The Schoolyear of Scott

On Saturday, along with 31 of my closest friends, I will heading to the Maryland Waterfront to experience the Beer, Bourbon and BBQ Festival (we have rented a party bus for the event, so to all my family members reading this, do not worry, no one will be driving).  Being a huge fan of festivals of any kind, I have been to a number of “fests” in my time.  I thought it might fun to take a look back at a few of the more memorable festivals I have attended in my life on the blog.  Enjoy!

The Great Decatur Beer Festival ’04: This was, for all intents and purposes, the first real festival that I attended in my “adult” life.  I attended this event with my roommates at the time and was astounded by the concept of “here is a little cup, there are 100 free beers on tap, have fun”.  It took place on the Decatur City Square in Atlanta and the weather was beautiful at this Fall event.  My memories are a bit faded, but I do know that we collected an absurd (and when I say absurd, I mean absurd) amount of cardboard beer coasters.  These coasters went on to become projectiles during many parties at our apartment.  I also seem to recall my roommate Jeff acquiring a flag from a country that I did not recognize that eventually became the cape of Super Jeff, a superhero that only came out while citizens were drinking.  Super Jeff’s uniform didn’t include a shirt.

The Great Decatur Beer Festival ’08: I returned to this festival last year with my friend Victoria and some of her friends.  Again, the weather was perfect and, luckily for us, the concept of the festival remained the same.  It was at this festival that I discovered the greatness that is Sierra Nevada Mustard, a mustard that is only available online or at the Sierra Nevada brewery and is one of the greatest things that I have ever tasted.  Due to unforeseen circumstances, I haven’t had a chance to taste the mustard again since this date, which is really quite sad.  After the festival I went out to dinner with Victoria and her friend and her friend’s mom.  It was very strange for everyone involved I think.

Great Decatur Beer Festival

Virginia Highlands Summerfest ’08: Oh man.  On a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being bad and 10 being Eddie Vedder level good, this was a negative -3.  I went to this event with my friend Jean and her friend Lindsey and we all regretted it from probably the moment we set foot outside of Jean’s door to walk the mile to the festival.  You see, on this particular day, it was 110 degrees in Atlanta (or at least felt like it).  By the time we got to the festival, we were all very sweaty.  Once entering the festival, we immediately went to buy a beer to help cool down.  Unfortunately, whomever planned this particular event decided it would be appropriate to only have heavy beers, which is not something that really goes with 110 degree weather.  Nevertheless, we each bought a Guinness and drank it as fast as we could as it began to heat up almost immediately.  The festival itself was even more bologna!  It was a mile of BLACKTOP with shitty exhibits along each side of the road.  Terribly boring.  I had completely soaked through my shirt by the time we made it through, and I was wearing an undershirt!  A completely miserable experience that I will never again attend.

Random DC BBQ Fest ’08 – Coincidentally, last year on this exact weekend, I went with my friend Audrey and her boyfriend Dan to a BBQ festival that was held on the National Mall.  On the Eddie Vedder Scale of Awesomeness mentioned during the Summerfest bullet, this would rank at about a 1.  All drinks were at least $5 and all BBQ was at least $10.  This isn’t even to mention the fact that we paid $10 to get into this thing.  We are still at a loss to figure out what the heck the $10 cover we paid covered.  To make matters worse, it was a two day event, and most BBQ’ers had packed up for the day to prepare for the next day of festivities, even though we showed up at 4pm, two hours before the event closed.  This was the definition of an Epic Fail.

Audrey and I at the crappy BBQ Fest

Dunwoody Beerfest ’08 – I went to this event with my friends Nate, Naresh and Nitya.  It was our second year attending (see below for information about the epic ’07 version) and didn’t quite live up to our expectations built from the year before.  There weren’t as many drink options (yes, this beerfest had liquor as well) and therefore lines were longer then the year before.  Due to this, we had to rely on our old standby Sparx, which was surprisingly the only drink option that never had a line.  After the event we went bar hopping in Buckhead (the event was at Perimeter Mall, which, if you know your Atlanta geography, isn’t that close to Buckhead), which should tell you a little something about how “with it” we were once the festival was over, as compared to previous events.

Dunwoody Beerfest ’07 – This is the Gold Standard of festivals.  I have yet to see “The Hangover”, but I am sure that the group that I went with to this event had a similar experience as the group of characters in the movie.  Some highlights:

• My friend Cody bought a $100 purse for a girl that he broke up with days later.  Also nearly got arrested.
• My friend Daniel and I got lost in the Perimeter Mall trying to find the cab stand.  Also nearly got arrested.
• My friend Nate bought a 24 pack of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale which he never drank as he moved to Colorado the next day (he donated the beer to me, which directly has lead to my obsession with Sierra Nevada).  Also nearly got arrested.
• I fell asleep on top of a car in Nate’s parking lot after spending much of the day dancing with an older woman, whose boyfriend tried to fight me.  Also nearly got arrested.
• Jean got mad at everyone

Oh yea, somehow I managed to acquire a purse of my own

What kind of stories will be made this weekend at the Beer Bourbon and BBQ fest?  Will the weather cooperate and not be 92 and rainy, as it is currently forecasted right now?  How many of the 32 of us will make it back alive on the party bus?  Stay tuned to SummerofScott.com for updates!

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