There aren’t many things in this world that I really love. Ok, maybe there are. But one of the things I really love in life is…BEER! I’m no beer snob tho, I like cheap beer, expensive beer, mass produced beer and little teeny craft beer. I love supporting local breweries and I find it all pretty fascinating. So, when I got a chance to go to the Atlantic City Beer Fest, I was pretty excited!

The AC Beer Fest is held at the Atlantic City Convention Center, which is pretty nice, for a convention center. The parking was sweet too. When you entered the room, you got to see a great welcome (click any picture to embiggen!):

Welcome To The Atlantic City Beer Fest!

Click the picture for the bigger view. I was super early so I hung out and watched the guys carve this out of a giant pile of sand. It was impressive!

When you go to one of these beer fests, they don’t give you a big solo cup for you to go nuts with, you’d be puking in a half hour. They give you a small glass, so that you’ll be puking in 3 hours instead. Behold!

The Tiny Glass

Don’t let it fool you, it packs a wallop.

I Love You Magic Hat

Next up I ran into the Magic Hat mobile! The guys working the booth were so cool and they offered me some of their new summer beer: Elder Betty; a berry flavored beer. It was delicious and I can’t wait to buy some! I’m a big fan of their Circus Boy as well.

Pyramid Brewers

Next to the Magic Hat booth was Pyramid Brewing. They are based in Northern California and have tons of different kinds of beers, both seasonal and year round. The guys manning the booth were great and their beer was some of the best stuff I have had in a long time. They are currently working on getting into my area, so here’s to hoping!

Dogfish Head!

Some of my favorite beers come from a brewery in Delaware called Dogfish Head Brewery! The 60 minute, the 90 minute and the Punkin’ Ale are 3 of my all time favorites. I measure all Pumpkin Ales against their Punkin’. Sam and the gang really put out some quality stuff. I’m such a huge fan!

One brewer that I didn’t get a picture of but thought they had, hands down, the best beer around, was Anderson Valley Brewing. I had some of their Winter Solstice Seasonal Ale, and it blew me away. Kinda chocolately, and kinda fantastic. I can’t wait for winter again to get my hands on it (if they can get out here to PA).

Here are some pics of a few other brewers that set up shop!

Sierra Nevada

B. Nektar Meadery

Yes! They not only sell Mead, but it’s fantastic. I had a raspberry one that was out of this world. They are based out of Detroit. Go figure.

Blue Point Rastafar Rye

The Woodchuck Cider Peeps!

Flying Dog Peeps

And of course there were beer related wares such as:

Beer In A Carton? Sure!!

This beer in a carton thing is genius! Does it come with a straw?

Awesome Growlers

The growlers were really beautiful. Click the picture to see how lovely the glass really looks.

Whenever you go to any kind of convention, there are always oddball things to see. This place was no different. For instance…

The Sierra Nevada Bottle and the Guinness Pint!

There is the Sierra Nevada Bottle and the dancing Guinness pint. The Guinness pint might have been more of a bust-a-move type of guy but the Sierra Nevada Bottle was just more fun.

Did I just review guys in mascot suits? Yep.

Moving on…

The WZXL Lady and me

I was stuffing my face to try and soak up some of the beer in my stomach (review coming super soon!) when I was approached by the WZXL Girl. Can you guess which one is me? I bet you can’t…

Also, if you look closely, you’ll see a bunch of pretzels around my (or the ZXL girl?) neck. Yelp was there offering you a chance to put pretzels on strings for a necklace after giving them your email address. I do love pretzels…

Awesome Picture

I had to post this.

It pretty much speaks for itself.

Enjoy.

Lucy The Elephant Volunteers!

Lucy the Elephant lives in Margate, NJ. She is a giant building in the shape of an elephant. She is also 3 years older then the Statue Of Liberty and the oldest example of Zoomorphic Architecture. She is also a really cool thing that you never, ever get to see anywhere else. In order to keep Lucy up and operating, they are always looking to raise some money. Feel free to donate, visit or buy some merch to help the cause! It’s the original and outstanding work like this that makes America the Land of Originality!

The (Not) Dapper Dans

I have no idea who these guys were, but they were very friendly and reminded me of the Dapper Dans from Disneyland.

Maybe it was the beer talking but I wanted to give them a hug!

Great T-Shirt

And of course, this shirt, which almost made me shoot beer out of my nose.

And now the moment you have all been waiting for!

The Giveaway!!

I got a ton of cool stuff from the brewers & Tony Boloney’s (review coming soon!!) as well as the awesome guys at Cisco Brewing!

This GIANT GIVEAWAY features:

Cisco Brewing Cotton Tote Bag
Tony Boloney’s XL Tshirt
Anderson Valley Brewing Company License Plate
Pyramid Brewers Bottle Openers & stickers
Beerfest, WZXL & Flying Dog Lanyards
Blue Moon Embroidered Patches
Sierra Nevada carabiners & pens
Chimay pin & bottle opener

As well as stickers & beers mats from:

Yards Brewing
Stone Brewing
Flying Dog Brewing
Tuckahoe Brewing
Arrogant Bastard (Stone Brewing)
Rogue brewing
Carton Brewing
Fshirt.com
Fukit
Blanche de Bruxelles
Angry Orchard (temp tattoos!)
Woodchuck Cider
Blue Point Brewing

How do I enter this awesome giveaway? Just leave a comment below before April 14th for a chance to be picked at random!

Feel free to click on the picture to really see all the great swag you can win!

Enter today!