Sunday, September 18, 2011

Great Lakes Brew Fest II

This is the second year we've attended the Great Lakes Brew Fest, held in Racine, Wisconsin, and this year did not disappoint.

On the way up, we stopped at the new and improved Mars Cheese Castle! We sampled several cheeses and picked up some Balsamic Bellavitano, Hook's blue cheese, and beer cheese curds.

We also stopped at Woodman's in Kenosha for some beer. We happen to have sufficient stores of New Glarus brews at the moment, but we did buy an extra six-pack of Laughing Fox and two four-packs of other brews. I picked an Autumnal Fire by Capital Brewery.

This year, the event was held at the Racine Zoo. Despite the fact that I think there were twice as many brewers (and, thus, twice as many attendees) as last year, parking was a breeze, and after a while, so were the lines.

Here's a list of what I tasted:
  • Merry Monk from Weyerbacher Brewery
  • Ocho Mole from New Holland
  • Two Women, Belgian Red, and Apple Ale from New Glarus Brewery
  • Quiannan Falls Lager from Bells Brewery
  • Big Black Smoke from Great Lakes Brewing Company
  • 1845 Pils from Minhas
  • Wheat Monkey from Lakefront Brewery
  • Supper Club from Capital Brewing Company
  • Flywheel from Metropolitan Brewing Company
My favorites were the Merry Monk and Wheat Monkey.

And here's Dave's list:
  • Lucky Thirteen from Lagunitas
  • Ocho Mole from New Holland
  • Two Women and Apple Ale from New Glarus Brewery
  • Quiannan Falls Lager from Bells Brewery
  • Barrel Aged Stout from Great Lakes Brewing Company
  • Firken IPA from Hinterland
  • Tripel from Upland Brewing Company
  • Amber from Lakefront Brewery
  • Belgo from New Belgium
  • Stout from Stonefly Brewing Company
Dave said that the Lakefront Amber was probably his favorite, although the Great Lakes Barrel Aged Stout was also impressive.

Dave's parents came up so that they could try their first beer tasting, and we hope they had a great time! Dave's dad is already talking about organizing a brew fest in West Virginia. I'm not sure that it would be quite the same audience as in Wisconsin, but I'm sure beer lovers would come out for one.

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