Friday, April 5, 2013

It's Friday! Whoop-Whoop It Up!

Wow, what a crazy couple of weeks. We last left off in the waning days of Charlotte Craft Beer Week,
Welcome reception at Air & Space Museum
segueing into the Craft Brewer's Conference (CBC) in Washington D.C. Both were top-notch adventures without a doubt. If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, you might know some of the highlights already. But based on the number of followers I have, I am guessing that most of this will be new material for the majority of you. My feelings aren't hurt though. I don't follow you on Twitter or Instagram either, so I guess that's fair.

For anyone wondering, the CBC is what it sounds like: conference, seminars, trade show, name tags, the whole she-bang. But this particular conference is like the Hall of Fame of brewer's. Every notable person in the craft beer industry is there. I, personally, would not be able to recognize half of the people on the Oscar's red carpet if they were sitting on my lap. But while waiting in line to get into the welcome reception at the Smithsonian Museum of Air & Space, I recognized: the owner of Bell's, the head brewers of Left Hand, Rogue and Sierra Nevada, the owner of Heavy Seas, plus president of the Brewer's Association. All in the space of about five minutes. The list goes on and on, but you get the picture.

Unlike many other conventions, this one gets an entire city (it moves every year) geared up for special beer events all over town. On any given night you can bounce around town from great event to great event. I had a weekly Metro train pass, which was definitely the way to go. I was in and out of the train system day and night for a week, and I now feel like a D.C. expert. I know wacky beer bars in every corner of that city, plus some seriously good eats to boot. When it was time to go home, it was bittersweet. I loved every minute of it, but let's just say that after a week of that business, the time had come for a nice, healthy rest.

Now that I am back I will resume correspondence more regularly. I won't be going anywhere until the end of the month (Philly & Dogfish Head in DE!). I just wanted to remind everyone that I am still alive and back in communication with my readers. Here is one last photo for you. Not sure how I lucked out, but this is a real sign in my D.C. hotel. For some reason if there is a fire, the Hyatt Regency turns into a disco.


"Hey, is it getting hot in here?"
"I don't know, but all I hear is a 'whoop-whoop'! And it appears that a strobe light just kicked on. I feel like the party's just getting started."
"I smell smoke."
"Smoke machine! Sweet!"
Have a great weekend everyone. Whoop it up.

P.S. Michigan Wolverines! Go Blue!