I am not a fan of beer.
In college, I could make a Solo cup of beer last for hours as I never actually took a sip of it.
So, no beer for me.
On the other hand, Tom loves beer. He has been drinking beer and enjoying since those college beer blasts when one Solo cup of beer might have lasted 15 minutes.
With all our travels in the last few years, Tom has discovered microbreweries and fallen in love with the huge variety and tastes of these wonderful, locally made beers. Whenever we visit a city, we often find the local microbreweries to take a tour and buy some to take home. This could possibly result in a situation where we have purchased a bunch of beer in below freezing temperatures, then realized we would need to carry all that beer into the hotel with us so it wouldn’t freeze.
The hotel staff must have thought we had planned a hell of a party.
So, when we found out about the Alltech Craft Brews and Food Fest which was to be held in our home city of Lexington, Kentucky, Tom was all about attending. They were kind enough to give us media passes for two so we technically had plenty of tickets, half of which we went home with despite all of Tom’s good intentions. There is only so much beer one person can drink, despite all the good intentions in the world.
Beer barrels at the entrance.
With over 50 breweries and 175 beers from all over the United States, the festival showcases the finest beers the craft beer industry has to offer. There is also a food section and you get several tickets to use for samples of the local food offerings, although you will want to buy more food as it is delicious and amazing. There is live music as well and some seating areas to relax and enjoy it.
Each of those 50 breweries had special tappings at certain times of the day so the crowd could stand in line to partake of their special favorites. Some of the beer names certainly showed a great deal of ingenuity. Dragon’s Milk? Check. Watermelon Crack? Oh, yes. And possibly my favorite – No Talent Ass Clown. Seriously, these guys were imbibing their own brews when they came up with these names.
We checked in at the Press Room where we felt extremely awesome being credentialed media. They gave us our tasting glasses full of tickets which we would hand in for each beer tasting.
Sign for the Press Room.
Then we wasted no time getting to the event and were honestly astonished at how many people were there. Apparently, there are a lot of people who like beer.
Tom excitedly handed in his first ticket and the tasting began.
Handing over the first ticket.
Beer tasting glass.
Posing at the entrance.
There were brewers from all over the United States. Several local breweries like County Boy were represented.
County Boy Brewing.
And from California…
Lagunitas Brewing from California.
To Mississippi.
Lazy Magnolia Brewing from Mississippi.
There were also distilleries represented but Tom decided combining beer tasting and liquor tasting was probably not a good idea.
Craft distillers.
However, he was completely open to sampling beer that had been stored in bourbon barrels. This is probably why he was not able to use my tickets as well.
Kentucky bourbon barrel beer.
After using a handful of tickets, we decided it might be a good idea to try some food. This was not a problem as there was a large variety of delicious choices. We used up our sample tickets, then went back and bought more food. Since we had just been in New England, we opted for the lobster rolls and whoopie pies. Yum.
Exploring the food options.
Finally settled on the perfect choice.
After eating, it was time for more sampling.
Drawing a tasty adult beverage.
Tom spent his time enjoying the beer while I spent my time enjoying all the crazy names of distilleries and brews.
SmuttyNose Brewing – I love it!
Zombie Dust. Seriously, how great is that name?
We enjoyed every single minute of our experience as did all the hundreds of people who were milling around, drinking, eating, and enjoying the live music.
But when Tom handed over that last ticket, even though he had honest intentions of using my tickets as well, he suddenly realized he was not a college student any longer and rather than having another beer, he was in serious need of a nap.
Of course, I drove home and he cracked me up the entire way because he kept thanking me for going with him. A few minutes would go by and he would thank me again.
So, each in our way, we had a great afternoon. Drinking beer and not drinking beer.
Whatever works.
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