Bierfest at Busch Gardens Tampa!!
I have been going to this Beer Fest since it started about three years ago. They have a very large selection of beers to choose from although this visit was about the food. The 2019 event runs on Saturday and Sunday only from 8/17/2019 to September 8th, 2019 (including Labor Day)
#ThrillsOnTao
You can buy the beer and food samples individually. Food is between 7 and 9 dollars. I didn't buy any beer samples so not sure how much those are but guessing about five dollars. If you plan to get more then a few food samples, your best value is to get a lanyard which has "punches" for 5 or 10 samples. Five samples are 29.99 and 10 are 49.99. And also remember you can share a lanyard between multiple people. If you are an annual passholder (not Fun Card) they have a special 12-punch lanyard for the price of the 10-punch. These are good values if you only plan to use them for food. As you can see on the menus, most food is $7 or more. So if you got 10 samples valued at 6.99 each, you are saving about $20.
TOP TIP: They can also be used for the beer samples, water and bottles of soda, These aren't good uses of a "punch" in my opinion. Instead, buy the water, soda or beer separately. Also remember that the punches can be used throughout the festival.
Brisket taco was the winner of the two. The crispy jalapeno strips really added to the smokiness of the brisket. The jerk chicken needed more jerk flavor and I didn't taste any smoke in the pineapple.
Next up was a melt!! This was the Short Rib and Brie melt.
Short rib and brie melt. Well seasoned tender short rib and melt brie. The addition of the horseradish really helped cut the richness of both meat and cheese.
Then onto some fried items.
Bacon Mac and Cheese bites and Reuben Croquettes.
Reuben croquettes. Needed more sauerkraut. Was really just corned beef and cream cheese. Basil park dipping sauce needed some flavor - any flavor.
Mac and cheese bites. Cookie cutter variety but I give them points for keeping it moist inside. The bacon mustard dipping sauce was dynamite. I would do shots of that and skip the bites. Nice chunks of bacon mixed with the sweet, smoky and spicy sauce.
Next up was some sliders!
Bratwurst slider. The deli mustard helped with the fattiness. I would have liked more vinegar in the slaw.
Schnitzel sandwich was dry and the sauce was strange. Sort of a muted honey mustard. The spritzing crew was here to help cool us off!!!
They also had a booth where they served adult floats. The Hard Coffee Float and Maduro Float were outstanding. Hard coffee was like a gas station Cappuccino (in a good way).Cigar City Brewing Maduro stout and vanilla soft serve was a perfect match.
I am always wanting to try anyone's take on a good chicken wing. They also had sweet potato fries.
The chicken wings were well fried. I got them with the sesame orange glaze which where the citrus was a good match for the fried wings. The sweet potato fries were very crispy and had a marshmallow sauce drizzled on top. It was just enough sweetness for me.
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