Wow!!! I'm so glad I found out about Omaha Beer Fest!!! We decided to go to the Friday night session as the weather forecast for tomorrow looks like scattered thunderstorms. While it was a teensy bit hot, we got really lucky with the weather....not one cloud in the sky. I loved that it was at Stinson Park at Aksarben Village. It made for such a great venue.
In terms of beer, there were over 60 booths of beer and cider (as well as Cupcake Winery and Moonstruck Meadery). They also had about 5 food trucks. In addition to breweries from Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, and Nebraska, there were also several home brewers. While there were tons of good beers from all of the breweries (basically every beer you could think of and a Vanilla Coffee Stout that I loved), almost all of my favorite beers were from the home brewers. I tried a watermelon ale, an apple pie ipa, a pb & j stout, a lemon wine, and quite a few great coffee stouts from various home brewers. I was just so shocked to find that all of the best beers were from individuals brewing in their basements. It also left me feeling pretty sad as I won't have the opportunity to try these beers until next year's beer fest. I know some of them are looking to open their own breweries....and I'm crossing my fingers that they do!!
While there were tons of people at beer fast (which resulted in a 15 minute wait just to enter), it didn't feel overwhelming. I never waited more than 5 minutes in any line for a beer tasting....nor did I ever wait more than 10-15 minutes to use the restroom (and yes, it was a REAL restroom!). I'd say the only downside to beer fest was the price. I only had about 4-5 beers, which worked out to be about $7-$9 a beer (normally more than I would spend). With that said, I think it is well worth the price in order to sample a ton of different beers, particularly the beers from the home brewers. read more