Saturday, October 15, 2011 was a great day for Beer in Wisconsin. And strangely it has nothing to do with the fact it was a Badger home game. Instead it has to do with the fact that there were three organized beer festivals in Madison, the Wisconsin Dells, and Eau Claire.
The Madison festival was held at Capital Brewery and called “Fire Fest” as a way of celebrating the beloved “Autumnal Fire” as well as the new kid on the block “Eternal Flame.” They sold bad ass chalices full of twelve ounces of either fire related beer for seven bucks, had a campfire, and probably were going to have a band or something. I was there early in the day when all that was going on was a bunch of middle aged people watching the Badger game on TV and a couple Coasties sitting at picnic tables. It was the first time this event happened.
The Wisconsin Dells festival was held in conjunction with the “Wisconsin Dells Autumn Harvest Fest” near the River District. The price for the “Dells on Tap” beer fest was thirty bucks pre-fest or thirty five bucks day of. Everything was held and big tents and there was even a craft fair and petting zoo associated with this festival. This festival has been going on for a few years now and is awash with Bears fans as many of them have cabins in the area because Illinoise scenery is lame.
The Eau Claire festival was held at The Firehouse. It was called “Wisctoberfest” and was a celebration of Marzen/Octoberfest Style Beers. They sold bright orange plastic mugs of beer for five bucks and had a polka band. Later in the night the “Zombie Pub Crawl” stopped by and there were plenty of creative costumes around. This was the first year for both “Wisctoberfest” and “Zombie Pub Crawl.” It showed of the fact that Downtown Eau Claire is cool again.
Creating your own holiday is nothing new and was really popular in Medieval Europe where basically every other day was some type of Saint’s Day and was cause for celebration. What I feel drives these events is not so much “giving people an excuse to drink” but more “allowing people an excuse to be a part of something.”
Going to all of these events really sold each of them short: I’m sure “Fire Fest” got a lot livelier later in the day, I didn’t want to pay the thirty five bucks for “Dells On Tap” and therefore didn’t get to walk around in the beer tent or get the souvenir glass, By the time I got to “Wiscotberfest” Lazy Monk Oktoberfest was all gone.
But variety is the spice of life. I had a great time driving around the state with my friends taking pictures talking to people and drinking beer. My decision to wear my 2011 NFC Championship shirt did draw ire from people in Dells as did my half assessed cowboy zombie outfit which was just me wearing cowboy shit with fake blood smeared on my face. It was a great day and I hope next year the starts align and all these festivals are one the same day again.
Capital Fire Fest
Dells On Tap
Wisctoberfest/Zombie Pub Crawl
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