Yesterday, I caught you guys up on Day 1 of the Brewmasters International Beer Festival that SKing and I attended last September.
Today, I'm bringing you Day Two - also known as VIP Day.
If you guys don't remember, I entered a Twitter Contest for VIP Tickets to the Brewlicious Beer & Food Tasting event.
My contest entry
Wellllllll... I won!
SKing and I loaded up the Audi once again and headed back down to Galveston.
We first met up with @JoshInHouston for our VIP Passes and some free Nikita Swag!
We headed into the Moody Gardens Ballroom, a little nervous and shy -until we saw the Applewood Bacon Wrapped Quail with a Pomegranate Glaze made by the chefs at Bernardo's. We. Love. All. Things. Quail. We washed it down with a sampling of New Belgium Mother Ship Wit, an organic wheat beer.
Next was Hofbrau Dunkel paired with Baby Short Ribs, Polenta, and Micro Greens by the folks at South Shore Harbor Resort
Comfort food done bougie in all the right ways!
Nikita Table Cards & a Beer App?!
What photos are missing here? The gorgeous guy pushing Harpoon Cider Beer.
As we have a special place in our hearts for cider beer (our friendship truly began over pints of Wood Chuck Amber) we saw the Harpoon Hottie and thought it was a match made in heaven. Once we made our way over to the booth, we learned a few important lessons. Mainly, all cider beers were not created equal and the booth with the hottest rep usually has the worst beer. I believe our review was along the lines of "dirty dish water." Yech!
Green Eyed Susan Macaroons - a Houston company that hand-makes gluten / preservative free macaroons.
ESB Cheese Soup with Citruc Creme Fraiche paired with Redhook ESB by Stone Kitchen
We'll cam-whore in a crowded room, no worries.
There were seminars throughout the day, hilarious booth workers, and of course our beloved Woodchuck paired with eclairs and other sweets from Moody Gardens.
We circled around a bit before we found this booth, but finally we found the Citrus Pork Belly Lollipop on a Sugar Cane Stick from Voice Restaurant & Lounge. I read about it online beforehand and couldn't wait to try it. This was hands-down our favorite dish. It was paired with St. Arnold's Elissa IPA which is made right in Houston.
We also got to try some sliders and empanadas!
We also spotted Abita's SOS: Save Our Shore as we made a few new friends.
All in all, it was the perfect laid back follow up to Brewmasters International Beer Festival Day 1. SKing and I not only enjoyed all the yummy beer and food pairings, but thanks to my contest winning entry, we also got to enjoy VIP treatment that included larger tasting glasses, a special VIP seating area, and early entry.
With September drawing closer, you can bet we're already making plans to attend this year's festival.
