World Beer Festival

A couple of weeks ago, I attended the World Beer Festival in Raleigh, presented by the "All About Beer Magazine." When we bought the tickets a couple of months ago, I had thought that I would be off crutches by the time this event rolled around (apparently there was a miscommunication between me & the doctors, but whatever). Or, really, it was more like I didn't even consider the possibility that I would still be on crutches for this event.

Well, turns out that I was in fact on TWO crutches, and not the one crutch I had assumed, when it came time for Beer Fest. We got to the entrance and the man handling the wrist bands was like, "Wow. This is probably not a really good idea. It's pretty crowded and people tend to be drunker during this session." So that was great. Then we got inside, and the tents looked like this...

The biggest issue actually ended up being how to hold my glass, rather than the crowds (people were generally really nice and courteous, and probably a dozen people told me what a "champ" I was for being there). We each got a sampler glass to use as we went around to the different breweries to get a taste.

Luckily my friend JM is my girl, and we figured out a great system. She basically ran around with my glass and brought beer to me while I stood in the middle of the tent where I wouldn't get trampled. 

Me with JM and her boyfriend DM {photo courtesy of carolinanightlife.com}

As to be expected, it was a very cool and festive atmosphere. There were three large beer tents set up along the sides of the square, and then in the middle there were some educational/instructional tents, as well as food vendors. We didn't eat or take advantage of the educational sessions, but I thought those were nice features.

I didn't end up taking a lot of pictures of the festival itself (just of people) because it was pretty difficult to manage myself and my crutches and a camera all at once. While the festival was fun, I'm not sure that it was worth the price tag (tickets were $50). I'm sure I would have enjoyed myself more if I weren't on crutches (a couple of strangers had to help JM help me get into the bathroom) and if we had gotten there earlier (we spent over an hour waiting on a cab that was supposed to arrive within 20 minutes). My friends had also been off doing other activities during the day, so all of the guys had already been drinking for a while. I also wish there were a way for me to keep track of the vendors I really enjoyed and the beers that I would want to check out in the future - trying to remember them all does not work.

It was a fun evening, but I'm not sure that I'll do it next year. It was nice to get out of the house, though. Crutches are making me stir crazy!