Myrtle Beach Beer Fest

Our long weekend at the beach was centered around the Myrtle Beach Beer Fest. Even though it was cloudy and we had a round of spinkly rain, the beer fest was really fun. This was the first year it was held. We’ve been to several other Beer Fests and while this was smaller, it was also less crowded and much more relaxing and enjoyable. Despite a lot of your typical domestic beers, we were able to try a few local brews as well as others we just have not had the chance to try for one reason or another. It was also a great way to try different styles that I don’t normally like such as IPAs. Tara and I were the talk of the festival with our Foothills Sexual Chocolate Imperial Stout shirts! Rick decided to the be the oddball and wear and Dogfish Head t-shirt.

My favorites were Clipper City Loose Cannon, Hook & Ladder Backdraft Brown, New Holland Poet Stout, Foothills Peoples Porter, RJ Rockers Buckwheat, Stone Smoked Porter, New South Nut Brown Ale and Thomas Creek Deepwater Dopplebock.

The festival was held in the new Market Street Commons. Afterwards, we ate at Gordon Biersch for a late lunch where I had the beer sampler, then walked around the shops. The trip was not complete without a beer-buying spree in the Piggly Wiggly of all places. What a great selection…we came out with Founder’s Kentucky Bourbon Stout, Southern Tier Java, Wild Dog Collaborator, New Holland Dragon’s Milk and Great Divide Espresso Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout!

We were pretty exhausted from beer tasting, so dinner consisted of leftovers and the most amazing Mac & Cheese from Beecher’s in Pike Place Market…all the way from Seattle. My sister in law, Julie sent it to us since it’s the best comfort food she knew of. We were instant fans and plan on ordering more. It’s shipped fresh and ready to bake! DELICOUS!