Saturday, June 22, 2013

WYES Private Beer Sampling Re-Cap



Last night I had the opportunity to attended the WYES Private Beer Tasting.  Unlike last year this year the event was held at Mardi Gras World right next to the Convention Center.  In my opinion this was a game changer for sure.

Not sure what it will do for the Saturday event but for the private Friday night event it made a huge difference.  The place was bigger which helped with crowd issues.  If you have ever met me or know me personally you know that I hate large crowds.  It's generally why you don't see me out at bars and why when I do go I only go to Avenue Pub and drink upstairs.

I brought my camera but the battery wasn't charged so I was only able to get a few pics.  My bad yo.

Anyway, here is a breakdown of the event:



Beer

The beer selection was good.  My goal was to only drink local beer.  I pretty much stuck 100% to that goal except for Ocean Spring's Crooked Letter Brewery.  Other than them I only drank local and homebrew.  And there were a lot of great options.  I felt pretty damn good when the wife and I left around 9:30pm.

Food

I have to admit I was very happy with the food selection this year.  Last year the food was provided by Zea's which was great but they ran out quickly.  This year Sun Ray Grill provided the food and it was great.  They had ribs and little cuban sandwiches.  And more importantly they didn't run out!  Dem ribs was DAYUM good!

What They Did Right

The venue change for sure was a great decision.  The size of the location and the ambiance was fantastic.  The beer choices were also great!  The fact that I was buzzing off of only drinking local is awesome!  Things are looking up for sure locally.  And of course the food options were important.  They didn't run out and the food was tasty!

What They Can Fix

This is a big one for me because my wife doesn't drink.   The wife and I saw no water or soda to drink.  They had huge jugs of water for rinsing out beer glasses but other than that I didn't see drink options for those not drinking.  We asked one of the attendants and she was able to go to the back and bring out a little bottle of water for my wife.  I wonder of any of the local soda distributors are willing to donate?  This may be an issue not sure.

Shittiest Beer of the Night

I apologize ahead of time to Ron Guzman but I think he will agree with me.  His crawfish beer using crawfish boil seasoning was just not good.  He said so himself.  I applaud the try though!



Top 5 Best Beers of the Night(in no order)

1)  Parish Brewing Calypso Single Hop IPA
2)  Crooked Letter Mystery Romp
3)  Mudbug King Cake Ale
4)  Gnarly Barley Porter Rican
5)  Great Raft Ermahgerd Hops

If you're beer isn't on this list it isn't because I didn't like it.  Don't worry.

Overall the event was awesome.   I really love the event location and the food options as well!  I would really like to see more rare stuff from the breweries though.  Most of the breweries just brought their regular line-up.  The whole point is for this event to be something special that you can't get on Saturday.  I'm finding that Saturday seems to have more "special" beer options than Friday.  That and seeing some drink options for those who don't drink!!  If you missed it this year think about going because it was a great time!

Cheers!

The Beer Buddha




1 comment:

Unknown said...

Loved that Mystery Romp from Crooked Letter.

I think my top 5 would be about the same as yours. Good times.