Will Walk for Beer

On Saturday, Beer Geek and I attended our second 1K Beer Walk.  Last year we had a wonderful time, so when we were able to get my friend to take the boys and be our designated driver again  (seriously, everyone needs a friend like that!), we decided to attend the event again.

Short story:  I had a great time, my head hurts today, and I almost adopted a cat…

Much longer story:

We had tickets for early afternoon.  Like last year, checkin went smoothly and we quickly had our t-shirt, tasting glass, tickets, and race number.  Unlike last year, I opted not to pin on the number LOL.  Station 2 (station 1 is packet pickup LOL) had a gluten free beer this year, Estrella Damm Daura.  Beer Geek tried it, but it’s a pilsner and I’ve never met a pilsner I like, so I just had chorizo from Jaleo instead.  YUM!

At station 3, I got to taste Ommegang Abbey.  I love a good Belgian style dubbel, so this did not disappoint.  Beer Geek had the Breckenridge Vanilla Porter.  While this sounded good, it was actually not all that great.  I think the vanilla flavor was just too overpowering.  Then we moved on to station 4, where I got the Brooklyn Winter Ale.  It’s a decent beer, but not Brooklyn’s best beer and not the best winter seasonal I’ve had this year.  The Legal Seafood chowder, on the other hand, was pretty darn good.  Beer Geek was pleased with Uinta Hop Notch from Salt Lake City.

Station 5 was my personal favorite.  It’s the lobby of the Synetic Theater, so it’s got a warm, funky style and it was stocked with Port City’s beers.  Port City is a local brewery and I think their porter is one of the best out there.   Needless to say, I had one.  (Sort of amusing that I was willing to use a ticket for this since I actually have a six pack in my fridge.)

Next up was station 6 and two of the few beers there that I’d never had before.  First I tried the Scotch de Silly.  This is a scotch style ale brewed in Belgium that packed a wallop with an 8% ABV.  It was an interesting beer and I enjoyed it.  Then I tried Crabbies Ginger Beer.  This was surprisingly good (and yes, it was a beer, not a soda).  The ginger taste was incredibly strong, so I don’t know if I’d want to drink a lot of it, but I very much enjoyed my taste of it.

Station 7 was the water stop and this year it was actually open, so I made sure to drink a full glass of water.  I probably should have had more than one.

Next we moved on to station 8, where we tried Goose Island.  I had the Mild Winter, which was only ok and Beer Geek had the Urban Wheat, which was good for a wheat beer, but not either of our favorite style.  We quickly moved on to station 9, where I had a Krombacher Dark that was quite good and some cornbread from King Street Blues that was excellent LOL.  At station 10, I was disappointed to find that Harpoon Winter Warmer had been replaced by another Harpoon beer.  I can’t for the life of me remember what I actually drank, but I did have a nice conversation with the Harpoon rep.

Finally, we headed to the grand finale: station 11.  Station 11 had 21 different beers!  This year it was up on the 12th floor of one of the buildings instead of in the Crystal City Underground, but that was kind of cool.

The only disappointment all day came from the lack of any snacks in the final station.  Last year, they had a cheese station, pretzels, m&ms, and other goodies.  Beer makes me crave snacks and I was kind of bummed there was nothing to nosh on.  (I’m probably alone in this, but I would have paid a couple extra dollars to have food.  It’s not that there weren’t food options available, since most of the time we were in the CC Underground, I just would have liked food where I had 21 beers to taste LOL).  I ended up having a lovely chat with the Yuengling rep and a few volunteers, while I tried Dominion Oak Barrel Stout, Yuengling Porter, and Bison Chocolate Stout.   All good beers!

And, we’d hit the finish line!!!

Since we were being picked up near the start, we slowly worked our way back, hitting a few of our favorites for one more taste (yes, we intentionally saved tickets for this).  My friend picked us up and delivered us safely at home (after dropping Shoo off at a birthday party. Yes, everyone truly needs a friend like that!)  We gorged on pizza and I started “shopping” for cats on petfinder.  (Yes, I have a history of drunk cat adoption, ahem.)  Thankfully, I won’t adopt a cat without meeting it and Jones thinks a cat would stress out Epic the gecko, so no cats were adopted last night.  And cooler heads are prevailing this morning.

Anyways, despite the fact that I can (and do) buy most of the beers we tasted, I had a really good time.  It’s a fun atmosphere and it’s a nice “date” for Beer Geek and I.  Assuming the date works, I’ll be going again next year!