2010 WaZoo Beer Festival – A View from the Other Side of the Bottle
Every year, Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo holds several major fund-raising events. The best of them, in this craft beer lover’s opinion, is WaZoo. Listed by USA Today as one of the “10 Great Beer Festivals” in America, it is also – in the words of Cigar City Brewing’s Wayne Wambles – the “biggest sweat fest of all the beer fests”. Held every year in the beginning of August, Lowry Park Zoo opens the gates in the early evening for a night of craft beer, food, and live music. Tables and booths are set up all around the zoo, in many cases right next to animal exhibits. The beer options run the full gamut from the B-M-C macros to local gems Cigar City Brewing, Saint Somewhere, Dunedin Brewery, and even local homebrew shop the Beer and Winemaker’s Pantry. I have attended WaZoo several times over the years and it is always a lot of fun. Great beers, good food, and a general lively and upbeat atmosphere.
Initially, I was not planning to go this year, however. I had made plans to go out of town and visit family that same weekend, so I had resigned myself to the fact that I would miss the event. But life happens, and due to weather and airport delays, I ended up having to cancel my trip. I wanted to try to go, but $65 at the door was a tad steep for me, and of course I had not made any arrangements ahead of time. In a conversation with a couple of friends I found out that they were going and volunteering for one of the distributors (Florida Micro Beverage) pouring beer. I happened to know someone at FMB and fired off an email volunteering my services. As luck would have it, they can always use an extra hand, and I was set!
I have never worked a beer event before. I have been to many over the years as an attendee, writer, and reveller, but never spent any time behind the bottle. I really didn’t know what to expect, but it turned out to be a great experience. First of all, I drank far more water than I did beer. It was so hot and humid in the early part of the evening, most of us were drenched within half an hour. Moving cases of beer, kegs, and so on wasn’t hard, just hot. I had not thought ahead enough to bring a shirt to change in to, but luckily I was provided a fresh Shipyard t-shirt once the gates opened. I was assigned to the Atlanta Brewing Company/Red Brick table and was pouring Laughing Skull Amber, Red Brick Blonde, and Red Brick Double Chocolate Oatmeal Porter. I had enjoyed these beers before, and was able to talk to those that were interested about them. We were also joined by several volunteers from the Tampa Bay Parrotheads Club who apparently work the event every year. Very nice people and what they lacked in beer knowledge they made up for in enthusiasm and hustle. Several actually took the time to ask the other beer folks questions about the beers we were pouring so they could, in turn, answer others.
The fest-goers ranged in beer knowledge from the geeks looking for the “rarest” thing they could find, and asking questions about IBUs and grain bills to the self-proclaimed “non-beer drinkers” who wanted “whatever is closest to Bud Light”. For me, the latter were the most fun. You normally drink a light beer? Well, try this blonde ale. Its light in color, but there is some actual taste to it. More often than not, the neophytes loved the flavor and character of this magical “craft beer”. Even if only one person left WaZoo thinking “maybe there is more to beer than I originally thought…”, I feel like I performed a great service.
The flow of revelers was pretty constant, but I did take a break and got a chance to walk around for a bit. According to Zoo officials, there were over “250 beverages from around the world” being served, but to be fair a good portion of those were nowhere near craft beer-like. Tables for the macro-brews were big and flashy with attractive young women to reel in potential imbibers, and swag from these tables was handed out endlessly. But tucked among them were great beers, and it was great to see people getting out of their comfort zone to try new and exciting brews. As always, it was fun to see familiar faces and chat.
Eventually, I had to make my way back to my table and get back to pouring. I noticed a slight change in the demeanor of the attendees as the night went on, and the inevitable one-who-had-too-many would come by looking to get another taste of “whatever you got”. Of course I had always seen these folks at beer fests, but never while not drinking myself. The humor I once associated with said behavior was lost on my sober state. But to be fair, the vast majority were still fun and friendly, if slightly slurred and red-cheeked.
As the night came to an end we got a chance to breathe and hang out for a bit. As always, beer events come down to the quality of people moreso than the beer. Tampa Bay has some truly excellent beer people, both in the business and those that just enjoy it. I greatly enjoyed my experience on the other side of the bottle and look forward to future opportunities.
2 Comments to “2010 WaZoo Beer Festival – A View from the Other Side of the Bottle”
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They are(beer festivals), for the most part, as fun to work as they are to attend! Love Wazoo.