Brewz Crewz Newz

I thought chaos was about to break out when they ran out of Magic Hat Number 9. It all started with a flyer. Pretty much everyone at work knows about my quest for the love of beer, so when the flyer was put up in the break room for the Brewz Crewz Craft Beer Festival it was made a point to be brought to my attention. So what is Brewz Crewz? Its a craft beer festival held in downtown lakeland in the park. They have about 25 different craft beer vendors come out with a few different selections and tasters pay a fee to get in and they get a 2oz tasting cup to go around and try them all out. Because I am new to the beer world, this was my first ever beer festival of any sort, and I was extremely excited.
Prior to the event, Eric Pera printed an article about it in the Lakeland Ledger. The article's opening lines made the event more appealing than it already was. It reached out to me and the cause of this blog, and it just seemed like the perfect event to attend:

Pera wrote, "The Brewz Crewz craft beer festival, featuring some of the nation's finest artisinal brewers, is notable for its brazen attempt to steer beer drinkers deep
in the heart of Anheuser-Busch country to an alternative universe, where
Budweiser and other bland, light lagers made for the masses are forbidden."

Pera's introduction spoke to me because it was as if the event was made for this blog. That sounds ridiculous but true beer lovers are not content drinking Budweiser or Michelob Ultra, their palates are better suited for a fine craft beer, one with more flavor to boast: more than flavored water. To better understand the festival and its purpose it is imperative to know what a craft beer is. To be considered a craft beer, Pera wrote, that "according to the Brewer's Association, [a true craft beer] must have annual production of less than 2 million barrels, half of which must be an all-product." In lamens terms, it means that craft beers are rarer than your average Anheuser-Busch product; they are sometimes difficult to find.



So this past weekend, I took the night off from work and attended the festival. It was definitely an experience. First of all the event started at 6, but I didn't get there until 6:30 because, it was the same day as my best friend's birthday party and I spent the day getting stuff for the party, that was after the festival, and ended up running late. When me and my fiance finally arrived there was no parking, so I parked at the bank, even though there were signs about towing cars that were non-banking customers, but the bank was closed. We purchased our tickets at the entrance, even though they did offer advance ticket sales online, but because I was broke and I procrastinated, we waited to buy ours last minute. Two types of tickets were sold, general admission and VIP. VIP ticket holders recieved a t-shirt, 5 fast passes to cut ahead of lines for beers, and access to an indoor venue with an indoor restroom; the difference in price between the general admission and VIP 35 vs. 50. We got general admission, but my friends got VIP. VIP wasn't worth the extra money. I enjoyed myself just as much as they did, and I didn't have to use the restroom till we were leaving so i just used the ice cream shoppe restroom by buying a soda. Thanks to my fiance, I tried a lot of different beers. We would both get different beers and then try each others. I tried all different types: ciders, IPAs, ales, lagers, bocks, and even a porter.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the festival. Not only was there plenty of beer to sample, but there were free food samples, which included GrillSmiths who had a delicious lemon feta chicken Mmmm, and live music. Tons of people attended and I got to see all kinds of characters of people. Beer drinkers are happy people, and they are especially happy when they are drinking beer. I only ran into a couple of belligerent drunks, which was way less than what I expected. The cons were that the lines were semi-long, it was cold, the map wasn't very explanatory, and it was dark out so i couldn't really see the colors of the beers I was trying. The worst con was that an hour into the festival, approximately 7pm, a few vendors ran out of beer and food, they just were not prepared for the amount of people who showed up.

I am very glad I attended the Brewz Crewz craft beer festival. It was highly enjoyable and I experienced a lot. I also learned quite a bit. First of all i learned I really don't like hoppy beers. I don't enjoy the flowery bitter tasted, but on the contrary I did learn that I'm taking a liking to darker beers, especially those with a caramelly, coffee-ish, or chocolate-y flavor. I learned to really savor each taste of beer and try to taste the different flavors.

I had two highlights of the evening. the first was at the second to the last beer vendor I went to. As I walked up to the table, I asked my fiance which beer I should try to which he responded, the porter. So I said ok and requested it. The pourer looked at me with an odd face and said why don't I give you a small taste first because most people don't like the porter. As I tried the beer everyone around me was grinning waiting for me to be digusted. WRONG! to their surprise, I liked the porter and so he filled my tasting cup up. My last highlight was at the very last table we went to: Magic Hat. Magic Hat was only serving #9, and it was draft. Apparently, #9 was a hit, that night so the line was very long, but we waited patiently and then it happened. A man at the table shouted that they were all out. I thought chaos was about to break out. You don't tell beer drinkers who have been waiting a while for a 2 oz. pour of beer that there isn't any left. Thank goodness they found another mini keg. the day was saved! O and the beer was pretty tasty.

Valentine's Weekend Escape!

I had just walked out of hell alive and I needed a drink. Valentine's Day is like D-Day for restaurants. A never-ending stream of guests walked through the front doors and I was helplessly trapped behind the bar. Picture it for yourself. There are three other bartenders and we are surrounded by at least 20 people waiting, rather impatiently, for drinks, appetizer, and our souls. Then at the service bar end, tickets are continually printing out for server drinks, and every 2 minutes a hostess is yelling "take-out" at us because we are also in charge of preparing all the take out orders. At one single moment, I just wanted to run, but no I was stuck. Soon, I just kept telling myself, the night will be over soon and then you can have a drink. Over and over, I repeated this to myself. A man at the bar decided to ask me how many nail salons I owned (I'm of asian descent), so I turned around and walked away and repeated the thought, it will be over soon and then I can have a drink. Later on, another gentleman ordered a drink and said it was watered down, to which I told him, the glass was 3/4 of the way full of liquor and he demanded more so I walked away and remembered, it will be over soon.... Finally it was 11:20pm and I was free to go. So I ran to my car and drove to Applebee's. Once I was finally seated I waited, with my order mentally ready, for my server. As he walked to the table the final call bell was ringing, and I practically yelled "BEER PLEASE!", after realizing my insanity I calmed down and said, I'll have a shot of Patron, a Sam Adams Seasonal, and a coke, and when my drinks arrived, all the stresses and annoyances of the night drowned away as I drank my drinks.
So the beer for the week was Samual Adam's Noble Pils.

Samuel Adams has a line of seasonal beers. The restaurant that I work for carries some of these Sam Adams Seasonal beers in bottle. We only have four of the total seven available, and true to the name: seasonal, we carry one per season: Noble Pils for Spring, Octoberfest for fall, etc. Samuel Adams has a very informative website that contains information on the history of their company, the history of beer in general, and even information and tips on homebrewing. Before trying the beer of the week, I looked to their site because they also have specific descriptions of every beer they brew. The beer description offers general information, the history of the beer, brewing information, and characteristics. Their section about Samuel Adams Noble Pils was very informative.

Samuel Adams® Noble Pils is brewed with all 5 Noble hops for a distinct hop character and fresh taste. Deep golden in color with a citrusy hop aroma, Samuel Adams Noble Pils is a traditional Bohemian Pilsner. The honeyed malt character from traditional Bohemian malt is balanced by delicate yet pronounced citrus, floral, and piney notes from the Noble hops. The winner of our 2009 Beer Lover’s Choice election, this beer was chosen by over 67,000 drinkers for its crisp complexity and refreshing taste.

In short, the beer is very well crafted and offers immense sensual appeal for the taster to experience. To better understand how the beer will taste without actually tasting it, one must know what hops are and the taste they dictate. Hops are dried ripe flowers of a certain plant that are used in beer brewing to prevent any bacterial action and add a characteristic bitter taste. In other words to the non-accustomed beer drinker, this beer is bitter. I did not like the beer, but in my pursuit of the love of beer, I did my best to appreciate the wide range of smells and tastes. I really did not like the beer.

A reviewer said this:

jwinship83 ( Naperville, Illinois )B+ / 3.95look: 3.5 smell: 4 taste: 4 feel: 4 drink: 4.5rDev: -2.3%12oz bottle drank form my sierra nevada hop tulip glass.A- this one pours very pale yellow colored body with a full finger of fluffy bright white head. small bubbles of carbonation can be seeing racing to the top of the glass.S- semisweet grainy malts and a decently spicy hop finish. well balanced. T- the taste is similar to the smell. mild and refreshing. well balanced with just enough of a hoppy finish.M- light bodied. crisp and well carbonated. clean and refreshing.D- easy to finish. nice flavor and a low enough ABV to be considered a session beer. ill look forward to this every spring.Serving type: bottleReviewed on: 02-16-2010 04:53:22

I cannot disagree with the facts. The facts being that the beer was a pale yellow color, and it was quite bubbly. As for my non-beer drinking opinion, the taste was very strong and bitter. It was sharp/crisp, and it had several different bitter flavors going wild on my tounge. I took two tastes and i was done.

My verdict: NOT a good beer for the girly drinker.

A Fruit Basket in a Chilled Glass

Me and fruit beers are not friends. This week's selection: Sam Adam's Cherry Wheat and Woodchuck Cider. But I'll get to the final reviews later. When I finally decided on the beers for the week, I began questioning why drinking beer just did not appeal to my senses. Me v.s. beer has been a battle for a very long time now. I believe my first encounter with beer was when i was in elementary school. One thing you must know is that my dad is an avid beer drinker. My dad without beer is like a reality TV show without drama, it just doesn't happen. But the other important thing to note is that he isn't really a beer connisseur, because he only drinks light beers: Bud Light, Busch, Natural Light (ew), etc. Anyways, my whole life my dad has drank bee, constantly, and one day we were out running errands and he was drinking, yes in the car. He had his beer and I had my drink from McDonald's. Well, an hour later i'm sitting in the car, thirsty and he's pumping gas, so i go to drink out of my McDonald's cup and UGH! The most horrendous, bitter, gross taste flooded my mouth. It was beyond Awful, i even dry heaved afterwards, and to make matters worse my dad laughed because unbeknownst to me, he had stuck his beer can in my McDonald's cup:my first taste of beer...disgusting. I honestly believed I was traumatized. Even now, at least 15 years later, I have just begun to tolerate beer. Up until recently every time I saw my friends or my fiance drinking beer, i cringed, i mean who in their right mind could drink beer and say that it tastes good? But I'm slowly starting to see the light. I haven't found my "love" of beer yet but its ok. I like to compare it to my love of steak. It is very similar to the story about beer. My dad also loves steak, medium well steaks: GROSS. Whenever I thought about steaks, thoughts of chewy dry meat caused me to lost my appetite, then one day I had my very first mid rare filet mignon at cheesecake factory, and it was love at first bite! It was the most delicious piece of meat, EVER. I love steak, the only difference is I've now become one of those "gross" wierdos that loves RARE steaks lol. I mean pittsburgh rare. but that's another story. My focus now is on beer. Most specifically, this week, fruity beers.

Because I am the fruity drink loving girl that I am, I was sincerely hoping to enjoy the beers I tried this week, but they were just okay. I bought the six pack of Cherry Wheat at Publix, I've only drank half of one, and I had a draft Woodchuck Cider, at Jessie's, a local bar. Neither of them were bad, but just not my cup of tea. I read many reviews about the Sam Adam's Cherry Wheat, and they for the most part spoke of the strong cherry flavor and light wheat flavor, HA! I had the opposite experience. I tasted a strong wheat flavor and a light cherry aftertaste. As for the Woodchuck cider, I've had it before, because I frequent that bar quite often, and its one of their beers on tap. Its definitely a cider. STRONG apple taste weak beer taste. The funny part about that is, the weak beer taste is a big deal to me, because it indicates progress? What kind of progress? Well let me just say that the first time I drank the cider all I could think about was the beer flavor, and now, its a background taste. i would have to say that the cider is an excellent transition beer for the frou frou cosmo girls out there. The week overall was a success. Sure I didn't find a beer that I love yet, but I'm not giving up, and tonight while I was out watching the Superbowl (which sucked), I drank my usualy Mich Ultra, and the taste was different...hmmm perhaps its time to find a new usual for myself. Any Suggestions?

And the ratings are in!:

Sam Adam's Cherry Wheat

On Beer Advocate, it was rated a B- overall.

The Color is a yellowish almost reddish (agreed)

The aroma: cherry, yet almost cough syrupy(agreed)

The taste: pretty strong cherry taste with slight after thoughts of wheat ( not so much, to me it was vice versa.

drinkability: decent (agreed, was that great but the cherry aftertaste smoothed it out)

Their rating: B-, my rating a C

Woodchuck Cider

Overall Online rating B+

The color A fairly clear yellowish color(agreed)

The Aroma: light green apple scent(i think its a strong green apple scent)

the taste: crisp, tarte, sparkling(agreed, but I would even go as far to say it was pretty sweet to me)

drinkability: very good, similar to champagne (eh. It was definitly tasty but the carbonation was alittle heavy for my preferences, i'm trying to steer away from smirnoff ice lol.)

My rating: B-

a last note: last week I drank Mich Ultra pomegrante it is a light Lager, and it's BA (beer advocate rating) was a D. I didn't care for it much either. and then the Blue Moon, its full name is Blue Moon Belgien White, and it is a whitbier and its BA is a B-. Meh I would have given it a C-, I really didn't enjoy it either. Me and fruitbeers are not friends right now.