, who has been home-brewing for two years. “I figured I better learn how to do it myself in case the world ends.”