They say the early bird gets the worm but who cares? It's the afternoon bird that gets all the beer.
On Saturday, Aardwolf Brewing Company and more than 30 of the best breweries from across the country got together for the inaugural Early Bird Beer Fest.
Kicking off at noon, the fest was held in Aardwolf's parking lot and featured delicious unlimited beer samples from all over the state of Florida and beyond.
If you were lucky enough to score VIP tickets, you also got to take home two bottles of Rye Whiskey Barrel Aged Early Bird Special and two bottles of Tennessee Whiskey Barrel Aged Early Bird Special.
Us? Well, we didn't get to try the specialty releases but word is that there are still some cases left over if you're interested in grabbing a few.
Unfortunately Stephanie Danley was working during the event, but FCB's Casey Feindt got to attend the fest and she had a blast!
Here are her Top 5 favorite brews from Early Bird Beer Fest in no particular order.
Casey's Top 5:
- BREWERY Arkane from Largo, Fl BEER: Cherry Pie NOTES: 5.6% Sour ale with sweet cherries, vanilla, cinnamon and lactose. This beer was out of this world good. Cinnamon can be tricky sometimes and Arkane crushed it with this brew that tastes just like the real thing.
- BREWERY: Southern Grist from Tennessee BEER: Imperial Double Fruited Marshmallow Raspberry Hill. NOTES: It’s a sour with raspberry, marshmallow and lactose. Great balance of fruit with a marshmallow hint on the back-end that doesn't overshadow the raspberry.
- BREWERY J. Wakefield from Miami BEER: Trading Places NOTES: 13% Barley Wine with coconut, coffee and vanilla. Fun play with the name and the sweeter brew that's almost reminiscent of a porter or stout. Can we have this for breakfast?
- BREWERY 3 Stars from Washington D.C BEER: Starsky and Brunch NOTES: 8.3% Double Dutch chocolate stout with maple syrup, coffee and bacon. Move over Funky Buddha, this breakfast stout takes Maple Bacon Coffee Porter and turns the chocolate up x 1000.
- BREWERY Aardwolf BEER: Rum Barrel Aged Mecha Robowhale NOTES: 10% Barrel aged imperial sweet stout with pineapple, coffee and orange peel. I'm a big fan of barrel aged sweet stouts that aren't overly boozy. This was just that. The acidity of the pineapple and orange helped cut some of the stronger rum flavors. This was so good!
