Great Sweat of the Midwest

Uncharacteristically for us, we left this year's Great Taste of the Midwest only mildly drunk as opposed to our typically well lubricated. It twas the heat that did us in. We just couldn't plow through the beer with quite the reckless abandon that we usually have. Man, it was hot! That being said, it was another great festival and we were disappointed, as usually, to not be able to get to nearly as many of the brewers as we would like. Anyway, I've got a couple of notable observations about this year's GTotM.

• The real ale tent had a huge and very flavorful array of beers. My memory may be a bit hazy, but it seemed to me that the selection was double of that at last year's fest.
• It was hot.
• I had some really interesting beers this year (I have interesting beers every year, but these were really different...for me). America's Brewing Company had a Mama Mia Pizza Beer that really did smell and taste like a good pizza. It wasn't a great beer as far as beers go, but it was interesting. Short's Brewing Co. had a Bloody Beer that contained tomatoes, dill horseradish, etc. to give it a bloody mary/beer flavor. Interesting to say the least. And Two Brothers Brewing was tasting their Heliocentric Braggot (half ale and half mead). It wasn't quite as distinctive as I thought it would be, but it was pleasant to drink.
• It was hot.
• We had a chance to catch up with a few new and old friends, but we missed a few as well.
• It was hot.

So, yeah, nothing earth shattering here. I've got no funny anecdotes, no earth-shattering revelations, and no insightful observations. It was a good beer fest...but goddamn it was hot.