Springtime Cervezas

As winter slowly retreats and summer begins to creep in, there is a small stretch of perfect days whose temperatures warrant cold beer and time spent outdoors. In its tenth year, Zapp's International Beerfest will once again offer attendees a selection of more than two hundred beers to sip on while basking in one of Baton Rouge’s fleeting spring days.

The festival will be held at, and also benefit, the LSU Rural Life Museum located off Essen Lane near I-10. In addition to the more than two hundred domestics, imports, and homebrews, festival-goers will have jambalaya to munch on and non-alcoholic beverages for those less interested in brewskis. The festival has grown significantly in the decade since its inception, and now only two thousand tickets are sold.

Gus Rowland attended some of the first beerfests, but after a few years of unlimited tickets the crowd became too much to handle.

"It would be fun. There would be maybe a dozen breweries there and it would be a nice afternoon," Rowland said of the earlier festivals. "Over time it really exploded. It became a really popular, big event…It was impossible to get a beer because the lines were so long."

So Rowland swore off the Zapp's event for a few years, until he helped to start a homebrew club. Rowland formed The Bicycle Brew Club in early 2011 when he decided he wanted to be able to ride his bike from his Mid City home to attend meetings, but other Baton Rouge brew clubs convened too far away. He’s also never been a big fan of clubs.

"Everybody is very different, but we’re probably the brew club for people who don’t want to join a club. It’s a bunch of non-joiner type people," he said of The Bicycle Brew Club’s dozen or so members.

The Bicycle brewers made their debut at the Zapp's Beer Fest in 2011, and they have been back every year since. Rowland says the festival has gotten much better since the year he swore it off. His brew club will be presenting quite a few homebrews this year, among them a Honey Kolsch, Bottomland Hibiscus Ginger Faison, Vienna Amarillo Smash, and a Hopped Undergarment Eraser Cider. Rowland is presenting two homebrews: an apple cider he calls Tiger Cider, and the R.Y.B. Flavor Wheel. It stands for Red Yellow Belgian, which got its name from being a red Belgian ale brewed with amarillo hops.

So whether you are most enamored by a biting IPA, would rather stick to a sweet cider, or just want to eat half your weight in jambalaya, the sheer selection of Zapp's International Beer Festival should have you covered. And for those interested in home brewing, it is also a chance to meet fellow enthusiasts and perhaps leave with a bit more knowledge and a few new friends.

Details. Details. Details.

Saturday, March 29
3:30 pm–6 pm
Rural Life Museum (4560 Essen Lane at I-10)

Limited tickets are available for $35 by calling the Rural Life Museum at 225-765-2437. Patrons must be at least 21 years old with a proper I.D. to be presented upon entrance. More information is available at zappsbeerfest.com.