Today is a holy day in Dem Land.  Ya see, it’s Brew Fest Day. It’s a big deal. It’s even bigger than some of those holidays that you don’t have to go to work on. I mean, it’s not bigger than Thanksgiving…but it kicks Arbor Day’s ass.

The brew fest du jour is the Flour City Brewers Fest being put on my the good folks over at Rohrbachs. The fest is a block away from our studios, at Frontier Field.  Easy walking distance after I get off the air, and our building is a great place to come back and chill out (sober up) after the festival.  And some sobering will be needed. It’s not that the goal is to binge drink, but there are 50 brewers sampling over 1oo beers in one place. Oh..did I mention that I like good beer? Well, I do. So I always try to make the most out of an opportunity to try some many new beers in one place.

If you’ve never been to a brew fest, PLEASE do yourself the favor of attending one soon.  Even if you’re one of those folks that would say to me “but I don’t like dark beer..” I PROMISE you that you’d walk away at the end of the night with at least 3 new beers on your shopping list.  Oh..and they’re not all dark. Most of them aren’t dark at all really.  So cut that crap out right now.

There are so many incredibly good beers out there. Not exploring them is kind of like eating NOTHING but Kraft Macaroni and Cheese every day for the rest of your life.  Another plus to this beer revolution is the cost. Compared to a good bottle of wine, a good bottle of beer of the same size is generally 90% cheaper.  I usually wouldn’t just go and spend $60 for a 750ml bottle of Cabernet, but I’d spend $6 for a 750ml bottle of great beer ANY day.  Oh..and beer these days has become just as refined and complex as many of the fine wines you’ll find in those fancy places with linen table cloths.  You too can be a snob for under ten dollars! How awesome.

Here is how a brew fest works. It’s a big party with beer, (of course) bands, food, and a few thousand like minded people enjoying a summer afternoon.  You get to the gate, give them your ticket and you are handed a glass. It’s not a full size beer glass, it’s kind of like someone shrunk one with a ray gun of some sort. A crazy beer loving ray gun.  Then you just walk around and enjoy the music, food, and beer.

You go to the different brewers booths and hand them your sampling glass.  At the start of the fest you probably say something like “I’d like to try the Roosterfish Hefeweizen please.” By the end of the evening you may be reduced to pointing at a tap handle and grunting.  Here’s the fun part, you then sip on your beer sample as you walk to the next brewers table you want to check out. If you’re smart, you even bring a map with you.

If you are a beer newbie, it’s also wise to bring along someone who knows their beers. You’ll have to put up with them sounding like a freakin’ know it all, but the education is worth the annoyance. Just ask ANY of my friends.  There is also no shortage of perfect strangers that would be willing to help you. Ask the people pouring beers for recommendations, ask anyone with a Beer Advocate shirt on, or just find me.  I’ll be wearing the fedora.

Why a fedora? Why the hell not? It’s Brew Fest Day!

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This entry was posted on Friday, August 15th, 2008 at 2:21 pm and is filed under Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.