America On Tap - Wilmington, Delaware
- Aubrie & Barry
- Aug 13, 2016
- 4 min read
A few months ago we won tickets to the America on Tap Beer Festival in Delaware at this annual benefit. One of our best friends always has an auction and penny social with tons of awesome prizes. And the best part is that it is all to benefit the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation! (It's a great cause, and if you want to know more about it, visit his Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PatsCrohns/)
America on Tap (http://americaontap.com/) is sort of like a travelling beer tour, except at each city location, they feature local breweries from that particular area. Since we had tickets to the Delaware festival, a lot of the beers featured were from Delaware, but there were quite a few from the surrounding states as well.
Normally, I don’t drink beer (hence my emergency Rum Chata shot above). I am mostly a fan of wine and cider. My personal motto when it comes to alcohol is: if it is an alcoholic version of something you drank as a child (wine is just alcoholic grape juice and cider is the same but with apple juice), then that is the drink for me! But Barry loves craft beer, so when I won the tickets for him, I was so excited to take him!
We live about an hour and a half from Delaware, so we drove up 95 heading for the Tubman-Garrett Park in Wilmington! The park itself is a cute small park in the middle of downtown Wilmington, perfect for a beer festival. Of course, it was on of the hottest days in the summer, but luckily, there was a lot of tree coverage around one side of the tents, so at least there was a little bit of relief from the burning sun!
The tents were set up in a semi-circle, with vendors set up back to back, and live music was in the middle. Our tickets came with souvenir tasting glasses, so we were all set to begin tasting all of the local craft beer we wished!
To my delight, there were several ciders available and a good number of the craft beers on tap were summer/fruity flavors!
Here were some of our favorites, CHEERS!
Rebel Seed Cider - Red
According to the Rebel Seed Cidery website, this is their newest cider, and let me tell you, it was delicious! Normally, ciders can come off either too tart or too dry. I am not a fan of dry ciders at all and even though I have a huge sweet tooth, I don't really want to feel like I am drinking a glass of sugar. The Rebel Seed Sweet Red Cider is the perfect amount of sweet without being too sugary and it still tastes like you are drinking a refreshing cider. This was definitely my favorite drink of the day.
Brooklyn Brew - Improved Old Fashioned
Barry is no stranger to Brooklyn Brewery, he loves several of their brews and when we saw that they were one of the featured breweries, he was excited to try some more of their concoctions. They really knocked it out of the ballpark with their Improved Old Fashioned. The cool thing about this small batch brew is that it is aged in WhistlePig Rye Whiskey oak barrels. It really does taste like whiskey, but without that burning throat feeling that can sometimes come from whiskey! Barry loved it so much, he bought a bottle of it on the spot. Check out their website above for more information on how you can get some, too and with more “official” information on the nitty gritty beer-y stuff!
Original Sin - Cherry Tree
I love ciders that have different flavors, for example, there is a cranberry cider from Woodbridge I love to drink when the weather gets colder. So I was definitely interested when I saw the Original Sin Cherry Tree available! It had a classic cider taste with a pop of tart cherries, it was delicious! I would definitely recommend this cider to people who are bored with the typical apple ciders and want to see what other flavors are available!
Blue Earl - Honeysuckle Rose Belgian Style Blonde Ale
The one thing that got both of our attentions was Blue Earl Brewery’s logo, I mean look at how create and fun it is! I love that incorporates both their love of blues music and beer!
The second thing that got my attention was their Honeysuckle Rose Belgian Style Blonde Ale. Since I am not a huge fan of beers, I always try to stick to words like “Blonde” or “Pale”. It always seems safer than “Porter” and “Stout”. The Honeysuckle Rose did not disappoint! Anyone who grew up with honeysuckle bushes knows how tasty it was to pluck that flower off the vine and slip that sweet nectar onto your tongue. This beer, which combines the sweet honeysuckle with a the floral notes of rose, was a great way to reminisce about those childhood times with a new adult twist!
3rd Wave Brewing - Sandstorm
Admittedly, my favorite thing about 3rd Wave Brewing Company is the fact that it is owned by two women who (naturally) surf! You should take a minute to read their history because this is a story of two friends that really took a chance and are completely kicking life’s butt! Barry’s favorite thing about 3rd Wave is their delicious beer! Their beer names have fun surf and beachy names and they are not bad tasting either!
The event also had a food truck area, but the one that caught our attention the most was the Screamin Sicilian Pizza truck that was giving away free pizza! We always see this pizza at Walmart, and loved their marketing and style! Plus their pizza is delicious! We were so pumped to grab some of their Mambo Italiano pizza and also chat with the chef about the differences between east coast and west coast surfing!
And as always, there is always time to be silly!
Beer fests are a great way to spend an afternoon, especially if you are into supporting local and small businesses like we are!
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