This review is long overdue, but here goes:
Truth be told, the cost to get in is, in my opinion, too expensive to ever pay for; something like $40 per person to be at the whim of mother nature (the fest is outdoors with one tent for sitting down to eat or just rest). Then, you get to buy food, beer, soda or water if you want any of those. You do get a souvenir tasting glass, but the printed design started coming off immediately with any kind of friction from your hand, and completely vanished with a good wash in the sink. Sorry, but even if the printing didn't come off the glass, it's still a steep price to pay to sample things. We were able to go because we won free tickets.
This fest opened my palate up to a whole new realm of beverages. I don't like beer, I'm still working on wine, and I have a select few liquors that I like.
Each vendor had multiple varieties of ciders to sample. Some had just two or three and some had as many as eight!. Each vendor had a water jug with a spigot so you could rinse your glass out between samples. There were domestics like Angry Orchard, Crispin and Strongbow, and then there were some from Great Britain. There were apple ciders, pear, cherry and other berries and, I believe, a pineapple cider. One of my favorites was the Apple Cinnamon by Cider Boys. It tasted just like a homemade pie.
Because it was held at Schlitz Park, one of the food vendors was The Brown Bottle. There were three food trucks on site as well. One served Mexican, one served New Orleans type fare (po' boys and such) and one served falafel. There was a charity on site raising money and a wonderful brass band walking around. There was an oom-pa-pa band inside the tent, too.
I would definitely go again, but I would need either free tickets or much cheaper ones to do so. One other thing to consider tweaking is the distance between vendors. Some were on a hill while others were in the street and this layout seemed very disconnected.
13/2016 read more