River Lakes 2014 Beer & Wine Expo, Some Thoughts

Good evening everyone! 

A few days ago I went to this Beer & Wine expo thing with my dad and some of my family, and I didn't really have much to reflect on alcohol-wise (other than my notes from Bell's Brewery being, "Whatever the fuck that seasonal one was with the sun is pretty damn tasty" and a star next to Cider Boys' Mad Bark and the notes "dis some good shit yo") but it was an interesting social experience.

Firstly, young folk (like myself) were not the primary demographic; no, most of the people were at least fifty and happily getting drunk off wine and beer since it was a fundraiser for the local hockey team. Mind you, this was out in bumfuck Minnesota, so perhaps this shouldn't have surprised me.

Secondly, I had forgotten how much the folk up north love country music. That's all they blared the entire time, except when some middle-aged white guys stumbled up on stage to sing some country song or another (in their defense I have no idea if they were good singers or not, since their instruments were much louder than they were). 

Thirdly, (and this was my favorite) there was not a single person present who was not white. Not even one token minority. It took me a while, and my cousin to point it out, but I scanned the crowds for the last two hours desperately looking for someone who was even a quarter not white, and I had no luck (although there were some pretty bad tans present). 

See what I mean? I'll give you five bucks if you can spot someone who isn't white.

Other than the fact that I was a hipster/democrat/chick with bright red hair and sorely not part of the target demographic for this event, it was nice to try some different beers, ciders, and wine (I even got myself to try some IPAs, and those were fairly tasty). 

There's something called The Winefest on May 9th & 10th here in the cities and I would love to go if it didn't cost an arm and a leg to attend (to be fair I believe the proceeds are going to children's health or something, so that's nice I guess). My SO and I decided we're going to go to a brewery or a winery in the near future, so we'll see what comes of that.

Sleep tight Minneapolis.