This year’s Sprung! Spring Beer Festival had a new home: and old RC Cola Plant in Wynwood (Miami)! Sounds sexy, right? But it makes perfect sense with the craft beer boom in Wynwood. Wynwood Brewing is across the street and Concrete Beach and J. Wakefield Brewing are just a few blocks away. And after a super soggy and muddy Grovetoberfest a few months ago, it’s cool that this one changed venues to a concrete base!
My wife and I arrived promptly on time, one of my best virtues! First stops, J. Wakefield and Concrete Beach, right next to each other. And we hit Wynwood Brewing shortly after, duh, locals first! I was actually sporting about a month of unkempt beard and an unruly head of hair so I could fit in with the Wynwood brewers (along with MANY others). My wife hated that, so call it a sacrifice!
Along with the Wynwood favorites, lots of other local and Florida breweries were representing: MIA, Big Storm, Barrel of Monks, Hatuey, Coppertail to name a few. There were also dozens of awesome must stops at every beer festival. Founders, Green Flash (including that awesome Alpine Brewing), Sierra Nevada, Lagunitas (thanks to the girl there that helped me kill the Apple update out of nowhere), Saint Arnold and Sweetwater to name just a few.
Cooking and beer demos, a really nice lineup of food trucks (yum, roasted corn on the cob), fun games including one that reminded me of the sweeper arm in that show WipeOut, homebrewers, a fun band, and of course the VIP Area. For me, the VIP area compared to prior years was a little different. We thought (and overheard many similar remarks) that the food part was a bit of a letdown while the VIP beer offerings were a major upgrade. Think Black Ops and some rare sours and other specialty options, was great. And the VIP area also offered some shady relief on a super angry hot day!
We saw some old friends and made new ones. I also took pictures of some really cool t-shirts the attendees were wearing! Check those out and the photo album below. I’m definitely a fan of the new location too! A must drink Miami event! See you next year!
