San Antonio Beer Festival - The Offbeats, T-Bird & The Breaks, Act Rights, Lonely Horse, Whiskey Ships, and Advance Cassette this weekend

I am not quite the beer snob as I thought I was until I attended a Yelp Elite event in Austin where I got to taste some of my tried & true breweries from Austin.  As I circled around The County Line at The Lake, I filled my belly with all sorts of beer from Circle Brewery, Independence, and even some tasty seasonal Saint Arnold's - these, respectfully, are my "tried & true" beers I always have when I am out and about in Austin.  However much to my surprise, Ranger Creek Brewery was by far my new favorite...and guess what? THEY ARE FROM SAN ANTONIO!!!!!!  This fact blew my mind considering the only few breweries I have been to in S.A. are Blue Star Brewing and Pearl Brewery - respectfully!!

I ended up having 3 sample tastes of Ranger Creek's Small Batch No. 3 - an inclusive batch of American Barleywine beer issues by the brewery in . It was my first barleywine to try and boy was I HOOKED! So tasty, rich, dark, and a strong alcohol taste was definitely ideal paired with the free BBQ I was having at the event. According to the brew master that gave me the sample(s), the Small Batch beers they make usually are experimental beers they put out in efforts to see what people think of the taste even though the brewmasters have NO CLUE how they taste! Amazing, huh? The exclusivity of the beer and the availability is rare so when you see the Small Batches out at the store or festivals, it is recommended you try it because once it's gone, it's gone!

I also got to try their amazing and lightly smoked Mesquite Smoked Porter beer which was SO damn good that after the event I went straight over to Central Market to pick up a handle of beer for my own. This is the kind of beer you want to drink when it's damn near cold outside.

Luckily, for me (and you too), Ranger Creek Brewery is one of the 150 craft beers you can taste and try at the San Antonio Beer Festival this weekend.  I also hear it's going to be really cool this weekend with temperatures in the lower 60's as the high!!

Of course a ton of breweries will be out at the Hemisphere Plaza (where I used to play on the wooden playground as a kid) right in the middle of downtown San Antonio from 1:00pm - 6:00pm.  Those breweries included are:

 

and SO MUCH MORE!!!! The main breweries I am seeing listed on SA Current's newspaper insert are the Guadalupe Brewing Company, Circle Brewing Co., Pedernales Brewing Co., and Roelbert's Brewery (which has no website on Google listed).  The rest of the beers listed will be available but do not think the actual brewery company will be in attendance - just their beer which is fine by me!

Also, to not forget the local music that will be playing at the festival - my ultimate favorite THE OFFBEATS will be rocking the stage set for their set at the Hemisphere Plaza.



Other bands include:
Whiskey Ships
(remind me of a combination of The Kinks and Guided By Voices)


the Act Rights
(whom I saw at SXSW this past year. They were an official artist in a showcase I stage managed that includes former White Denim's drummer (Josh Block))


 Lonely Horse
(a heavy folkesque sound)



the amazing & Austin's own T-Bird and the Breaks
(this will indefinitely make you wanna move/dance)



Advance Cassette
(kind of remind me of T-Rex)







Ticket information for the SA Beer Festival can be found here - $30 gets you in if you buy online (or phone) BEFORE the event.  Day of event the tickets will be $35.


Come sip some REALLY fine tasty beers and let's marvel at the architecture around us of downtown San Antonio like the Tower of Americas, Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, fancy ass Marriot, Mexican Cultural Institute, etc.  You can dance with me too, if you want.