City Link Beer Fest

This is the first time I have gone to this Beer Festival. I went ahead and bought tickets in advance (Only $15). The tickets included unlimited beer samples. Food was extra. They also had live music which was nice. My one complaint about the music though is they took about an hour break where they had contests like best abs and hairiest chest...I mean come on, we aren't on a cruise. I got a chance to sample most of the beers, the good thing was there weren't huge lines. They had more well known beers like Presidente & Carib. Most of the beers I tried were pretty good. But here is my best and worst.

Best beer: Warsteiner Dark Ale, it was smooth and not to hoppy. It was slightly malty, which I like. I will be looking for this next time I go to Total Wine.

Worst Beer: Jupiter Brewing Company's Organic Amber Ale. I was excited to try a beer from a Florida Brewery, but wow it was horrible! It tasted like something died in there...my thinking was that there was too much yeast. It was so bad, I had to dump it out.

South Beach Food & Wine Festival

The day I had been waiting for finally arrived! The Grand Tasting for the South Beach Food & Wine Festival. My sister, friends & I were ready for a day of food network stars, great food and amazing wines. Our first stop at Noon was Tent A, where we saw Tyler Florence cook up a delicious pizza with tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, sausage, and arugula.



Then we ventured around looking for something to whet our appetites before the Grand Tasting opened at 1:00 pm. The Delta Lounge had great pomegranate martinis and the Publix Tent had sushi, cheese, and Moet Chandon. There was also a great station with chocolate fondue. Right before the Grand Tasting we headed back to Tent A to see Paula Deen, my idol! She looked great, and so did her son Bobby...In a perfect world I would marry Bobby then Paula could be my mother in law.



Now to the Grand Tasting! It seemed even bigger than last year (if that's even possible?). We got to try so many delicious foods and wine. Some of the food highlights were lobster bisque, spicy cocktail shrimp, and a mini meatball sandwich. Some great wines were the Grgich Hills Cab and Beam Estates Pinot Noir. Also, the Belvedere booth made an awesome vanilla martini.

All in all, it was such a fun event. I hope I get to return next year!