Well, from my perspective, the Happy Gnome's Firkin Fest was a success. And I think Kris, Kat, and Scott would agree. I didn't mind, at all, that it appeared Firkin Fest was an afterthought from the St. Patty's celebration the day before. I mean, they already had the tent up and porta-potties primed. The crowd was pretty small and well mannered. For $20, I got more to drink than I really needed on a Sunday...or any day for that matter. And Kris and I got to see many friends. $20 got you 16 tickets (1 4 oz. pour per ticket) plus an additional ticket you could use to get a sample of Surly 2. Of course, I don't think anyone actually paid attention to whether or not you gave a ticket per drink. Kris' favorite beer and the one I thought was most interesting was Summit's Oatmeal Stout made with Belgian brettanomyces (yeast). The yeast gave the beer a distinctive, and not unpleasant, cheese smell. The flavor was pretty interesting as well. Of course, I'm not sure if it was supposed to smell like cheese, but then again, I'M not supposed to smell like cheese, but who cares? I was happy to hear that many of our beer friends at Firkin Fest are also going to be at Gitchee Gumee.
Of course, we couldn't just stop at Firkin Fest. We decided to head up to Barley John's after Firkin Fest to take part in their anniversary celebration. They had a nice fire going to take the chill off the March Sunday and, of course, I stood too close to it. There was a nice crowd there and we saw many faces from Firkin Fest. And we continued to drink. Oh boy.
Needless to say, my headache is finally gone but the heart-burn still rages. Good times...good times.
Are you going to Gitchee Gumee? Dawn and I will be there!
ReplyDeleteYep, we'll be there. SHould be a lot of fun.
ReplyDeleteI think--no, I know--it was Surly Darkness 08, not Surly 2, the extra got you. You weren't drinking when you wrote this post, were you?!
ReplyDeleteAhh, you're right. I was not drinking when I did the post...I was mistaking.
ReplyDeleteMag... Nice to meet you at Barley John's after the FF (I was one of the guys playing cribbage at that first table).
ReplyDeleteFF was a lot of fun. I hope they have one next year.
ReplyDeleteKat and I will be Gitchee Gumee. Our tickets arrived yesterday. We were a bit worried we might not get them since we sent our money in 2 days after the close of ordering tickets by mail.