Who ever thought of having a beer festival in Florida in August should be certified. This is my second year here and first chance to get to Wazoo. It came as advertised. Hot, steamy, full of people and beer and food. The layout is nice and the beer selection decent. Nothing truly out there or rare, except St. Somewhere's beers, and Bob's dry hopped Lectio and the Elephant IPA on cask at Tampa Bay Brewing Company. Two very good beers. The rest were standard fare, but all good. I'm not complaining, just saying that for the educated beer drinker it was tough to find something new and different here.
To say it was hot is an understatement. Walking around a humid zoo, with no breeze, no relief was enough. Yet with the crowd, the aroma of zoo animals and sweat that didn't seem to know how to stop dripping off my body I was happy to get into the car and home to a cold shower.
This is a great event, albeit over priced if you asked me. The proceeds go to the zoo, so I shouldn't complain but it's a steep price to pay for the heat and hassle. I really wish they'd do this in late fall, early spring.
Now, observations:
- Breweries didn't all have on-site representation. This troubled me as a consumer as I'd like to talk to a knowledgeable person about what I'm drinking. I'm a minority, sure, but can't see how some would sell beer if they don't have a rep there.
- Give-a-ways = popularity. Koozies, openers, stickers, coasters galore. If you didn't act fast they were gone. Oh and the Pabst tattoos = class.
- Signage or table decorations were minimal and really not needed.
That's really it. Seems to be the festival is a great way to showcase your beer, but not the best venue for some small craft breweries to hit a discerning market. This isn't what it is supposed to be, so I can say this was probably a success for all. I've got some ideas for Mellody Brewing someday, that I'll list out in another post.
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