Tempest Bebende

The annual festival of standing around and drinking beer in the snow entered its second decade Saturday. Bockfest over at Capital Brewery enjoyed a second straight year of pleasant weather. The celebration marks the first taste of Capital's Blonde Doppelbock of the year. Old Man Standiford picked The Dulcinea and me up and we headed to meet Steve for breakfast. He looked like he'd been rode hard and put away wet. Indeed, he'd spent longer than he'd planned the night before at the Old Fashioned. All Spotted Cow and no sleep make Old Man a dull boy. It was jam packed at every restaurant we went to but we finally settled in at the Bavaria Café in Middleton. The food was tasty and, since we were close to the brewery, The D and I decided to walk over to the brewery after breaking our fasts. We traversed the show piles and ice sheets masquerading as sidewalks so deftly that even Shackleton himself would be proud. Unsurprisingly, we found a long line at the gates.



At 11 folks were allowed entrance and the line moved fairly swiftly. We got our wrist bands with the precious "beer" tag which gave one the opportunity to buy the limited release Blonde Doppelbock. Our first order of business was to buy 1-liter mugs which we did in no time. That being done, we ambled over to the bar attached to the building and waited. And waited and waited. While the gates opened at 11, the taps would not flow until noon. It got crowded in there really quickly. At midday, Kirby, the brewmaster, gave a brief thank you and then the nectar flowed. We filled our steins with the Maibock, a welcome reminder that spring approacheth. With hundreds of thirsty patrons, it was a zoo.



Mardi Gras beads were thrown from the roof while folks were huddled around drinking and showing off their breasts.





During this whole time the line outside the gate didn't seem to shorten. Hundreds and hundreds of thirsty people had been lining up for over an hour and the taps just couldn't keep up. After having had our beers for about five minutes, we concluded that it would be best to get in line again because, by the time we got to the taps, we'd be about done with our first round. Midwestern Boy was not alone in seeking less crowded confines at nearby taverns. The D and I hit one line while Standiford and Steve hit another. It took more than an hour before we got served and in the interim they had decided to seek refuge at the Village Green where they ran into yet more people who had jumped ship. On the bright side, we got their wristbands which meant two servings of the Blonde Doppelbock, should we ever get to a tap again.

Charles, Princess, and Dan eventually showed up and, by 2, the lines had become manageable. We had a good time drinking and chatting in the rather nice weather.



Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get many good photos as I spent most of my time standing in line. Ergo I missed the chub toss, Pupy Costello, and the running of the blondes. I also want to express my disappointment that the Blonde was served at noon. Last year it wasn't available right away. Instead, about an hour in, Kirby came out and officially blessed it before we could get our lips around the nectar. I missed the ritual.

This is, of course, a minor quibble when compared to having 1,000+ very thirsty people milling about for an hour with no beer. When the taps finally opened, it was like announcing the availability of a lone hit of junk outside a methadone clinic. The place then turned into an L.A. freeway for two hours with people at virtual standstills in the lines. While I am not vowing to boycott the event in the future, it would be nice to open the gates and have the beer flowing. Either that or cut down admissions so the hordes aren't quite so numerous.

Having complained, I will say that I was happy to have had 2 Blondes and my share of Maibock. Hopefully next year's fest will be organized so as to accommodate the thirsty in a more timely fashion.