There’s a new player in the Florida beer festival scene, and its organizers say they hope it will be a long and fruitful relationship.
The World Beer Festival – St. Petersburg took place Saturday, September 22, in the Historic Coliseum in downtown St. Petersburg, sponsored by All About Beer
Magazine and World Beer Festivals. This was the first time they put on a festival outside of the Carolinas, and it rocked.
More than 60 sampling booths were set up in the space – some pouring beers from more than one brewery – food was available for purchase, and an area was set up on the stage for folks to hear educational presentations from locally based beer personalities, tastings included.
Lots of beer and short lines.
I was honored to lead off the presentations with a talk titled “Why Did They Name It THAT?” during which I spoke about the Florida-based stories that inspired some of the local beer names. (I’m thinking about turning the presentation into a series of posts.)
Sean Nordquist, beer writer and the brain behind Beer for the Daddy, gave a fascinating talk on “A History of Beer in Florida.” One brewery rep told me as an aside that he learned more about the state’s beer history by listening to Sean than he had in his previous 20 years in the beer business in Florida. You can read the text of Sean’s speech here.
Expert orator Danny Reid, the founder and president of South Tampa homebrewers club Special Hoperations, finished up the talks with a presentation about yeast, “How Something So Small Makes Something So Big.” Danny veered off the beer wagon by also offering samples of mead and cider for the audience, and talking about the similarities and differences among the three fermented beverages.
From left, presenters Gerard Walen, Sean Nordquist and Danny Reid.
A VIP area was set up in the balcony with food and beverages not available on the floor, but the impressive beer list meant that there were plenty of fantastic brews – many of them local – for folks to sample no matter which level of ticket purchased. Brewers and brewery reps were on hand, and even the volunteers – some of them local homebrewers – were more knowledgeable than you sometimes find at a festival.
Tampa’s signature Cuban sandwiches in the VIP area.
Though the final ticket count has not yet been calculated, tickets were limited to 1,500. By my rough estimation, about half of that ticket limit was reached. Lines were nearly nonexistent and the layout was ideal. Even if all the tickets had been sold, the venue would not have felt crowded.
Chris Rice, vice president of All About Beer Magazine, says that was just fine.
“We knew it would be hard to sell all the tickets, having just announced it in the middle of summer,” he says. “But we were prepared for 1,500 and bought enough beer that if we had a rush, we would not have run out.”
Plenty of room.
Next year – and they promise there will be a next year – there will be much more time to get the word out.
If you missed this one, of course there’s always the one a year from now. But the World Beer Festivals aren’t done with Florida yet this year.
There is one scheduled for November 10 at The Lakeland Center in Lakeland, and another set for November 17 at the Germain Arena in Estero (between Fort Myers and Naples). The beer and food lists are being finalized, but tickets are now available. Stay tuned.
The St. Petersburg World Beer Festival helped benefit Albert Whitted Airport Preservation Society, which is dedicated to preserving and enhancing Albert Whitted Airport, one of our nation’s most historic aviation facilities.
Cigar City Brewery in Tampa just announced to the world a new venture: a Cigar City Brewpub on North Dale Mabry Highway.
