Photos: Great Taste of the Midwest
August 14, 2008 12:22 pm Beer NewsYou know when you walk into a festival and see an entire tent that’s devoted to “Real Ale” that you’re in for a good time. The Great Taste of the Midwest is held annually in Madison, WI. It’s put on by the Madison Homebrewers and Tasters Guild, the local homebrew club. The festival is the second longest running beer festival in the US and it’s now in it’s 22nd year. Over 100 Brewers attended from all over the Midwest bringing over 400 different beers to sample.
This was by far the most fun beer festival I’ve ever attended. The people, the setting, the brewers, and the weather just added up to be an almost perfect beer experience. I think Drew Huerter put it best when he said to me, “You know those Miller Lite beer heaven commercials? They’ve got it all wrong, this is beer heaven.” I’m posting about 70 photos that will hopefully help to help to explain just how awesome this event is. Also, if you’re interested in the beers available at the event, here’s the PDF of the official program.
I just want to thank Stephen and Sara Hale and the St. Louis Brewery for allowing me to tag a long and expose me to such a fantastic event. Now on to the photos:
BMock :
Date: August 14, 2008 @ 1:13 pm
It’s hard to descibe my feelings from viewing these photos. Jealousy…envy…wanting…anger…joy…it’s all there.
cubby_swans :
Date: August 14, 2008 @ 3:10 pm
Nice pics. I’m a bit jealous, but I take solace in the fact that while you had your beer festival, I had my “beer fest”. Which simply involved rediculous amounts of alcohol consumption, some good, some bad, on a camping/float trip with about 85 people who dub ourselves as “A drinking club with a running problem”. I didn’t recover until yesterday.
Marc :
Date: August 14, 2008 @ 3:32 pm
Are you a Hash House Harrier?
Man, that sounds fun, but that drinking and running thing sounds pretty rough to me.
Yeah, the GTMW was freaking amazing.
cubby_swans :
Date: August 14, 2008 @ 3:55 pm
That I am. It’s only as rough as you make it. I start out running, but it turns into walking pretty quickly. And it’s not like we’re drinking stout and Imperial IPA’s… the beer we drink before and during the runs is generally something light and real cheap. Milwaukee’s Best seems to be there a lot. So it’s not much different than having a water.
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