Over 5,300 beer lovers crammed themselves into the Fair Park Automotive Building for Big Texas Beer Fest on Saturday afternoon. The 2nd annual beer festival featured over 100 brewers, each offering 3-4 different types of craft beer. For the price of $35, festival-goers got a 2-oz. cup and a punch card allowing them 12 different pours of their favorite suds. It was a monstrous gathering of brewers who take pride in the craft beer they make, and in the people who take pleasure in drinking them. On the down side, the space filled up almost instantly. As the afternoon wore on, eyes got redder and redder and navigating the different stations became a chore. After spending half an hour in line trying to get into Big Texas Beer Fest, it was murder having to spend another 20 minutes to get to some of the more popular beer booths. Even the food truck lines were ungodly. But hey, there were golden moments, like the spontaneous drink-raising toast that rose up from the crowd like a wave. And it didn’t hurt that there were a few craft beers worth actually getting trampled over, like Wasatch’s Hells Keep and Real Ales’s Blond Barleywine Ale. Plus, we got some freebies: artisan cheese samples by our friends at Scardello and coffee pours by Noble Coyote Coffee Roasters. And some of the outfits we saw kept our mind off the fact that we were being herded like livestock, for instance the two dudes who had made cowboy hats out of empty beer cartons. Overall, it was better than spending another weekend afternoon watching reruns of Mansquito on Syfy. Still we can’t help but wonder if Big Texas Beer Fest is getting too big for its own plus-sized britches.
Longest lines (most popular brewers): Deschutes, Jester King, Dogfish Head, Lakewood, and the Rare Tappings booth featuring Ommegang and Real Ale
Shortest lines (least popular brewers): Famosa, Third Shift, Asahi, Harpoon and the Andrews Distributing booth featuring Newcastle and Bohemia
For more info: Contact Big Texas Beer Fest.
Comments