Louisville Independent Business Alliance (LIBA) held the 7th Annual Louisville Brewfest last night, September 25, at Slugger Field in Downtown Louisville. Louisvillians, Kentuckianans and many others gathered to try tons of local and regional brews and wines. Not to mention, there was a wide selection of delicious local food, too. Once again, the even was a huge success!
Mayor Fischer & His Irish Stout
Mayor Greg Fischer was pouring his own special brew, an Irish Stout, like a true master. Mayor Fischer made sure to chat with each taster as they approached. I couldn’t help but wonder, Mayor or Brewmaster, which is the better job? But then I thought, there’s nothing wrong with both! His Irish Stout, which was brewed in coalition with Goodwood Brewing Company, seemed to be very popular with long lines of eager tasters until it ran out. For an Irish Stout, I found it very drinkable and not too filling, which was perfect since I had my sights set on many more brews.
I also tasted the best malt liquor of my life. Now, I don’t have much to compare it to — the only other malt liquors I can recall having some years ago come in 40oz bottles and brown paper bags. But nonetheless, BBC’s Malt Liquor special tap was tasty. Unfortunately, there were no brown paper bags to go with its pour.
I finally got to try Joella’s Hot Chicken, which is located at 3400 Frankfort Ave here in Louisville. A couple good-sized hot chicken fingers, a piece of bread, pickle slice and a cup of hot sauce for dipping hit the spot.
The Beer Syrup Company, who makes small batch handcrafted simple syrups, gave out samples of their three flavors: Mocha Porter, Pecan Nut Brown and Bourbon Barrel Stout. The samples were of the raw flavors, all of which are perfect additions to pancakes, waffles, French toast, ice cream, cocktails and even glazes for meats or anything else you can think of. Louis’s The Ton offers their syrups in a variety of cocktails, and you can even have it drizzled on their beer floats with Louisville Cream’s ice cream! The Beer Syrup Company isn’t currently selling bottles as they just went live with a Kickstarter and want all their support going to that.
There were plenty of autumn-inspired brews throughout Brewfest, and I tried as many as I could. However, there was one I missed — Lexington Brewing Company’s Kentucky Pumpkin Barrel Ale on the special tap lineup. It was tapped out within the 30 minutes of its first pour. Apparently everyone else thinks it’s just as good as I do.
Now that the 7th Annual Louisville Brewfest has past, it’s time to start looking forward to next year and the 8th Annual Louisville Brewfest! Tickets won’t be available for some time, but when they are, you’ll be able to purchase them via LIBA’s website. If you’re looking forward to the elusive VIP ticket and commemorative glass, make sure to get them early as they will most definitely sell out again.
Here’s to next year. Until then, Keep Louisville Weird. Cheers!
Photo's courtesy of Jonathan Wagner.
