11th Annual Strong Ale Festival

This past Saturday my girlfriend and I attended the 11th Annual Strong Ale Festival at Pizza Port in Carlsbad. We rolled into Carlsbad in the early afternoon, ready to taste the ~60 beers at or over 8%abv.





After checking ourselves into the hotel, strategically located within stumbling distance of the fest, we walked down to to Pizza Port. Wow, I didn't expect the huge line. Others mentioned the wait to get in had been over an hour long earlier in the day, thankfully it looked to be about half as long when we arrived. While in line several folks stumbling out of the event offered wristbands and/or advise on how to weasel in, and another kind soul offered a cup of hot (and tasty) clam chowder to warm us up a bit. Discarding the bands/advise, we happily consumed the chowder. Thank you anonymous chowder guy! As it turned out, our friends showed up as we were about half way to the door and we ended up ditching the line for pizza 'n beer at the main restaurant next door.





A few pints, a carlsbad pizza, and some garlic buddies later - our friends had to go and it was time for us to start tasting some strong ale. By the time we entered the tasting area the price had gone down $5 a head and there was absolutely no line - whoopee!





Much beer was consumed, most of it was great - only a couple not so great and one was just plain terrible. In all, a great evening of great beer, good friends, and mmmm mmm good food.


With any luck, I'll be able to talk my girlfriend into getting her brewery involved in next years gig.


Thank you Pizza Port for hosting an awesome event  :)


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