World Beer Festival in Durham is worth the $45

You might think nothing can stand between a gal and her beer. That is, unless you take that gal to World Beer Festival in Durham. Hundreds of people stood in my way as I attempted to enter the festival Saturday at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. The line snaked around the ballpark from the entrance near the third-base line all way to centerfield. We took our spot in line at 6 p.m. (the scheduled start time) and didn’t get in until 6:45 p.m. A line is to be expected, but one entrance seems absurd. Rant over … now on to the goodness.

The beer, oh the sweet, wonderful beer. The IPAs, stouts, pale ales and fruity concoctions. I sipped on oh so many. Sadly, I forgot to write down the name of the IPA I was truly enamored with, but it’s hard to take notes when there’s so much going on.

Typically, Durham’s World Beer Fest is held at the Durham Athletic Park, the older of the two Durham Bulls ballfields. But that field is under renovation, so this year’s event was at the newer ballpark, where plastic flooring covered the field to prevent it from being stomped by drunken festival-goers. The location meant that some of the bathrooms in the concourse were open to us beer-drinkers, which eliminated the need to use the Porta-Potties (always a plus).

I was impressed with the number of Tweeple who were there (people who use Twitter). We managed to find each other without sending a single tweet. I was with @wiggitywack and we ran into @joesumney, @jefftippett, @taylorbarr (all of us are pictured here courtesy of @dgtlpapercuts). We also saw @thedynamo, @brianchappell, @paynetrain and possibly more. That’s a pretty impressive group of Tweeps to encounter in a ballfield filled with tipsy folks. And it also just goes to show why using Twitter in the Triangle is a fabulous way to meet new people. You can even follow the folks who organized the event, @allaboutbeer.

I was also impressed with the variety of food and how inexpensive it was. Two dollars bought you a fabulous taco from Chubby’s Tacos, which has received rave reviews in the Durham food blog world. Then there were the fabulous beer-fried jalepenos with cheese sauce, and much more.

You may remember from my post about the World Beer Festival in Raleigh where I fell in love with the Vanilla Porter by Breckenridge Brewery. Well, the brew was also available at the Durham festival. And when I made it to the booth, the guy pouring announced it was the last one. But he wouldn’t pour me more than two ounces, even though I declared it was my absolute favorite and that I even blogged about it (I’m not sure this guy even knew what a blog was, to be honest). So I tried sipping it down quickly so he’d refill my glass with another precious two ounces, but instead he handed it to the woman beside me and she poured the final ounces of tasty goodness into some random chick’s glass who I’m sure didn’t appreciate it as much as I would have.

So with the exception of the long line and the stingy Breckenridge pourer, the festival was completely worth the $45 ticket price.

Were you there? Share your experiences, photos and links with me. To see more of my pics, click here (look toward the bottom for the latest).

Cheers.