4 Ounces to Freedom

This weekend, I had the agonizing choice of picking between the Taste of DC and the Capital City's Mid-Atlantic Octoberfest in Shirlington. Both events promised the availability of samples of craft beer and low-priced foods; picking between the two is like picking your favorite Disney movie. Impossible. Considering that the Taste of DC would assuredly include more cupcakes, cookies, and candies than Octoberfest, you may be surprised to hear that I spent my Saturday indulging in 4 ounce samples of craft beer. This, my friends, is what I did for love. As many of you know, my beau is an avid beer lover and, some would say, part of the intelligentsia of craft beer drinkers. Plus, I'm not foreign to drinking beer myself, and I sincerely enjoy trying new brews. Also, going to Taste of DC would require getting on the Metro...so minus ten points.Heavily considering the pros and cons, we headed out to Shirlington in the early afternoon knowing that there were more than forty breweries waiting for us ready to fill our tiny "pint" glasses. But first, we would have to wait awhile. This event was so popular that the photo above only captured a fraction of the line we had to wait in to get our tickets. Waiting in line for tickets wasn't fun, but thankfully there were enough breweries and food vendors at the event that we didn't have to wait long for anything once we entered the festival. Even for the most popular brewers, like Stone and Dogfish, the lines took maybe a minute to get through. There was plenty of beer to go around.

This Octoberfest featured a great many pumpkin beers and seasonal offerings, as well as some of the tried and true beers that the breweries are known for. Among my favorites were the Epic's Sour Apple Saison, Firestone Walker's Double Jack, and Founder's Red Rye PA. I was also pleasantly surprised by Delirium Tremens' lambic, though I'm not even sure that it was really a beer... someone might have switched out the keg with a bottle of Arbor Mist. I'm not complaining.

Throughout the afternoon, I tried some truly potent potables. I wasn't even able to make it all the way through my the ten beer tickets that came with the cost of admission. Thankfully, beer wasn't all that Octoberfest had in store for us, or I would have been able to sample even less. In addition to more traditional Octobefest schnitzels and sausages, this event had all kinds of food. We had some Indian food from Aroma Indian Cuisine. Only $5.00 for a plate full of chickpeas, naan, and rice! Alright! Colin got double hungry and also sampled the offerings from T.H.A.I Shirlington. The crowd started getting a little sloppy around the time the event was closing, but aside from a few broken glasses all ended well. If you ask me, this was a great event. We had perfect weather, great company, and more beer than I could drink all for the low cost of $25.00. Also, the event was just as good for dog-watching as it was for-people watching. I wouldn't hesitate to go back. Oh, and according to the Washingon Post's Going out Gurus, we made a good call by picking Octoberfest. Sounds like the lines at Taste of DC were outrageous.