So many beers, so little time

I arrived at World Beer Festival promptly at noon on Saturday. Organizers had caged off nearly every sliver of downtown Raleigh’s Moore Square with a chain link fence, and all I wanted to do was be inside it. But as my friend Graham and I rounded the corner, we saw the line of the other thirsty festival-goers snaking around a parking lot. We stood patiently in line waiting for our chance to turn over our tickets for one of the small, plastic beer glasses that would be holding our brews all day. The line moved quickly, and soon we were ushered into a tent lined on both sides with brewers ready to pour us as many different varieties of beer as we were willing to drink.

Soon we were sipping on stouts, pale ales and porters from the likes of the Starr Hill Brewery in Charlottesville, Va. to Left Hand Brewing Co. in Longmont, Colorado. And by sipping, I truly mean chugging. We walked downtown to avoid the inevitable parking hassle a festival-filled Saturday would bring and because of the inevitable beer buzz created by four hours of drinking. So after making the trek in the heat, we were thirsty. The day was punctuated by the sound of volunteers emptying recycling bins causing the glass bottles to clank together a medley that made the crowd erupt with cheers (take a listen below).

After throwing back a few tasty brews, it was time to leave the tent and see what the food vendors had to offer. Graham was satisified with some vegetarian samosas, while I opted for a chicken gyro. It was at that point that beer fest got three times better. Only after stepping outside our original beer-filled tent did I discover that there were TWO MORE huge tents filled with brewers and beer.We wandered in and out of the beer havens for the next four hours. Taking needed brakes in the shade, munching on food and, of course, braving the long bathroom lines. I wish I had kept better track of the beers I drank, because there were so many delicious brews I’d like to seek out again. But there was one that I was so smitten with, that I’ll never forget: the Vanilla Porter by Breckenridge Brewery in Denver, Colorado. It was chocolately with an smooth vanilla finish and was the only beer I got refills of.

As 4 o’clock rolled around, we were tired, bloated by beer and ready to go. I called Raleigh Rickshaw for a ride, and we rolled to the furthest edge of downtown, then stumbled the rest of the way home. Here’s a clip from the ride home:

And finally, here’s a cool video made with pictures I snapped throughout the day using animoto. I was introduced to this site a while back by blogger and beautiful picture taker Abby, and finally tried it out. See the rest of my Beer Fest pictures on Flickr.

Were you at beer fest? What did you think?