16th Annual Southern Brewers Festival - Chattanooga, TN

My wife and I and some friends attended the 16th Annual Southern Brewers Festival in Chattanooga this past weekend and had a great time. We stayed right near the festival on our friends' (Tiff and Brenda) boat. There was great music by Big Head Todd & the Monsters. And, of course, there was a lot of great beer.

We opted this year for the "Party on the Pier" (photo above) VIP passes that promised us unlimited food, beer as well as beer-garden-style seating at the festival, private restrooms and close access to the music stage. It was a good deal overall. My only hesitation was that the "unlimited beer" was being provided by Gordon Biersch Brewing, the sponsor of the "Party on the Pier." My past dealings with Gordon-Biersch beer have not been too great. What little I have had of their offerings (a lame airport bar, Big River Restaurant brands, Sin City Brewing in Vegas) has been ho-hum at best. But, I figured if their beer selection wasn't great, I still had plenty of microbrewers to choose from at the festival.

We still only got one sample token with our ticket and I spent it quickly on a mug of Sierra Nevada Tumbler Brown Ale. Delicious. The folks at Sierra-Nevada hardly ever disappoint and even though they aren't a "Southern" brewer, I was glad they were there. After that great start, we ambled on to the pier to see what the unlimited beer and food consisted of. The food was impressive with a good spread of eats including grilled brats, Kobe burgers, salad, cookies, etc. As far the beer went, I first thought they only had two offerings which were listed on a tap station near the food - Gordon Biersch Rodenbier and Gordon Biersch Czech-style Pilsner - definitely nothing to get excited about, but I had not had either from G-B, so I give them a try. The pilsner was actually decent, but I didn't car of the Rodenbier at all. Can't find out much about it. It translates "Clear Beer" in German. Beats me. It wasn't clear but it was quite bitter. I asked for another pilsner at a different tap station. I figured I would have one more "freebie" and then go buy some tokens and have some good beer. The lady behind the tap said she didn't have the pilsner. She had a lager and a stout.

"Stout, please!" I replied joyfully.

It seems each of the four tap stations had different beer, but no signs saying what they had except at the first one I went to. The stout was quite decent. The other stations I visited had a CPA (California Pale Ale) and a Roasted Pale Ale. Both were very good. Needless to say, I spent most of my afternoon and evening partaking in the decent, bottomless beers provided by Gordon Biersch.

I was given a token by a friend of ours who isn't a big beer drinker...then why did you come to a BEER festival?? Oh, well, I don't care. More for me! I sampled the Starr Hill Festie with that token. Another excellent brew from the guys from Charlottesville, VA. It's an Oktoberfest-style lager that was smooth going down and finished nicely.

I guess I did miss the opportunity to try a few new beers at the festival (there were only a few I didn't recognize), but bottomless beer at no extra cost is hard to pass up. Another great beer festival in Tennessee. You gotta love it.