• Stay three nights in a 5 bedroom mountain home with a guest house
• Sample 60+ beers over those three days
• Dine on gourmet dishes, including a 9-course all-day beer/food pairing

It was a personal beer festival. How much would you pay for such an adventure? Over MLK weekend, 9 friends and I spent about $230/person to pull this off. All it takes is some creativity, a fearless sense to push the envelope of pleasure, sprinkled a little bit of work and preparation. I thought it was a deal. Hell, Savor in DC is over $100/ticket, and you’re only there for three hours.

Sausage pizza with pappadeaux peppers and basil

Friday night we started off with homemade pizzas on the grill. We had three different varieties: Margherita, homemade sausage with pappadeaux peppers, and the Figgy Piggy (figs, bacon, caramelized onions and arugula), all cooked over a charcoal grill. The homemade sausage was spectacular and won the night.

Our beer theme for Friday was saisons. We ended up sampling about 16 saisons while we ate pizza. My personal favorites were Foret and Odonata.

As with many weekend reunions with friends (think weddings, getting together with college buddies, or going to Las Vegas), I feel like I shot myself out of a cannon Friday night. I may have had a little too much of Matt’s homebrew before beginning the saison tasting, but Saturday started a little rough.

However, this was Barleywine Weekend, dammit, and I had 9 beer and food pairings to crush on Saturday. Four cups of French pressed coffee and a gatorade later I was back on my horse!

Such an excursion of culinary brilliance can only be explained through photographs:

Course 1 by Bobby Congdon

Sierra Nevada Porter pancakes with candied pecans, coffee whip creme & framboise reduction. Paired with Great Divide Espresso Oak-Aged Yeti.

Course 2 by Brian and Nicole Cendrowski

Scratch-made biscuit with goat sausage, a poached farm-fresh egg, and homemade goat cheese. Paired with Anchorage Brewing Love Buzz Saison.

Course 3 by Matt Schaefer

Country Captain chicken and waffles. Paired with Rodenbach Grand Cru.

Course 4 by Ed Westbrook

Red curry with chicken, basil, Water Chestnut III, onion and jasmine rice. Paired with Westbrook White Thai.

Course 5 by Bobby Congdon

Potato gratin. Paired with Stone Arrogant Bastard.

Course 6 by Bryan K. Smith

Caribbean beans and rice with fried plantains. Paired with Mad River Jamaica Red Ale.

Course 7 by Cristina Schaefer

Dan dan noodles (pork sauteed in bacon fat, ginger, green onion, peanuts, szechuan peppercorns). Paired with Victory Prima Pils.

Course 8 by Nicole Cendrowski

Chocolate bacon tart topped with toasted cocoa nibs and more bacon. Paired with Nøgne Ø Sunturnbrew.

Course 9 by Morgan Westbrook

Unfortunately, not pictured: Scottish sticky toffee pudding paired with a variety of beers and mead.

While every dish pairing was awesome (I’m not just saying that, they all really were delicious, no duds), I have to nominate the Porter Pancakes and the Chocolate Bacon Tart as my favorite pairings.

The Porter Pancakes had a lot going on, between the coffee whip cream, candied pecans and framboise reduction syrup, but all those flavors bounced off each other like kids in a mosh pit during 311′s Happy Slamdance Song (Do You Right) in 1996. The bouncer that restored order was the Espresso Oak-Aged Yeti. It was an intense delight to behold.

Then, toward the end of the night, when all palates were shot and you didn’t think you’d be able to taste a block of pure high-fructose corn syrup, in rode the Chocolate Bacon Tart on its horse with two Sunturnbrew six-shooters by its side. Holy smoke. A graham cracker crust with bacon crumbled into it, chocolate tart filling made with Ghirardelli dark chocolate chips, then topped with toasted cocoa nibs and more bacon crumbles.

The Sunturnbrew is a smoked barleywine from Norway, but not overly intense on the smokey side. The smokey-sweet intensity of the beer was a perfect pairing with the chocolate and bacon. It may have been the best pairing ever, and I give credit to Camron Read at the Greenville Beer Exchange for the Sunturnbrew idea. Home run, my friend.

After the saison cannon Friday night and eating food the entire day, Saturday night was a bit more tamed. I think lights were out in the house around 11 pm. It was a good night for rest and recuperation, for we knew what was ahead: Strong Ale Sunday.

The Duck and Strong Ale Sunday

This is an authentic Oregon duck. This was not the duck we ate.

I have long had an affinity for duck. Ever since I had my first dish of roasted duck with steamed buns at P.F. Chang’s many years ago, I have been drawn to this majestic amphibious avian.

Now, whenever I see duck on the menu when I’m out to eat, I must order the dish. It’s bordering on an obsession. So, it had to be that I would find a way to serve duck this weekend.

Me and my smoked duck.

My inspiration came when Bobby told me he was going to bring his smoker and was planning on doing barbeque pork Sunday for dinner. After learning that they sold frozen whole ducks at the Asian grocery on Wade Hampton (for only $15), I knew I had to bring it. We needed a smoked duck.

I grabbed the first recipe I found when I Googled “whole smoked duck.” The marinade included fresh orange zest, sesame oil, white pepper, grated ginger and salt. After sitting with the marinade overnight, the duck spent three hours on the smoker, getting up to about 160 degrees.

The sauce that went with the duck drew rave reviews. A hoisin base was combined with chili-garlic sauce (I used Sriracha, the best hot sauce ever), fresh cilantro and basil (basil was my addition to the recipe) and grated ginger. It was awesome.

To top it off, Nicole prepared a large bowl of Asian slaw with Ramen. (Unfortunately, the slaw is not pictured.) While not a pairing with beer, the slaw and duck was amazing, if I do say so myself. (Thanks also go out to Matt, who also brought his smoker, upon which my duck rested.) Duck, while already high in my esteem, has risen even further. I hereby dub it the official Fowl of Barleywine Weekend.

The beers of Strong Ale Sunday were so numerous that it’s hard for me to even recall what was had. Some of my favorites that I do recall: 2009 North Coast Old Stock, the flight of Westbrook barrel-aged tripels (four varieties aged in different types of wine barrels), 2011 AleSmith Old Numbskull, 2010 Untamed Barleywine, and the 2008 Dogfish Head Immort Ale.

I will admit, I only made it to number 17 of the 27 total beers sampled that night. The good news? I wasn’t hung over. At 35, any time I can avoid a hangover and still enjoy good beer, I consider that a win.

The Combatants of Barleywine Weekend VI gather around the beer bottle graveyard.

I had the pleasure of making my first trip to Greenbrier Farms in Easley, SC last weekend for the wedding of my friends Nathaniel and Eliza. It’s a beautiful place amid the rolling hills, just 20 minutes from downtown Greenville, but far enough out to feel like I was in the countryside. The venue is awesome for a huge party or an intimate dinner, and we were treated to a gorgeous sunset.

It only makes sense, then, to have a farm-to-table dinner at an actual farm. Can’t get much fresher than that. Chef Joe Clark from American Grocery (my favorite restaurant in Greenville) is coming out to cook up something good. Chef Joe brings the thunder with creative dishes and a menu that constantly changes, so there’s always a reason to go back.

To top it all off, Scott Sheridan and Greg Koch (yes, that Greg Koch) from Stone will be there. I’ve been told Greg is bringing with him some Stone creations that have not yet hit the shelves. (I hope this isn’t like the time I heard the rumor that Dave Matthews was playing a surprise show at Captain Harry’s in Charleston back when I was in college.)

Tickets are $75 each. I’ve purchased mine, happy birthday to me! Nicole and I will likely bring our tent and camp out by the pond. I don’t want to over-hype the event, but this can’t not be amazing.

I’ll be serving five “well-designed” beers of various styles, from light to strong and dark. I haven’t selected the exact ones yet, but rest assured I’ll bring out the good stuff. The meeting is free to attend, but if you’d like to participate in the tasting, tickets are $12 to cover the cost of the beer and snacks.

Refresh is a community of designers and programmers who are passionate about the web. Even if you are not “in the business,” the meetings are open to anyone, especially if you have an appreciation for technology, design or art. The meeting on the 13th will certainly not be tech-heavy, so don’t be intimidated.

I hope to see some of you there!

The “Grocery List” as it is appropriately called, includes tomatoes from Iszy’s Heirlooms, dairy from the Happy Cow Creamery, pork from Brickhouse Farms, lamb from Red Fern Farms, flour from Adluh.

Amidst this delicious backdrop, American Grocery hosted their first beer pairing dinner on Monday evening. Chef Joe teamed up with one of Greenville’s heavy hitters in the beer world, Cameron Read from the Greenville Beer Exchange, to match the perfect beer with the perfect dishes.

Here’s what they came up with:

Course 1
mussel ceviche, smoked paprika, pickled mustard seeds
Lindeman’s Geuze Cuvee Rene

Course 2
crispy smoked pork, summer bean ragout, sauce gribiche
Aecht Schlenkeria Rauchbier Urbock

Course 3
local lamb, preserved lemon gnocchi, dinosaur kale, marinated tomatoes
Westmalle Trappist Tripel

Course 4
chocolate semifreddo, coconut caramel
Weyerbacher Heresy

So, um, yeah. It lived up to the hype.

We arrived at 6:30 and were allowed to choose our seat at one of three long tables, community-style. First, a word on community-style dinners at restaurants. This is totally the way to go. The food and beers were great, and I’ll get to that in a minute, but it was the good company that made the experience a memorable one. We met a half-dozen new people, some of whom were beer vets, others just wanted to try some new things. Everyone was open-minded and we had a great time discovering, telling stories and getting to know each other.

Sure, you might sit next to some weirdos on occasion, but you just don’t have to talk to them. Odds are you’ll meet really cool people and perhaps make a new friend or two. That’s what sharing a meal is really about. More restaurants should do this.

Enough philosophy, onto the goods.

For the first course, Chef Joe was gracious enough to substitute beets in for the mussels. (The thought of eating mussels makes me want to gag. Gah!) However, my involuntary reflex caused me to miss out on a fantastic pairing, as the acidity in the ceviche would have paired perfectly with the acidic tartness of the geuze. The salad was still good, and the smoked paprika was a neat twist on the finish. I loved the geuze, but that’s a given for me these days. It was light, tart and dry, much like champagne.

It probably comes as no surprise, but the smoked pork was my favorite dish and pairing of the night. The pork was tender as can be, and the crispy breading coated the pork and gave it a subtle crunchy texture that separated it from mere barbeque pork. The choice of the smoked, dark, malty rauchbier with the smoked pork may seem like a no-brainer, and with good reason. The pork and beer pairing took each other to new heights, as soul mates who, while leading separate lives, achieved a measure of worldly success, but when together have the potential for world domination.

Moving on to course three, I was prepared for a small let-down. After all, where do you go from there? There was no such disappointment. Not when you have tender, local lamb with preserved lemon gnocchi paired with a trappist tripel from Westmalle that practically invented the style. The lemony citrus from the gnocchi, along with the vinegar spice of the marinated tomatoes and the richness of the lamb was accentuated exceptionally well with the fruity spice and intense malt backbone of the tripel. Well done.

For dessert? In normal-guy language was a chocolate brownie topped with kind-of frozen chocolate custard, coconut caramel sauce and cocoa nibs, paired with a bourbon barrel imperial stout. The use of the coconut in the dessert was genius, it totally meshed with the vanilla-coconut character from the bourbon barrel aging in the beer. A slice of nirvana.

My only suggestion for next time is to pour slightly larger samples of each beer. (Of course the lush would suggest that…) While I do understand we don’t want a bunch of drunks hitting the street, the samples were a hair on the short side, which meant that I had to ration my sips to stretch my beer through each course. Who knows, maybe that’s actually a lesson I should take home!

Overall, it was a delicious meal with thoughtfully paired beers in a welcoming atmosphere. Nicole and I had a great time, and we hope that AGR will team up with GBX to do this again.

Yes, that is a firkin of Foothills Sexual Chocolate. I need a cold shower.

Saturday was the second revival of Brewvival. 34 breweries bringing out their best. It remains in my top spot of favorite beer festivals. This is one of those rare festivals where a brewery needs to bring out its best, or it need not come out.

Put on by Coast Brewing Company and the Charleston Beer Exchange, this is the ultimate playground for the beer geek. However, you don’t have to know the difference between a Berliner Weisse and a Lichenhainer Weisse to enjoy yourself.

Many thanks to The Beave's dad, Curt, for transporting us. It was just like high school, except we were going to a beer festival instead of the movies.

Nicole and I were accompanied by my long-time friend, The Beave, and his new bride Meredith. Meredith is a self-proclaimed Corona Light aficionado, yet she made her way around to at least 20 breweries and enjoyed all but a handful of samples. See, there is reason to believe!

I managed to sample 35 beers, most of which I had never tried before. Despite my best efforts, there were still six or so beers that I desperately wanted to try, but didn’t get to before they ran out. So many beers, so little time (and blood alcohol capacity).

The logistics of the festival were greatly improved over last year. The wait to get in still took longer than it should have, but we got inside within 20 minutes. The food and bathroom lines were never bad. Even during the peak beer drinking time between 2 and 3, the beer lines were mostly managable. I never felt too crowded, and there was plenty of space to spread out away from the beer tents.

Lauren Salazar from New Belgium pairing her sour beers with cheese.

My favorite beer-related moment was getting to briefly chat with Lauren Salazar, the brewer of the New Belgium sour lineup, as she paired Le Terrior with a lime goat cheese. It was a delicious pairing, and really highlighted the tart, sour aspects of the beer.

Le Terrior was a nicely balanced, tasty sour, but I enjoyed the mouth puckering tart kick in the teeth from Tart Lychee even more. New Belgium’s sour beers are top notch, and while the normal lineup of beers are good, the sours are the Cadillac to their Chevy.

While there were so many delicious rare beers to be had, if I were forced to pick one as my favorite of the day, I would have to pick Heavy Seas Below Decks Barleywine on cask. It’s an English-style barleywine, so it’s not very hoppy. On cask it was amazingly smooth and malty. Maybe it also had something to do with the fact that it was my second-to-last beer of the day, but I was seriously impressed.

After two years of crushing it, Brewvival is poised to take off as word of this hidden jewel continues to spread among the beer world. At $50, the price is not cheap, but if you love beer, it’s worth every penny. I’ll certainly be here every year the good folks at Coast and the CBX keep inviting us back!

Adam Mundy from Oskar Blues and me under the big top

My Favorite Beers of the Day

• Brooklyn Blast Double IPA – winner of best overall use of hops
• Coast Old Nuptual Barleywine – best hoppy barleywine
• Foothills Sexual Chocolate on cask – best stout
• New Belgium Tart Lychee – best sour
• Heavy Seas Below Decks Barleywine – best overall barleywine
• Thomas Creek Up the Creek on Spanish cedar – best use of wood
• Cigar City Oatmeal Raisin Cookie – most realistic impersonation of a cookie
• Westbrook Uberbier #3 – best beer over 17% ABV

Beers I Will Go To My Grave Regretting Missing Out On

• Smuttynose Breakfast Stout
• Dogfish Head Chicory Stout randalized through Tootsie Rolls
• Sierra Nevada/Dogfish Head barrel aged Life and Limb
• Stillwater/Mikkeller Two Gypsies
• Thomas Creek Banana Split Chocolate Stout over vanilla ice cream

Needless to say, I’m excited about this Saturday. This year should be even better. The weather forecast looks good and the beer list already has me buzzed. It’s going to be a fantastic day.

Aside from all the rare treats that I’ll get to sample, one of the most exciting aspects of going to this year’s festival is that one of my longtime friends, The Beave, and his wife Meredith will be coming with us. This is their first-ever beer festival. I remember my first beer festival… barely…

What a first-time. This is the beer equivalent to loosing your virginity to Brooklyn Decker. I’m not sure any other festivals will ever measure up for them.

So, it got me thinking, what advice would I give first time beer festival goers? There are four key things to keep in mind in preparing to attend a festival:

1. Hydration is key, bring a hydration pack if you have one

Brewvival is a six-hour affair. These are big beers. You will get hammered much faster than you think, especially as you get caught up in the festivities. You need to make sure you’re paced and hydrated enough to make it all six hours. Don’t be that guy passed out face-down in a field.

Many of the smaller, outdoor festivals will allow you to bring in your own water bottles or hydration packs. Having plenty of water easily accessible is crucial, especially if there aren’t a lot of water stations around the festival area.

I always recommend drinking a swallow or two of water between samples. Not only does it help keep you hydrated, but it cleanses the palate, getting you ready for your next beer. Obviously, check the festival’s website or FAQ and see if there are any restrictions about what you’re allowed to bring in.

2. Pretzel necklaces are the crown jewels of beer festivals

We all know what happens when you drink beer on an empty stomach. Well, imagine drinking for six hours on an empty stomach. Bad things.

Since the dawn of agriculture and domesticated grains, man has known of the alcohol-absorbing power of bread. I don’t want to be the asshole carrying around a loaf of bread at a beer festival. Instead, wear a band of pretzels around your neck! It’s the coolest and will supply you with a steady stream of spongy carbs to keep you going all afternoon.

Pretzel necklaces are the perfect accessory for the beer connoisseur.

3. Know the lay of the land

Do a little homework before the festival. If it’s posted, check out the beer list, or at least the list of breweries that will be there. Mark the beers you want to be certain you try. Often, the rare or one-time beers will be in limited supply. You want to hit those first so you don’t miss out.

Other things to remember:

1. Determine if food is provided or available for purchase. Pretzels only go so far. Bring some cash for a substantial meal or snack if food is not complimentary.
2. If the festival is outside, wear sunscreen. Hungover and sunburned is not a badge of honor, it’s dumb.
3. Wear an abnormal hat. It will make your day more fun.

4. Arrange transportation before the festival

Trust me, you’re going to be more hammered than you think. Even with small, four-ounce samples, if you try 25 beers, which is not too difficult in six hours, that’s the equivalent of eight beers. I don’t know about you, but that’s a lot for me.

It’s best to have your transportation arranged before the festival, when you are at least somewhat coherent. Do not trust yourself post-festival. Coherence will be a scarce commodity. Make sure you make it back to tell your friends about all the crazy stuff you did at the festival.

These guys didn't arrange a ride home.

This year, I came prepared.

Brewgrass, held at Martin Luther King Park in Asheville, North Carolina, is one of the most anticipated festivals in the Southeast. Tickets go on sale in February and sell out within a week. The Brewgrass people know what they are doing. Scarcity creates buzz.

Brewgrass 2009 was my beer festival experience. I was like a kid in a candy store. Dozens of new beers to try, new breweries to explore and new friends to meet. It was an awesome time.

Now that I’m a grizzled veteran of seven beer festivals, (Wow, it was a busy year.) I wondered how my experience would be the second time around. Over the past year, I’ve spent a lot of time in North Carolina and have had the chance to sample the wares of most of the breweries in the region.

I wondered how that would affect my experience. Would the excitement and newness wear off? Would Brewgrass turn into another ho-hum festival with the same-old-same-old?

No caption could do this justice.

I’ve discovered that if you’ve made the effort to get to know people within the beer community, (It’s not that hard. Beer people are some of the friendliest, most accessible people you’ll meet.) festivals become family reunions. So even if you’re not too excited about the beer selection or the venue, you still come out to reconnect with friends and hopefully meet a few more.

That’s how Brewgrass 2010 was for me. I certainly wanted to get my hands on any new beers I could find, but it was more about hanging out and having fun.

To be truthful, I thought the beer selection in 2009 was better than it was in 2010. Last year, I remember sampling several barrel-aged brews, casks and other rare goodies. I didn’t feel like there were very many unique selections to be had this year. Then again, it’s possible with 40 breweries represented that I didn’t find the diamonds in the rough.

What delight would be worthy of the Pleasure Chest? Why that would be Yazoo's Hop Project, an IPA brewed with Sorachi Ace.

Here is the short list of my favorite noteworthy beers:

• Olde Hickory Death By Hops – Gets my vote for best use of hops. And they used a lot of them.
• Coast Brewing Event Horizon – A dark IPA or whatever you want to call it. Intense hops perfectly balanced by dark malt. Another winner. Then again, we’re all winners here.
• Thomas Creek Up the Creek Extreme IPA – They ran it through a randal of Sorachi Ace hops. Crazy awesome blend of citrus flavors: grapefruit, lemon and orange all just smack you in the face.
• New Belgium Eric’s Ale – The only sour I found at the festival. New Belgium has this sour thing down.

There are two things we take very seriously: beer and beards

I’m already looking forward to next year. Even though I’ve gained a lot of festival experience in the past year, there are still a couple things that I need to keep in mind for next year:

• Half-pours are key, as 8 oz. sample pours add up in a hurry. We don’t need any heroes.
• I shouldn’t attempt to finish the cask of Dopplebock at the Thomas Creek tent at the end of the festival. Hungry children wouldn’t get the dopplebock anyway.

Remember, boys and girls, it’s a seven-hour marathon, not a sprint.

I wish I could have used the scoreboard to track how many samples I had throughout the day.

Last weekend I attended the Brew at the Zoo beer festival at Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, South Carolina. It was a nice little festival. The venue was cool. There were some great breweries there who brought some excellent beer. I don’t want to shortchange them.

Lemurs are cool, especially after a couple beers, but it's not why I go to a festival.

However, the price tag for zoo non-members was $40. I’ve been to some awesome festivals for less than $40. This was good. It wasn’t awesome.

What kept it from being awesome? For me, it comes down to two things that plague most of the festivals I’ve attended:

1. Lack of unique beers
2. Volunteers running the pouring stations

Other than that, Brew at the Zoo was pretty well-done. However, it made me think about what I liked most about the festivals I that I really enjoyed. Keep in mind, I represent the niche of beer appreciators, not just people looking for another night on the town.

I came up with six things I think are crucial to make any festival rise above the average beer-sampling event. Follow these tips and you’ll please everyone from the novice to the most dedicated beer geek. And most importantly, they’ll come back the following year and they’ll bring friends.

You want people like Cornelia attending your festival. Trust me.

1. It’s all about the beer

Beer festivals should be about just that: beer. For a beginner, any beer festival is great because there are certain to be beers there they haven’t had. For beer geeks, the bar is set a little higher. I can’t go into any grocery store and find anything new. I’ve had almost everything available in this state.

So, to convince me to spend money to attend a beer festival, promise me there will be some beer there that I’ve never had. I’ll pay to try something I can’t get normally. At Brew at the Zoo, the only brewery I saw that brought anything unique to South Carolina was Sweetwater Sch’Wheat, which at this point is only available in Atlanta. I really appreciated that.

See if you can get breweries to bring out some rare stuff. Consider:

• Beers in the brewery’s portfolio normally not available in that market
• Trendy far-out styles like sours, brett-funky, belgians, and barleywines
• Casks are always a hit. They are unique and are easy for breweries to prepare.
• Barrel-age something
• Bring something out from the cellar. Beer aged two or three years beer will get the beer geeks in a tizzy.

In order to convince breweries to bring these gems, you’ll probably have to pay them something for the beer. Did you know that at most beer festivals, breweries provide the beer for free? Imagine that, paying a brewery for what they produce. Crazy concept.

I know that Brewvival Festival in Charleston paid breweries for the beer they brought, and it had the best beer selection of any festival I’ve ever gone to. I estimated about 40% of the beers that were served I had never tried. For me, that’s remarkable.

In the immortal words of Teddy KGB, “Pay that man heee’s money.”

2. Get brewery representatives to work the pouring stations

Almost every volunteer that I’ve encountered working a pouring station at a beer festival has been friendly, respectful and energetic. They are great people. They just don’t know much about the beer.

If you can convince the brewer him or herself to come out, all the better. I love talking beer with beer people. There’s no better way to make a disciple for life than for the person who makes the beer to make a personal connection with their customers. Those customers will fight for you, literally.

At a bare minimum, get someone working the station that can answer three basic questions:

1. What’s in the beer?
2. What other styles do you have besides what’s available here?
3. Where can I buy your beer?

The bar is not set high. Just find someone, anyone, that knows something about your beer and you’ll have an advantage.

Beards are often overlooked, but are necessary to legitimize any beer festival.

3. Hydration is key

It’s obvious that water helps keep people safe and hydrated. However, water should be available at every pouring station. If you care about beer, give people an opportunity to rinse their cup before getting the next beer.

Respect your customer, respect the beer.

4. People don’t go to beer festivals to stand in bathroom lines

It’s a beer festival, people are drinking a lot of liquids. That liquid needs to go somewhere. Have more bathrooms available than you think you’ll need.

5. Food is more than fuel

Food not only helps keep people from going over the intoxicated edge, it’s a wonderful complement to good beer. Put some thought into your food vendors and what they’ll have available.

6. Go with the flow

Traffic flow is crucial. Pay special attention to prevent bottlenecks and dead-ends, as well as the potential for lines at the entrance, bathrooms and pouring stations.

Don’t oversell the event. No one wants to deny a paying customer, but for the sake of the reputation and longevity of future festivals, decide how many people can comfortably fit in the space and cap ticket sales.

Not only will it make the event more comfortable for those in attendance, you’ll get a lot of buzz if your event is perceived as “exclusive.” Brewgrass is a perfect example. The festival is in September, but tickets go on sale in February and it sells out in less than a week. That’s a hot ticket.

Another reason why Brewgrass is a hot ticket.

I have a few other suggestions, though not as crucial:

• Have the event outdoors. Being inside feels more restrained, like you don’t want to spill beer on your parents’ carpet. It’s a beer festival, not a trade show.
• Splurge and get glass taster glasses. It’s a classy move.
• Music is important to any party. For a beer festival, pick bands that play good background music. Jam bands are best.

This prodigal beer son will be making a return this Saturday, August 7, for Brew at the Zoo at Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia. The event is from 7 to 9:30 pm and costs $30 for members, $40 for non-members.

I’m helping Thomas Creek pour beer for a shift. Since it is a relatively short event, Thomas Creek will only have bottles on hand, so don’t be disappointed if I can’t make a Midnight Train, BlitzCreek or Grandma’s Pearls without their full compliment of draft beer available.

I hope to see some old friends Saturday night. Come out so I can pour you a beer!

It’s going to be a 4-course meal, each course paired with a beer and wine selection. I’ve personally selected the beers and will describe each pairing at the dinner. It’s $20 to participate. Space is limited, so reservations are recommended, call 864-286-1070 to prepay and guarantee your spot.

I would love to see my fellow beer lovers come out and represent to show all the wine people where it’s at. Here is the menu:

First Course
Blackened shrimp bruschetta
Thomas Creek Red
Madonna Riesling

Second Course
Brixx salad
Victory Prima Pils
Drouhin Laforet Chardonnay

Third Course
Sundried-tomato stuffed chicken
Terrapin Hopsecutioner
Kings Ridge Pinot Noir

Dessert
Strawberry tiramisu
Rogue John John Dead Guy
Hyatt Cabernet Sauvignon

Hope to see you there!