Beer, Bourbon, and BBQ

Yesterday my dad and I had the pleasure of attending the Beer, Bourbon, and BBQ Festival at the National Harbor. For those of you whom have never heard of it, it is exactly like what it sounds. When you enter the venue, you are handed a tasting glass, much like other festivals such as Wine in the Woods. You can then sample unlimited beers, bourbons, hard ciders, and mixed punches. Your glass has a black fill line equivalent to a shot for the hard liquor, which can get interesting pretty quickly depending on your tolerance. A delicious butterscotch moonshine and one of the same distillery's whiskey later even after a pulled pork sandwich had me looking for the less potent beer. (These came from Dark Corner Distillery and were great!)

Before I continue, here is the tasting glass:

I believe the beer that was in the glass at this time was National Premium and more information can be found here: http://www.nationalpremiumbeer.com/the-beer/. This is a pale, dry beer and as I was later told native to Baltimore, went out of production for quite some time, and is now making a comeback. This is a beer that I would continue to drink although I don't think it would be my first choice to buy.

The beer that was the highlight for me was Shocktop's Twisted Pretzel Wheat. It both tastes and smells like a fresh baked pretzel and is dark in color. This is one that I would seek out for sure. It's not yet on the Shocktop website and I haven't been to a store to look for it but I hope to find it soon!

We also tried Woodchuck's Pink Reserve hard cider (it's actually pink in color and looked almost like a glass of champagne), Lancaster Brewing Company's Strawberry Wheat, Bold Rock's Virginia Apple Cider, Magic Hat, Jack Daniel's Gentleman Jack mixed with raspberry lemonade, and Firefly Distillery's Bathtub punch. I know, I know, one would wonder how we were still standing after all of this but we had food I swear! Plus you really don't get to try too big of a serving.

Out of everything we tried there really wasn't anything we didn't care for, likely because I steered clear of the dark beers which are not my thing. My dad also did not try any of the bourbons or whiskeys because he doesn't particularly care for them. Case in point, we did a Maker's Mark tasting, of which he had none, but he kindly passed to the lady next to us who was going to miss out. I tasted them all, my favorite's probably being the Devil's Cut and Basil Hayden.

Now for the BBQ, which is one of my most favorite things to eat. EVER. When we first arrived we both had pulled pork sandwiches (my dad also had his with baked beans) from Handsome Devil, an award-winning group from New York state. I've really never met a pulled pork sandwich I didn't like, and my only critique for this one was that they put the sauce on for you and I would have like to put it on my own because I felt like they skimped.

Later on I really wanted ribs, but the place I wanted them from, another award-winning group from North Carolina, continuously kept delaying when theirs would be ready. After the third try and a lack of time left I opted to get some from a local group out of Rockville. Ladies, unless you are a rib-eating champ do not order a half rack on your own. If you can eat all of that I applaud you. I chose pork ribs which were fall-off-the-bone tender and smoky, dipped in a Carolina-style sauce (usually vinegar based) with lots of yummy tangy taste. Normally I hate coleslaw but decided to try theirs because it was vinegar based. This was very light and had a little spicy kick to it. I couldn't finish the coleslaw either but was glad I ordered both!

Other vendors offered snack items like beef and other exotic animal jerky, fresh bacon, and funnel cake. I did purchase some elk jerky to take home for the boy.

The following are some other fun pics from the festival, such as a man pulling the pork out of the roasted pig, the beer gut contest, a train-themed smoker, and the ferris wheel on the water. If you ever get the chance to go to this festival I highly recommend it!