Brewfest

Kelsey and I drove up to Superior, WI on Saturday to attend this "brewfest" her friends had invited us to. Turns out this is somewhat of a big deal in the area. The Gitchee Gumee Brewfest has been going on for 10 years now. You need to get the tickets ahead of time, as they're big sellers. Kelsey had reserved tickets for herself, Lil, and I three weeks ago, but the guy said we could pay when we picked them up. Saturday morning, no tickets. Something about they're all sold.

WHAT!? Well, they don't sell the tickets at the door, either. Looks like it's go home, right? We head over to the arena, where I find someone to plead my case to.

"We drove all the way from Minneapolis!"
"They said they would hold the tickets."
"I'm wearing a shirt that says 'I enjoy drinking beer'."

In the end, some soul took pity on us, and we worked a deal to get in!A large number of area breweries were represented. The farthest was Rogue Ales from Oregon. I've had their beer before, it's quite good.

It didn't take long for a beer fault to occur. Penalty box for you!
Viking Brewing had one of their seasonals, the Hot Chocolate Beer, and turned it into beer floats! Very tasty.
Of course, with so many brewers and varieties, we HAD to narrow down a winner. The highlights for me:

• Surly. These guys are in Brooklyn Center, and absolutely the most delicious beer I had all afternoon. Both the Coffee Bender and One beers were awesome. One is a limited release, maybe I can find it. Neither is a beer you could drink a lot of, though.
• New Glarus. What more do you need to say, after Spotted Cow.
• Fitger's Brewhouse. A Duluth micro. Not the best, but the most unique beer of the night: Wildfire Lager. A lager infused with peppers. By no means subtle, either. It was almost like drinking the juice from a jar of peppers.
  

Overall a very good time. I found some very surprising new breweries and flavors to check out.

This guy also agreed that it was a success!