Who doesn’t like a party with ~3,000 (what I heard) of their closest friends and (not supposed to be but totally worked out that way) unlimited samples of 100+ beers. For roughly 5 hours I and two of my cohorts perused the rows of taps in search of phenomenal beer.
These dudes work at Miller and use fancy words like "diacetyl" and "beer"
There were a lot of great highlights from the usual cast of craft brew characters. Founders had a great showing, with Double Trouble being the standout at the table. Not to be outhopped Bell’s brought along some Hopslam, but that lasted almost as long as it did when it was first tapped. Our good friends at Rogue decided to come fashionably late, but it proved worthwhile with their winter spirit:
The Madness was Epic
My favorite of the evening was Dogfish Head’s Midas Touch, which was so good I didn’t even bother to take a picture of the tap handle or me enjoying any of it. Cause that makes sense…..
I did, however, take advantage of a couple of great photo ops:
Chugfest
Any bottle of beer that big deserves a hug, even if it is inflatable
Even though most craft beer is domestic, I found a couple of imports
That actually hurt a lot more than I let on at the time
I’ve been to a number of beer tastings in a variety of venues. I have to say that for the most part, this was a great event. One gripe would be the pain-in-the-ass check in process. Allow me to add some constructive criticism: YOU NEED MORE THAN 2 PEOPLE GIVING OUT WRISTBANDS! This isn’t a door job at a martini club, it’s a BEERFEST. That means get us in and starting feeding us samples. Although the complete abandonment of the thirty sample punch card leveled the playing field, so I’ll take it.
While I’m talking negatives: the VIP food ran out, well, before I saw it, and I was there when the doors opened. If you can’t keep that table stocked until (at least) the end of the VIP session then don’t tease me with it on the flyer. The food for purchase wasn’t bad (pretzel and cheese, mini-burgers, etc) but just about anything looks gourmet after sampling so many different–and high alcohol content–beers.
But you don’t go for the food. That’s why Via Vite exists a few blocks away.
The conclusion: Cincy Winter Beerfest was worth every penny I didn’t-pay-because-Ryan-bought-my-ticket-on-the-condition-I-bought-the-pizza-after. You should probably go next year, unless you’re not into the whole fun thing.
Sorry I missed it, I was out of town following it on twitter, sounds like there were a few other gripes but for the most part everyone had fun.
Like how can you not have fun at a beer tasting?
Thanks for documenting and posting it, next year I’ll follow you around like paparazzi!
Too bad you were out of town, it was a grand old time. I think they’ll learn from this year (although this was the 3rd annual).
I have yet to go to a beer tasting where I didn’t enjoy myself =)
I’ve been wanting to try the Midas Touch, but I think I was turned of by the fact the recipe was found in the tomb of an ancient king. I see it quite often, surprisingly, so I’ll check it out. Man….I need to update ilikehops.com badly.