The pinnacle of beer festivals back in the day (and many would argue still today) was The Great American Beer Festival.  Twenty years ago, it was a bit of a drunk fest.  You’d have four hours to hit as many breweries as you could out of the 1000 or so on the floor and could drink as much as you could put down in the time allotted.  I’ll never forget seeing some cat drink out of a spill bucket after the taps were closed. Apparently, he wasn’t full after his 4 hour beer odyssey.  Anyone of importance in the brewing industry was there including Michael Jackson who was largely considered to be the World’s leading authority on the subject of beer while he was alive.  He later helped found The Rare Beer Club™ and we do our best to do his legacy justice every month. 

Prost!
Kris

#20yearsofbeer

This was one of those really bitchin’ festival memories. Tom McCarthy and I ran two booths at The Detroit Montreux Jazz Festival 3 or 4 years in a row. As sponsors, I met the mayor a couple times which was cool, but the highlight was kickin’ back in a local watering hole after a 12 hour day of pitching our clubs, only to see the Stanley Cup walk in the door at about midnight. No digital cameras back then so some dude snapped this photo of us and a guy we befriended named Willie who was a stage hand. We gave him our address and he actually sent the photo. How cool is that?

Prost!
Kris

#20yearsofbeer

Over the years, we’ve had a lot of folks participate in beer panel. We’ve been doing it two or more times a month for 20 years now and have kissed a lot of frogs to bring you our final featured selections. These shots were taken at the now defunct Laguna Beach Brewing Company which was home to beer panel for roughly 15 years. Sad to report that the building is now a Tommy Bahama.

Prost!
Kris

#20yearsofbeer