Has it been six months already? The semi-annual World Beer Festival was this weekend. As has been customary I drove down to Mark and Michelle’s in Fredericksburg and Mark drove us all to Beth’s. Beth moved to a new house so Google Maps and GPS navigation on my phone came in handy. Beth and Matt have a nice place there just outside of Raleigh. They’ve got a backyard, second bedroom, office, deck, and even their own beer pong table.
The Flying Saucer is usually the place to go because they have 50 or 100 beers on tap but as we remembered when we drove by they host a brewers party the night before beerfest and the place was packed. So off to Magic Mushroom for some pizza we went. We stopped by a beer store on the way home and I was quite impressed with the selection in Raleigh. I picked up some New Belgium 1554. Mmmm tasty.
In the past we have met up with all Beth’s friends for breakfast and started with screwdrivers and mimosas at 10am. We skipped that this year and headed to the Waffle House for pre-drinkfest nourishment. That turned out to be a bad idea because the cook walked out 30 minutes before we walked in and the place was full. Somehow we actually arrived at beerfest on time.
As usual right when things start the event is a madhouse. The Raleigh location is in a nice park right downtown. The band was starting as we were walking in and the rain held off. The brewers are in two very large tents and the line at each booth is long during the first hour. You basically get a sample and then go stand in the next line. It is not as bad as it sounds; especially after a few beers. The event is four hours long so there is plenty of time to hit all the booths if you can drink that much beer without falling over. Many try and fail. After an hour or so the lines and the space under the tents becomes more manageable. I saw Devin from Dogfish Head. He had brought that slab of the Paraguayan Palo Santo wood that their wood tanks are made from. He passes that around at beer dinners so people can see how heavy it is (it sinks in water) and feel/smell the resin in the wood. We managed to maintain our group of about 8 people surprisingly during the whole event.
Afterwards we headed to Flying Saucer for food and… more beer. They’ve got quite the row of taps. The fact that I can’t remember a few of the pictures I took at this location should tell you how much fun we were having at the time. We made it home safely and continued the party at Beth’s. I do recall lots more beer and some flip cup. We eventually passed out and suffered a painfully hung-over Sunday. Beth in particular didn’t move from the couch all day but I was feeling a bit crappier than usual too. This year I lasted over 12 hours without passing out. Next year the goal is to remember passing out.
We passed the time on the trip home by watching old SNL skits online. I had my laptop tethered to my phone for internet access and we were streaming videos no problem. Mark even had a power inverter so I was all hooked in. I-95 always sucks on weekends but Matt Foley was there to help.
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