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Health & Fitness

MD Brewers Springfest 2011

Maryland Brewers 2011 Spring Festival in Frederick this year. Great links to local breweries and how to fight a hangover by eating some bbq in between drinking some fine ale.

So the kickoff to Memorial Day Weekend began on Saturday morning for my husband and I on the great kickoff of three-day weekend holiday adventures. 

We decided that the beach was probably going to be a bit of a disappointment with the forewarning of overcrowding on the sand and miserable traffic. So we made plans after scanning the Franklin’s menu to go the Maryland Brewers Festival that was taking place in Frederick this year.

The event cost was $20 a ticket, which included 10 tokens for beer tasting, a little taste test cup and enjoying a great day listening to local musicians and enjoying the sun. Who can beat that on Memorial Day right?

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The best part was that traffic was in the other direction so from Hyattsville, it took about one hour to arrive at Harry Grove Stadium. We still got our road trip need fulfilled and didn’t have to deal with bumper-to-bumper traffic, which has become infamous in the Metropolitan area when holidays arrive.

Once we arrived it was time to start taste testing some of the amazing beers that Maryland brewers have to offer. The lines were a bit daunting, but getting cold beer on a very hot day doesn’t hurt.

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My favorite beer of the day came from Pub Dog who’s Imperial Brew was amazing. Franklin's stand was great with miniature versions of the infamous road sign and trying their new release Tennessee Tuxedo brew, reminded me of a winter brew or cigar buddy brew. Other vendors that were there and should be tried by anyone looking for some great tasting beer from local brewers can check out their websites that I will link below.

Now of course the day could not be all about beer, food is required to digest the beer successfully and while they did have three food vendors it felt as though the selection was scarily anti-dietary needs. We started with a local seasoning vendor that is fighting the good fight against larger vendors like Old Bay, but Cape Seasonings won the fight on Saturday, only because of the original hit of heat that we hadn’t experienced on a chip. Since it was recommended that with the chips beer had to be consumed to take the heat off the tongue, we ventured on to more tents.

After feeling like we had been starving from standing in the lines for extended periods of time we had to partake of a pulled pork bbq sandwich that was maybe more satisfying than the norm because of the sponge effect it had on helping with the beer I had been digesting for the past three hours, so thumbs up to Just Smokin’ Around. The fest also had vendors selling fried Twinkies, Snickers, Oreos, or any other snack food that can handle being fried from what it seemed. I didn’t partake, but a friend enjoyed the fried Snickers, or fried heart attack as I was calling it for the rest of the day.

The day ended with the bands and trucks packing up, us finding our designated driver to take our sun burned buns home, and a much needed nap in the car. Was truly a great day, long, but great!

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