Zona Rosa Beerfest Follow-Up

UNICO-KC held their first beerfest at the Zona Rosa shopping center yesterday. It was held over by the center plaza on a blocked off street. Since this was an inaugural event I was curious what kind of crowd would show up. I did catch a radio spot the day before, and when I bought my tickets in advance there were a few other people wanting to save some cash too. Plus the weather was a little iffy with a chance of thunderstorms. Even these potential obstacles, there was a good sized turn out and everyone seemed to have a good time.

The brewers attending were primarily local/regional with strong showing from MillerCoors and AB/Inbev. That might also keep some beer geeks away who don't consider Blue Moon or Shock Top to be craft beer. If something like that kept you away from the fest then you missed out on a good time. What I did see was there was a good size number of women attending and a lot of them did not seem to be there because of a guy. Nice to see that. I also saw quite a few comic book t-shirts. Makes me think there is a strong overlap of comic book geeks and beer geeks. And then there was an Imperial Stormtrooper. I just don't know what that's about.

Here's a breakdown of the brewers and beers that stood out for me.

Boulevard was pouring their Pilsner, Sasion-Brett, Tank 7, and Zon. Saison-Brett and Tank 7 were both stand outs for me, which I'm looking forward to a new bottling of the Saison-Brett next year. I also put in a suggestion that a fluted Pilsner glass would be pretty sweet to go with the Pilsner beer.


O'Fallon was pouring 5 Day IPA, Wheach, and the Pumpkin Ale seasonal. I love me some pumpkin ale, and this was the first time I've had O'Fallon's. Very clean with a good deal of spices. Yum. This was also the first time I had tried the Wheach. Usually I stay clear of fruity beers like that because they can sometimes be syrupy. I was pleasantly surprised. Very crisp, very clean and refreshing.

Schlafly had their Summer Lager, APA, Oatmeal Stout, and Hefe on tap and also pouring their Biere De Garde. And speaking of Pumpkin Ale, they confirmed that Schlafly's Pumpkin Ale, which is my all time favorite, will be out in September. The Biere De Garde was a big stand out for me and I was sad when they ran out.

Also in attendance was Weston Brewing (see previous post on these guys), Big Sky out of Montana, Gordon Biersch, Granite City (yes I grabbed a growler of Bock for $15, usually it's $25), Amerisports Brew Pub, Sam Adams, Leinenkugel, and the before mentioned MillerCoors and ABInbev offerings.

As for food, there was a variety of street carts. I decided to go with a giant tenderloin sandwich. The tenderloin dwarfed the bun it was served on. I doctored it up with some pickles, mayo, mustard, and horseradish sauce. The breading on the loin was light and crispy, which I think is what made it so good. Sometime you get one with a hard crust or the breading is soggy with grease. Not here. It was only $5, which I would have paid more for it. And there's that Stormtrooper again.

About an hour before the fest was to end the skies opened up and we had a pretty good thunderstorm. And the cool thing was that most of the people stuck it out. Those with umbrellas shared and everyone else got cozy under the different beer tents. I got to meet some cool people, that I will probably hang out with again, and had some great laughs. I really hope that UNICO-KC did well with this fest and will do another one.