Beer Fest 2007

Yes, it’s that time again… the fantastic season in Seattle where one can wake up virtually any weekend morning for a period of 6 – 8 weeks to glorious sunshine… not to mention any number of fabulous summer festivals.

After missing out on Fremont Summer Solstice festival due to my sister’s wedding, I was really feeling deprived. So you can imagine how excited I was for the 2007 Seattle International Beer Festival this past weekend. What could be better? The event is completely over-the-top, celebrating the world’s most legendary brewing styles and the nations that made them famous. With more than 100 world-class beers from 15 countries, I couldn’t think of a better way to spend a gorgeous Saturday afternoon.
Jeanna, Stewart, Tara, Winston and I headed down to the Seattle Center’s Mural Amphitheater just in time to make Happy Hour by 1 p.m. – 15 beer tickets for $20 instead of just 10 tickets; awesome. Armed with miniature plastic beer mugs, we headed inside. I tried to do the math in my head… each glass could hold a 4 oz. serving of beer. So 15 tickets meant 60 oz. of beer! However, each beer cost 1, 2 or 3 tickets, depending on the “swank factor.” Additional tickets were just $1 each, but we were determined to get the most bang for our buck.
After some research through the catalogue, we were able to identify all of the 1-ticket beers with moderately high alcohol contents. I mean really, why would I waste a perfectly good ticket on something that contains only 4.5% when the same ticket could get me 12% at the next table over? Ah, this is the type of thinking a college education provides.
We spent the rest of the afternoon lounging in the grass and taking turns getting in line for refills. People-watching, listening to the bands, and gossiping with my friends while sipping beer was a fantastic way to spend the day. Several hours and dozens of beers later, we headed back to Stewart’s house for a BBQ and more drinking. This was then followed by a drunken karaoke night at Ozzy’s.
Days like this really remind me why Seattle is so fabulous. Cheers!