Beer, Bourbon & BBQ Tour 2017

Another year, another awesome trip to Beer, Bourbon & BBQ!  I was really excited to try all sorts of beers at this event, since during our winter vacation in Eastern Europe, we had loads of amazing beer every single day (blog post to come!) and I've finally become a beer drinker.  However, because I wanted to sample lots of beer, I kept in mind the adage "beer before liquor, never sicker"...so I abstained from the "bourbon" third of the equation.

One of the most unique beers we tried early on was the Sarnac S'more Porter.  You read right, s'mores!  This beer was a little cinnamon-y, a little vanilla-y, and leaves you with a marshmallow-tasting finish.  It was so wild sipping s'mores in beer form!

I tried a few different variations of familiar beer brands, including a more crisp and dry Angry Orchard cider, Smuttynose, and Wells Banana Bread.  Possibly a bad idea to have so much beer in such a short amount of time...so food break!

Pork was at its prime here!  We had delectable bacon (of course), pulled pork sliders from Louie's BBQ Pit, pulled pork sliders with jalapenos from Dinosaur BBQ, and likely pulled pork sliders from other fabulous barbecue restaurants as well. There was also a delish pulled pork mac & cheese...I mean, how could you go wrong!?  The absolute best food, though, was the whole pig carving demo: we got a plate heaped with freshly carved, steaming, glisteningly juicy pork.  My first bite had a fragrant, yet subtle, hit of garlic.  The pork was perfection.

And now, for something completely different...

For those of you who are not beer fans? I found the beer (cider, rather) that most resembled a fruity cocktail drink: Strongbow's Cherry Blossom cider.  The cider itself is bright red and was extremely sweet and, therefore, delicious to me. It's definitely not a typical beer, and felt so indulgent and fun.

And because Beer, Bourbon & BBQ coincided with Lunar New Year this year, I obviously had to have some Tsingtao!

Last, but certainly not least, in my drunken stupor I found one of my favorite beers of the day: Abita's Coffee Stout.  Again, this beer is more sweet than usual, but it's so rich with chocolate and coffee notes and actually relatively light and refreshing compared to other stouts or porters!  Unfortunately, I was at my upper limit of beer consumption so I only had the tiniest sip, but this is going to be a beer that I'll seek out.