FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla. — If you are like me, as your love of craft beer grows, you start seeking out unusual beers. When you travel, you seek out bottles you can't find at home. You use websites like Tavour.com to acquire those beers or you have a friend who sends you a case from afar.
I have to admit, sometimes I just head over to my Untappd account and scan the highest rated beers. I scan my feed to see what my friends are drinking too. Then when you hit a bottle share, seeing what exotic beers have been brought to share. The Whales! Like Captain Ahab, we look for those Moby Dick beers!
This desire for the rare has led to the creation of the First Annual Amelia Island Brewing Company Rare Beer Festival at The Amelia Tavern in Fernandina Beach. To my knowledge, this is the first beer festival in Nassau County.
Amelia Island Brewing Company's Brewers Jay Mack and Dave Williams are working hard to bring rare and highly rated beers to the First Coast.
This will be a very different type of beer fest, the tickets are very limited, only offering 40 VIP and 80 General Admission spots per session. Yes, per session. There will be two sessions, Noon to 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 9. VIP ticket holders will be able to arrive 1 hour early, so 11 a.m. or 4 p.m. VIP holders will also receive a t-shirt, swag and a food ticket, plus everyone gets a commemorative tasting glass, hors d'oeuvres and AIBC beer samples as well.
I asked Jay Mack about the logistics of this. He tells me that everyone will receive a punch card for beer. They will be putting the rare beers on tap plus have pouring stations in the building, plus an AIBC pouring station. Some of the tables will be removed to make space, but there will be some seating available.
Tickets are available at $75 for General Admission and $95 for VIP.
So what will that bring you? What's on tap? I asked Dave Williams.
He told me, the actual beers are being kept private at this point, but some Brewery names for you: The Bruery, J Wakefield Brewing, Allagash Brewing, DuPont Brewing. There are a few more really big hitters but I promised to not to spoil their surprise! I know some of those beers and breweries are top-ranked in the world and not available here.
Worried about it being all one style? Williams says, "I'm trying to carry a rare or hard to find in Florida beer from all styles of beer"
This is the first annual event and is being handled entirely by Mack, Williams and the Amelia Tavern. However, Williams has a bigger goal in the future.
"My hopes and vision for this event is to be like the Concours D'Elegance, where we draw in rare beers and breweries from all over the US with an offer to come to warm Florida in February," he said.
I like the way that sounds!
Get your tickets for the event here.
Cheers!
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