MicroBrewers Festival - Strategies to make the most of a beer event!

It's that time again! Tomorrow is the third and biggest major Indiana Beer Fest associated with the Brewers of Indiana Guild. The 19th Microbrewers Festival starts at 3:00 for general admission and is likely sold out by the time you read this but check here or Big Red Liquors locations. We don't pretend to believe 'we know best' how to visit a festival. Yet, we want to at least encourage attendees to think about a strategy!

Here are some questions to think about before you go!

Where will I park? That is a very important question with 6000 people descending upon a park where there is no direct parking lot in the cute little area known as Broad Ripple. There is a parking garage at 62nd & College Av. within a few blocks. Go to an online map and at least get an idea where you might park.

What can I bring in? The B.I.G. answers that and a few other questions here with other FAQS

Where do I start? It seems so many people enter and just go get in some line. We suggest you decide what types of breweries you MOST want to sample from! Here are some thoughts:

- Do you want to try those you are less likely to ever drive to? If so, look for the breweries that are farthest away. If you live in Central Indiana, maybe you start with 3 Floyds of Munster, Bare Hands of Granger, Evil Czech of Mishawaka, Carsons of Evansville, Tin Man of Evansville, Iechyd Da of Elkhart, or Big Dawg of Richmond.

- Do you want to find the most unusual beers? That might be Bare Hands ThaiPA, Figure 8's CAMP coffee carmel, Flat12's surprises, Burn 'Em Smoked Pork Porter, Books&Brews Soba buckwheat, and BEER LIST HERE

- Do you want to try new breweries? Start with Mashcraft of Greenwood, Scarlet Lane of McCordsville, Chilly Waters of Indy, Taxman of Bargersville, Tow Yard of Indy, and on to Daredevil.

- Do you want to visit the biggest so you don't miss what your friends talk about? Sun King, Upland, 3Floyds then Flat12, Triton, etc.

- Do you want to visit award winners? See our recent list of gold medalists for Brewers Cup READ HERE and start with Upland and on to Bier Brewery!

- Do you want to revisit the "Tried & True," Some of Indiana's oldest breweries? The Broad Ripple Brew Pub, Barley Island, Oaken Barrel, The Bloomington Brewing Co., Mad Anthony, New Albanian, Lafayette Brewing.

Maybe you have your OWN thought such as shortest lines, beer other people talk about at the event, the ability to get exercise by walking back and forth.... just think about how you will approach this.

Remember, you have a small tasting glass and even a 2 ounce pour means 6 samples equals one legal bottle of beer. The body can handle one bottle per hour for most of us (some a lot more, some less) so 20-30 beers to try is very possible, just which ones? With 80 breweries you can't even get one from each place! (Hey, that was NOT a challenge.)

And our own Nathan Compton had a great blog with some other thoughts (Potty break, anyone?) for the Winterfest so rather than repeat it all, just check out Nathan's thoughts HERE.

Go, enjoy, experience, look us up! The weather should really cooperate this year!