2010 Fargo Beer Festival

By Jeff Hanson
Contributing Writer

If there’s one thing you can be as sure of as the setting sun, it’s that folks love their beer. People from all across the social spectrum can agree that not much can beat one or two cold ones after a hard day’s work.

As with everything universally enjoyed, it’s only a matter of time before there’s an event to celebrate it. And now Fargo will finally have a day to love and appreciate the frosty beverage in all its golden amber glory.

The 2010 Fargo Beer Festival will take place at the Fargo Civic Auditorium on October 9th. This will be the first beer festival in Fargo, and event organizers couldn’t be more excited to introduce it to the Fargo population. “We’re really proud to be able to promote this event in downtown Fargo,” says Kurt Olerud, promoter of the festival, “with beer festivals being so wildly popular all across the country, we hope Fargo’s going to embrace it, and that we can give them something unique that they can enjoy.”

Unique is definitely the keyword to keep in mind, because the primary focus of this festival is not only on some tried and true favorites, but also on craft and microbrew beers from all around.
Whether they’re local, from states such as Colorado and California, or all the way from Belgium, breweries from far and wide will be featuring their own special recipes. And with only a $15 admittance fee, you can sample each and every one of these artisan alcoholic beverages to get a taste of a staggering range of brews, from the darkest stouts to the palest ales. Attendees can even buy a large majority of the featured beers anytime from both Empire and Crown liquors, the primary sponsors of the event.

However, a few different brews that are featured will be here only for the festival, and you can count on them being way too delicious to pass up.

And with a focus on so many different kinds of beer comes the desire for a more well informed tasting of each and every beer. And like any wine tasting, knowing what to look for in hue, scent, and viscosity is greatly encouraged. Luckily for those who may feel less informed than some beer aficionados, this festival will not be short on masters of the drink.

Every booth will have people on hand to give a rundown on how exactly they have made their respective brews and describe every quality that makes their beer unique. There will also be sheets on hand giving tips on what to look, smell, and taste for in each type of beer.

For those of you who want to get a head start, both the website (http://www.fargobeerfestival.com) and the festival Facebook page can direct you to places where you can read more about the different types of beers, so you can learn what exactly differentiates a lager from an ale and all the rest before you ever set foot on the festival floor.

Any good beer deserves a great meal to go along with it, and they’ve got that covered as well. There will be a plethora of hot dogs, brats, burgers and other grilled favorites on site to complement the drinks.

A DJ will be providing a steady flow of music throughout the event, and several radio stations will be remotely broadcasting from the festival, including Q98 and 107.9 The Fox.

Whether you’re a long-time beer connoisseur or just a casual drinker, you can be one hundred percent sure to have a good time tasting some of the finest and most carefully crafted drinks in the world. This is one festival definitely worth supporting.

As Promoter Kurt Olerud so perfectly and succinctly states, “Every great city deserves a great beer festival.”

The festival will run from 12pm-5pm on Saturday, October 9th and will be held at the Fargo Civic Center Auditorium. Tickets can be purchased from the Civic Center Box Office, or Ticketmaster locations. Only 21+ are permitted into the festival. The festival is still open to any local businesses that would like to sponsor the event. For further inquiries and more information, you can visit both http://www.FargoBeerFestival.com and the Fargo Beer Festival page on Facebook.

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If You Go

What: Fargo Beer Festival
Where: Fargo Civic Center
When: Sat, Oct 9, Noon-5pm
Info: 701.241.1480