The Schoolyear of Scott

The 2009 Beer Bourbon and BBQ Festival has come and gone and I am happy to report that the event was success.  Out of the 32 people in our attending group, everyone made it back alive and, as far as I know, with their half pint glass intact (many of which have been “Maker’s Marked” with red wax).   If you recall, in the previous post I made  a plea to the Weather God (Bob Ryan) to improve on the forecast of 92 degrees and thunderstorms.  Unfortunately, only half of my wish was granted.

You see, on this particular Saturday afternoon, the temperatures reached the 89 degree mark but there were no thunderstorms.  Instead, we were greeted with 93% (yes, NINETY THREE PERCENT) humidity*.  So, to paraphrase a trio of ladies from Queens, let’s talk about sweat, baby!

* – Source: http://www.wunderground.com

When I was a senior at Emory, I took Conditioning Yoga as one of my PE requirements.  In this class, we had to attend two Bikram Yoga sessions (Bikram Yoga, for those unfamiliar, is, as far as I can tell, an attempt by the yoga hippies to honor imprisoned Jews during World War II as you have to perform 26 yoga poses in concentration camp like conditions).  Up until Saturday, that was the most I had ever sweat in my life.  I mean, I sweat so much during Bikram Yoga that the shirt that I wore that day actually started to dry up by the time I was done with the class because every ounce of water had escaped my body already and the heat in the room was drying my clothes.  But, as I mentioned many times on Saturday, Bikram Yoga classes only last 90 minutes.  The BBB Festival lasted four hours.

I’m telling you, it was HOT and we were SWEATING.  I was sweating so much that I think I only urinated twice after 5pm until I returned home at 4am, which, if you know me, is quite an accomplishment (and trust me, my kidney has not felt so great the past 48 hours).  The great thing about sweating this much with a group of friends is, once the initial disgust wears off, it becomes the source of great fun.

I don’t mind taking credit for being the one who found what turned out to be one of the highlights of the day (well, at least for me): The Heineken Dunk Tank.  Heineken, you see, was one of the only (the only?) beers that was poured from the bottle and not from a tap.  Due to this, their station had an abundance of ice and a giant bucket filled with ice cold Heinekens.  Me, being a resourceful, future Master of Business Administration, decided that this would be a perfect place to stick my head in to cool down.  So when the bartendresses looked away, I cooled off.  She never caught on (even though I kept returning to her totally soaked to get more Heinekens).

Some other highlights:

• Reversing the trend of years past and going to Macy’s BEFORE the event.  Luckily, no one bought any purses this time.  Even more luckily, Paul Blart did not arrest us for carrying a case of beer through the store.
• The goodies that everybody brought to the bus!  Nothing like doing jello shots at 1pm while drinking a mimosa and eating a giant pickle!
• Pretzel necklaces.  Not only were these tasty, but they made our group the envy of the entire festival.
• Handcuffs.  No better way to get to know your buddy then being handcuffed to them in the sweltering heat.  Also, no better way to get to know a complete stranger in the sweltering heat, right K$?

• For those wondering, my favorite beer of the day was the Hop Hog IPA.  The apparent consensus least favorite beer of the day was the Baron’s Black Waddle Superior Seed Ale, though I did not try it after so many were disgusted by it.  I did not enjoy the BBB Brew, which many people missed as it was served upon entering the fairgrounds.  As far as bourbons go, I tried to limit the amount that I drank, so I will just say that Gentleman’s Jack was my favorite.
• After the festival, a large number of festival-goers snuck in to Rosa Mexicano to use their facilities.  We all tried to play it off like we belonged, but I have to wonder what the patrons were thinking when these sweaty people started invading the restaurant.
• The fact that the moment we decided to walk back to the bus, massive breezes magically appeared and cooled us all off.  Where were these the past four hours?
• Rocking out to Huey Lewis and the News on the bus ride home.  That just made my year.

Later that night, a bunch of us went to McFadden’s for their beach party.  In an attempt to be an as realistic as possible beach party, the bar decided to skimp on the air conditioning and, once again, we were dripping with sweat.  If it was just the BBB Fest, I may not have been as impressed with the amount of perspiration, but combined with McFadden’s, it was a day for the record books.

It was also a day for the record books as it was one of the most fun day’s I’ve had in a long time.  Here’s to Beer Bourbon and BBQ 2010!

This entry was posted on Monday, June 22nd, 2009 at 1:53 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.