Knoxville BrewFest 2011 – A Reflection

Alright, alright, alright. Man I have to say that was a fantastic maiden voyage of the hopefully to become an annual event Knoxville BrewFest. Chris Morton and Bearden Beer Market have outdone themselves with this undertaking and they are the first I should mention. Snob Rob and I had the pleasure of being one of the 150 VIP ticket holders and the first to step foot on the Southern Railway platform to begin the five hour brew consumption journey.  Having that first hour to get my bearings on where and what was available was well worth the extra $35 bucks even without the added benefit of our own private restrooms and free food. The extra hour gave you plenty of time to hit the high gravity brews and meet and greet the brewers on a more personal level.  The weather was fantastic, sunny with temps around the upper 80’s which is perfect for sippin’ brews from over 50 breweries such as Marble City Brewing Co., Terrapin, Depot Street, Chattanooga Brewing Company, Atwater Block Brewery, Sweetwater, Highland (meeting Oscar Wong of Highland Brewing, who was donning a kilt, was a memorable experience for myself), the list goes on.

There were also a handful of home brewer extremes such as Underground Brewing Company and Bunker Brewery.  When Travis Redmond from The Pizza Kitchen rolled into the festival with a few dozen cowboy cookies en route to Underground Brewing Company, I quickly followed anticipating tastiness to ensue.  I was not disappointed when Mr Smap felt  the need to throw a scoop of vanilla ice cream and  a cowboy cookie in a cup with a nice pour of his chocolate coffee infused brown ale over the top. Yesssirrr. Nuff said??  I think so.  Around 4:00 the fellow snobs were released and the party was in full swing. The food was also top notch with representation from Brixx Pizza, Dead End BBQ and Salsaritas. Apple Blossom Cafe also provided free food to the VIPs and boy was it good! Music was provided by Kelsey’s Woods and The Brit Stokes Band. Everywhere I went there were fellow snobs asking about KnoxBeerSnobs and what we are about. I was happy to oblige the info and make some new friends along the way. Man, the vibe was excellent and you could not help but have a great time. The location was unique to say the least with the rail car parked behind the brewers creating an interesting backdrop. The only issue I had with the location is the long length and  small width which caused a long bottle neck when heading to brewers way down the line. However,  to overcome this issue I simply took my time getting to my favs and enjoyed a few along the way.  Eventually near the end I found a good home next to our friends at Underground Brewing Company and did my best to drain the keg of RIPA, now my new favorite.

Even though we were creating happiness in our mouths with the many different and tasty brews our spirit was creating good karma by the fact that all net proceeds of the KnoxBrewFest will benefit Cure Ducheene, a progressive disease that causes loss of muscle strength and eventually death by around age 20. Rob and I raise our glasses to you for supporting this great cause.  Next year we hope to see all of you again for round two.

Cheers to ya!!!