AleFest Columbus 2006 review

Free tickets make all the difference, but this inaugural event offered a value that might entice me to drop $30 on it next year.
Set up was simple - tables in a big circle and along the ballroom walls, each filled with tubs of bottles and a in a few places, draught systems (wished for more of those, actually).

20 pours didn't sink me as far into drunkedness as I expected. I stepped back into daylight feeling pretty good.

And since I waited so long to post this, here's something I wrote for my real job about the fest:

October 18 - 25, 2006


AleFest displays advancing palate of brew drinkers
By BILL MELVILLE
The sheer volume of negative election ads campaigns subject TV viewers to have driven me to drink -- just not in the way that you think.

Autumn brought a number of beer-related events to Columbus, covering beers crafted in both local and distant brew kettles.

As more people become connoisseurs of ale and lager, Columbus has seen a recent proliferation of beer festivals scattered among the standard autumn celebrations.

Places like the Elevator, Barley's and the Columbus Brewing Company have been pouring their own draughts for some time, but as beer develops an audience similar to wine, some broader exposure is necessary.

Beer drinkers haven't been slow to embrace a wider array of styles. They just don't have their version of Sideways to aid their cause yet (while funny, Beerfest definitely wasn't that movie).

AleFest Columbus 2006, one of five beer events held in Ohio's major cities, was held Saturday at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. Attendees had well more than a hundred different beers across dozens of styles to sample.

A crowd pushing 1,000 circled the ballroom, filling the small glasses again and again moving across Europe and through legions of American microbrews.

(Disclosure line: Neither my friend nor I got behind the wheel afterward; his wife kindly drove us to and from the convention center).

The bottles can intimidate at a beer store; if you're not cognizant of the style, a wrong choice can mean ending up with a beer as hefty as wine or with enough tart fruitiness to pucker the lips.

Even if an autumn Saturday runs a beer event straight into an OSU home football game, there isn't a better time of year on the calendar to sample beer.

This month always heralds one of the world's longest-continually celebrated wedding anniversaries (Oktoberfest takes its roots in the 1810 nuptials of Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig, later King Ludwig I).

But while Oktoberfest deals in heavy volumes of beer, it has one style forever tied to it. What we call Oktoberfest the Germans call Marzen, because they brew it in March, then pour it in October.

These new festivals recognize Americans have branched beyond straw-colored, mass-produced beer to taste the giant list of beer types from around the world.

Even the darkest tavern usually offers some microbrew, and in the grocery store, ale crafted by Trappist monks in Belgium sits down the aisle from Anheuser-Busch beers brewed in north Columbus.

Anheuser-Busch even offered a selection at AleFest: Burnin' Helles, a craft German-style lager developed at the local brewery specifically for the Ohio market.

AleFest wasn't alone in showcasing beer.

The North Market took its first foray into beer festivals in September with the Columbus Microbrew Festival, which spotlighted beers brewed locally in small batches, said Executive Director David Wible.

The local brewer delegation poured sample draughts, offering a solid introduction to myriad styles served up by local brewpubs.

"In light of the Ohio Wine Festival, it was a natural progression. When you look at the market and what we're trying to accomplish, we thought it would be a good way to expose our customers to the local microbrewers," Wible said.

Tasters mobbed the second floor of the market and it ran out of all 1,200 tasting glasses. Wible said an estimated 1,500 tasters took part.

"We were all pleasantly surprised, if not overwhelmed by the number of people, especially since there was a home football game," he said.

A second round of the microbrew festival is already on tap for next year.

I'm just disappointed the new wave of beer festivals has already run its course. The closer Election Day draws, the more such a distraction becomes necessary.

As long as I cannot garner any substance from those ads, I'd rather know beer than grow to know our candidates through blocks of insipid advertising.