As is customary, we attended the 2011 World Beer Festival in Raleigh last weekend. As is not quite customary, it rained – a lot.
First, the beer. There’s quite a bit of beer at these festivals but there’s just no way to sample all of them. If anyone knows differently, please tell me. Listed below are the beers that I sampled (bold beers are from NC):
S.O.S. (Save our Shores) by Abita Brewing
Liberty Ale by Anchor Brewing
Hot Rod Red by Aviator Brewing
Longfin Lager by Ballast Point Brewing
High Roller IPA by Big Boss Brewing
Blowing Rock IPA by Boone Brewing
Brooklyn Summer Ale by Brooklyn Brewery
Pilot Mountain Pale Ale by Foothills Brewing
Sparkling Pear by Fullsteam Brewing
Carver by Fullsteam Brewing
Southern Lager by Fullsteam Brewing
Green Man Porter by Green Man Brewery
Tasgall Ale by Highland Brewing
Shotgun Betty by Lonerider Brewing
The Captain’s Porter by Moon River Brewing
Sisters of the Moon by Mother Earth Brewing
Dark Star Porter by New South Brewing
Brother Thelonius by North Coast Brewing
Fruh Bock by Olde Mecklenburg Brewery
Track 1 by Roanoake Railhouse Brewery
Loose Caboose by Roanoake Railhouse Brewery
Ram’s Head IPA by Top of the Hill Restaurant and Brewing
Yakima Glory by Victoroy Brewing
Locks Timberwolf by Wolf Beers
And did I mention that it rained? A little over an hour into the event, the rains came. The downpour lasted for a while and created quite a mess. We ended up running from one beer tent to the other during the downpour only to find that there was a river of rain water (and probably some other stuff) running through the tent.
I don’t know if it was due to the heavy rain or just poor planning but there were a number of brewers in this second tent who had packed up for the evening even though there was still over an hour left until the end of the event. This was the only disappointment of the night since I didn’t get to try a number of the beers on my wish list. But it didn’t end badly. The rain stopped for a while and we returned to the Fullsteam table many times in the last hour to sample their brews.
Now it’s time to prepare for the fall festival in Durham.
