Huzzah, a Sober Beer Event!

Yesterday was the first annual (hopefully) Surly Fest held at Surly's brewery. Kris and I were at the event, her as a fester and me as a volunteer, as was Kat. This was my first time volunteering at an event like this and, I have to admit, I enjoyed helping out. Volunteers were limited to three beers for the whole event (1 before, 1 during, and 1 after) and I actually only had about a beer and a half. I was a little disappointed at first to see that fest attendees were limited to only four beers during the $30 event, but in retrospect, that was probably more than enough beer (about two liters), plus the steins handed out were pretty damn cool. Gotta keep everyone safe, you know. I am not aware of any major issues at the event and I'll be curious to find out if the event was as successful as they were hoping it would be. Since I'm a big fan of bullet points, here my beer (albeit sober) musings of the event:

• Being a beer pourer is damn cool - chicks desire you, dudes respect you, cops fear you, and the power you wield is addicting.
• While being a beer-pouring volunteer is fun, I imagine being a brewery employee is even more so. I was standing around with two other volunteers (men) chatting towards the end of the event when a very attractive woman sidled up to us, cooing and wooing in a manner that I rarely see. We chatted with her for a couple of minutes and it became apparent that she thought we were employees. When I informed her that those of us in the great-looking green shirts were actually volunteers, all indications of any interest she had in us disappeared and she pretty much walked off without further comment. *sigh*
  
• While I was bit flattered at the kiss offer I received (and declined), I was disappointed to learn that the would-be kisser was laying smackers on everyone. Everyone. And I missed the Mardi-Gras-like flashing she dished out.
• Having left the event stone sober, I am amazed at my recall of all the conversations I had and the names I learned. After a few beers, my ability to remember names of folks I've met is hamstrung, but not so this time. What an amazing thing!
• As usual, the Surly's beer was damn good.
• Getting rained on at beer events sucks. Being given a dry shirt rocks. Enduring cold rain at an event and not seeing any of a certain type of attendee with a wet, white t-shirt sucks. Having at least one of those certain type of attendees flash her wares rocks. Missing it because you're being an industrious volunteer sucks.

Anyway, thanks to the folks at Surly for an enjoyable event.