Last year, after attending the Florida Brewers Guild Beerfest in Ybor City, I set a personal mission to be able to attend the Brewer's Ball this year that was held last Sunday, March 6th, at Skipper's Smokehouse in Tampa.
For those who are unaware, the Best Florida Beer Championships is a "not for profit organization founded by craft beer lovers, homebrewers, and commercial brewers in the Tampa Bay area." To sum up their mission, it is to promote craft beer in Florida through both commercial and homebrewing competitions. This all culminates with the Brewer's Ball, a "small" festival and celebration of craft beer in Florida. There were 500 people admitted, period. 28 Gold Medal-winning Florida beers, 13 mystery homebrews from around the state, live music, free food, amazing raffle prizes and the presentation for the 'Best in Show' awards, as well as a prize for Best Homebrew (voted on by the attendees after tasting them all). It's a bring-your-own-glass (or use one of their plastic cups) and taste away kind of deal. Yes, this is a free-pour-your-own event, and you can go back for anything you want.
This article appears in Mar 3-9, 2011.