The National Zoo’s first adult (not to be confused with adult-themed) Halloween bash has already proven to be as popular as the zoo’s kiddy nights are each year. Night of the Living Zoo, an adults-only night presented by Magic Hat on October 30, sold out over two weeks ahead of time. At $25 a ticket, the event looks like it will be a lot of fun and raise quite a bit of money for a good cause.

According to Bob Lamb, Executive Director of Friends of the National Zoo (FONZ), zoo events are as much about raising awareness and appreciation of the zoo as they are about raising money for zoo programs. The Lagerheads chatted with him at Brew at the Zoo in August, where we got to sample a dozen beers from over 40 breweries represented at our city’s annual beer festival. Lamb said that FONZ plans their events to help bring DC residents out to enjoy the zoo in different seasons, and to appeal to young adults and young professionals as well as long-time supporters of the National Zoo.

The folks at FONZ and Magic Hat are really excited about the event, which invites anyone 21-and-over to come out in costume to enjoy a night of decked-out animal houses, palm readers, fire eaters, illusionists, live music, and dancing. Food and Magic Hat beer will also be available…for purchase. Magic Hat “elixirs” featured at the event include their standard #9 “Not Quite Pale Ale” as well as three seasonal releases: Lucky Kat, an American IPA, Howl, a Black Winter Lager, and the Winter ’09 Odd Notion, an American-Style Sour Ale this time around.

We tend to go for high-ABV brews over Magic Hat’s relatively low-impact beers, despite the brewery’s steadily passing grades on BeerAdvocate and strong following among native Vermonters. Besides, the way we see it, if you have a selection of only four beers to choose from all night, it’s probably best (for the animals as well as the party-goers) that they are pretty low in alcohol content.

If you missed your chance to drink from Magic Hat’s cauldrons at Night of the Living Zoo this year, you can look for their winter seasonal releases on shelves later this month. However, if you think context is everything and want to weasel your way into the event, there are some ways that you could still go. One way is to enter to win tickets from the City Paper. Good luck, and if you end up going, we challenge you to spot us by our beer-themed costumes.