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The Valparaiso Community Festivals and Events (VCFE) held it's 2nd Annual BrewFest on Saturday, September 24, 2011 at the new Central Park Plaza. Dan McGuire, Superintendent of Parks and Recreation, said that the Brew Fest was an event in partnership with the Parks Department and the VCFE. McGuire stated, "The BrewFest gives a lot of exposure to the downtown. A lot of people haven't yet seen the new Central Park Plaza and this event brought them down here."
At the BrewFest, the band Chris & Lou performed live for fest-goers, and there were many local breweries offering samplings of their tasty craft beers.
One of the brewers was The Devil's Trumpet Brewing Company. The name for their brewery came because of an inspiration of a flower called The Devil's Trumpet. It is a flower that only blooms at night and for only one night.
The names of their beers follow the inspiration of The Devil's Trumpet, with names like Icarus and Evil Eye. But don't let the names scare you the beer is full of flavor. At the Devil's Trumpet Brewing Company, they recommend you drink your beer out of a snifter so that you can take in the aromas to complete the enjoyment, claiming. "Beer is becoming more sophisticated, we want you to sip it, taste it and take in all the aromas."
Crown Brewing Company of Crown Point, wanted to be a part of the BrewFest. Assistant Brewer Zack Bryan says of the festival, "We like educating people on the different styles of beer and like to tell people what craft brewing is all about." They offered a pumpkin beer complete with pumpkin spices like ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg.
Evil Genius Beer company offered a single choice of beer which was delicious. Trevor Hayward, owner said the beer was a "German-style Aolsch. It has a slight taste of pear with floral aromatics and a dry crisp taste." And there was Figure Ei8ht Brewing. Brewmaster and Owner Tom Uban said that they like coming to the BrewFest because they like being able to introduce people to their beer. Uban said, "Ro Shampo is our most popular beer."
There were many, many beers to sample. All event goers had a glass in hand, but if it slipped out of your hand and broke, and they did, the crowd would cheer. Anna Steuer, attending the fest said "if you drop your glass everyone cheers, but it's all in fun."
Mayor Costas was out enjoying the BrewFest and said, "This is the second year this has been held. 1,700 tickets were sold and sold out in 2 months. This draws people from all over the region to sample craft beer and we want to continue to have the BrewFest here in Valpo."
Tina St. Aubin, Director of Events for the Valparaiso Community Festival and Events, explained that the BrewFest started with a partnership between Curt Foreman and the VCFE. Curt Foreman runs the Great Lakes Brew Fest in Racine, Wisconsin and has had success with it. It was logical to bring the BrewFest to Valpo. St. Aubin said, "It's great that we can partner with people, this way we can accomplish more."
The VCFE is non-profit and by holding the BrewFest, it raises funds for other community events. Most of the events that the VCFE. provide are FREE. Some of the wonderful free activities that Valpo has enjoyed are the free Sunday concerts and the summertime movies in the park. To learn more about upcoming events, including the Fall Fest on October 28, 2011, visit valparaisoevents.com
A special thank you from V.C.F.E to North Coast Distributing, Art Hill, Frontier, Griegers, Triangle Liquors & Trail Inn Liquors, Town & Country, Digital Graphic Solutions LLC and Teachers Credit Union for sponsoring the event.
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