Wolpertinger!

Guys. You guys. Wolpertinger happened. And it was great!
After grabbing some mind-blowingly amazing brunch at Atomic Cowboy with my pal Forrest, who agreed to tag along with me to Wolpertinger, we strolled down Manchester in the gross drizzly rain to get checked in at UCBC. We received our tasting map and some beautiful glasses!

 At 1, the figurative flood gates opened and the breweries began pouring! After staking out a seat, I headed for my first beer- Porter from one of Saint Louis's newest breweries, Old Bakery.

Their Porter is a solid example of the style, with a rich toasted malt flavor! I also snagged a sticker and a coaster and look forward to checking them out soon.
Other notable beers of the day included Sun King's Soul Shakedown Party, a dangerously delicious rum barrel-aged Scotch Ale; Earthbound Brewing's Mahlab ESB, a delicious beer with a big tart cherry nose but a very mild and pleasant mouthfeel; and the Vanilla Cream Ale from Exit 6, which I would love to pair with some blackberry angel food cake.

I also sampled beers from 6 Row, Perennial, Scratch, and, of course, I grabbed a pour of the 2015 Wolpertinger beer before meeting the man, the myth, the legend... Wolpie himself!!

The festival also had some great music provided by the hilarious and energetic Bolzen Beer Band! Imagine if you took the mentality and vocal styles of Bowling for Soup and replaced their guitars with an accordion and a tuba. Great fun!

 This was the second indoor festival I attended (the first being MWBBF), and I'm still not entirely sure I like the layout of indoor festivals. Sure, it's convenient in the case of inclement weather, but festival etiquette seemed to be at an all-time low. Lines were disorganized and there were many instances where people would get their pour, turn around, and plant themselves to chat with friends instead of making way for others in line. Other than that small annoyance, it was great to take a look behind the scenes and UCBC and sample some beers from breweries I don't get a chance to visit often! I especially loved seeing Exit 6, Old Bakery, Excel, and Scratch. I would love to make a day trip to Illinois to visit them as well as Little Egypt. 
Of course, it was also AWESOME to sample some Sun King brews as well- I'm hoping to do an Indiana brewery/architecture trip over my birthday, with stops in Indianapolis, Columbus, and Evansville.

Tuesday, I'll be drinking a very special beer from Shiner and later this week, I'll have info on a giveaway I'll be doing in February!