Beerfest: A sellout crowd and great diversion

Cincinnati Beerfest/Courtesy: Me

Sometimes the right thing comes up at the right time to take your mind off the other things you are dealing with at the current time. I really needed it this past weekend.

Last weekend, the second weekend in February, was one of those weekends. The Lovely Bride and I didn't do a ton, but we went to one event we'd been looking forward to. Beerfest.

Honestly, the event wasn't the all-out party that you'd think it was. It was the 4th Annual Cincinnati Beerfest, a celebration of the Craft Beer movement.

Most of you reading this are friends of mine and you all know how much of a fan we've become. Look at it like being a wine connoisseur.

I might add at this point, the picture isn't deceiving, the place was absolutely packed. The crowd was estimated at around 6,000. I can't argue with that. And yeah, there was a percentage of them that were there to just get drunk. But, at $30 a head, most were there to try new and exciting flavors of beer.

The Lovely Bride Enjoys/Courtesy: Me

And there were plenty of them. The popular favorites, Dogfish Head, Stone, Rogue, Left Hand, Sierra Nevada and a whole lot more. There also were some smaller breweries that had some pretty good stuff too. I've already found a couple of good local Microbrewers here, Rivertown and Mt.Carmel, this night I found a new one, Elevator Brewing from Columbus, Ohio.

We didn't spend an inordinate amount of time at the event, a couple of hours. And yes, before you ask, I stopped sampling after the 1st hour and nursed a bottle of water the rest of the night. But we had a great time.

Me at Beerfest/Courtesy: TLB

We spent a good 20 minutes just waiting to get in. The reason. The line. General admission ticket holders couldn't get in until 7:30 or an hour after those who paid $60. We were armed though. Armed with a 4 oz. tasting glass and 25 drink tickets, we were good to go.

We started out at the first booth we saw, Dogfish Head. We thought they had a Palo Santo Marrano, but they didn't so we ended up with an India Brown IPA.

We worked the room, Elevator's Porter, a Bell's Stout, Founder's version of an Ale, Left Hand's Milk Stout...all great beers. (If you are wondering, I love me some Stout beer...and some Porters) The other kind of funny thing, each table had, along with their beers, a container of water to wash out your tasting glass with before the pour.

I wonder sometimes if we've just picked up an odd habit or we are onto something. Proof, really is in the pudding. Over the past year, sales of Budweiser and Miller Products are down some 12-percent, while craft beers continue to gain market share. Yeah, I've had my fair share of their products, and didn't think anything about it at the time.

Maybe it's just age. Maybe it's just selectivity, I don't know. I don't really drink to get drunk anymore, I don't need to. I drink beers because I enjoy them. Because I've discovered there are an incredible amount of creatively crafted versions of beer. No, I don't like them all, but there are so many of them, it will take a long, long time before I repeat myself.

Next time you find yourself in a restaurant or bar, go ahead, try something different. Try something that's not the same thing you've tried over and over again, you might come to realize what we have....there's a whole new world out there.

This is what passed for fancy beer when I was a kid...or at least a clip. Enjoy some Bob and Doug McKenzie : (yes, they pre-date "spuds")