Columbus Summer Beerfest 2013

A group of us attended the Columbus Summer Beerfest at the LC Pavilion on Saturday.  This was my second time at the festival.  It seemed better organized this year than last (though there was really nothing wrong with it last year).  Attendance looked to be much higher than last year, too, though I’ve not seen official numbers.

As VIP ticket holders, we were able to enter the festival earlier than general admission attendees.  This is advantageous if you are interested in any of the limited availability beers being offered, such as cask-conditioned ales.  It also gives you time to get around and see everything before it gets overly crowded.

Columbus Summer Beefest 2013 VIP Entry Gate

Once inside the VIP gates, we were able to visit the food trucks inside and begin sampling beer.

Food Truck Area just inside the VIP gate

Entry to the main festival area was through the back of the parking lot. 

In addition to food from the food trucks, soft drinks, and of course a lot of beer, the festival featured live music on the LC Pavilion stage throughout the event.

Main Beerfest Area with stage featuring live music

I sampled many different beers during the festival, including:

• 5 Lizard Passionfruit Wit:  On the sour side, but the passion fruit flavor came through strongly.
• Elevator Brewing’s Dirty Dick’s Nut Brown Ale:  A nice version of this classic beer style
• Rockmill Cask Aged Tripel:  One of the better beers I had at the festival
• Steen Brugge Tripel:  Slightly hoppy but a good beer
• One of the Dogfish Head cask aged beers (not sure which it was)
• North Coast Pranqster
• Goose Island Pepe Nero
• Goose Island Matilda
• Thirsty Dog Barrel Aged Wee Heavy:  an excellent beer

And there were probably quite a few more that I don’t remember.

Overall, it was nice event, well run, well attended, and a lot of fun.  I’m already looking forward to next year’s!