So, I had the opportunity to attend another beer festival this past weekend in Rock Hill. This comes only two weeks after the festival in Athens that Chris took me to. I was super-stoked about this one – it was called “Mountain Jam Brew Fest” and it was advertised that people should bring tents to camp out for the day. This sounds like fun!
Jeff and I got there early and watched them set up and kept our eye on the clock. A $25 pass bought unlimited beer for 2 hours and we didn’t want to miss a minute of it!
We were quickly joined by Ronnie, Sally, Alan, Kevin and Teresa. The perfect group for a day of drinking and fun. The clock struck 2 and we were off.
There were very few brewers compared to the Athens fest, but that festival was 4 hours long and $40, so it’s all relative I guess …
I was spoiled immediately by the Thomas Creek representative, who clearly knows his craft. He talked to us about all the different brews, answered all of our questions, and even dived into the home brewing topic. This was fun!
Unfortunately, though, he was one of the only ones who did. Most of the other booths seemed to be manned by McHales’ employees. They knew about beer of course, but they didn’t offer up the information without being asked and they seemed much less interested in sharing their knowledge. I got a lot of, “Try this you’ll like it” without a lot more information. I’m not really a beer aficionado but being around Chris has certainly taught me a thing or ten, and I like to try to pay attention.
I did find a couple of beers I liked that I hadn’t yet had – “Son of a Peach” by RJ Rockers out of Spartanburg and Skinny Dip from New Belgium. I also got to taste some current favorites – Abita’s Strawberry Harvest and Purple Haze. I love fruity tasting beers (obviously), but Chris has taught me that I like pilsners, hefeweizens, wheat beers, some IPAs, some pale ales and probably more that I can’t remember.
But really, it’s not just about the beer. It’s about who you’re drinking the beer with, and I was really struck on Saturday by what a great group of buddies I had around me. We had so much fun.
Unfortunately, our group made up a large fraction of the people there. It was pretty barren. McHales did a great job of setting it up but I’m afraid they didn’t market it very well. I heard about it from Ronnie and had to search really hard to find any information online. But, we still got our share of beer from the experience!
Alan collects cups
We ran into our friends Elizabeth and Sandy. I saw Sandy cross the finish line at Tri the Rock that morning!
So glad one of my closest friends is back in town!
There was cornhole and Disc Golf. There was a climbing wall. But I mean, who’s crazy enough to climb a climbing wall after drinking a bunch of beer?
Ok, so I guess there’s something about boys and beer and climbing …
So, after all this we decided to go back to Ronnie and Sally’s for some swimming. Except, I didn’t have a bathing suit. So, a stop to Target on the way over fixed that. There’s something a bit odd about walking into a Target while drunk when it’s still daylight. Never mind picking out a bathing suit.
And of course the sizes are all off.
Teresa found me the perfect one, though – and I will actually wear it again!
We headed to the pool, jumped in and splashed around until the pizza guy showed up and then we ate the heck out of some pizza.
All in all, I’d say the Athens beer festival was bigger and better, but they were both equally fun. That’s what good friends will do!
