Beertopia

Question: How do you meet 5-10 people from Wisconsin, in Asia and all within the same location? 

Answer: Go to a craft beer festival! 

A few months back I was reading about upcoming events in a magazine when I came across Beertopia, a craft beer festival held in Hong Kong. I messaged Ryan about it and without hesitation he told me to buy us tickets. We are big fans of Milwaukee's craft beer festival, Brewfest (highly recommended for anybody reading this that likes beer and is within the area) and were sad we probably wouldn't be able to attend this year. While the craft beer trend in Hong Kong is not nearly what it is in Milwaukee, it is growing steadily. 

So last Saturday, along with Ryan's co-worker and good friend Andy, we made our way down to the waterfront to partake in the 2nd annual Beertopia. We weren't sure what to expect but were very happy with the results. With over 200 different beers to choose from around the world, we slowly made our way through each booth, sampling one or two from each brewer that we were interested in. 

Ryan and I sampling some beer

No better view for sampling some beer

Beertopia in full swing

Ryan was smart and wore his Milwaukee Brewing Company shirt (an intoxicated purchase from last year's Brewfest) which quickly grew attention halfway through the event. Within about 30 minutes we had met 5 people that were either from or had lived in Wisconsin. One guy was even wearing a New Glarus t-shirt from a recent trip back home. At one point, we had all the people from Wisconsin gathered in a group and sharing stories from where we lived, grew up or missed about Wisconsin. Some were just visiting the area while others had been living in Hong Kong for years.

Ryan in his Milwaukee shirt, me in a Sam Adams shirt- representing American beer

Ryan's favorite brewery there, my favorite names of beers

 

The event was broken into 2 sessions, one until 5pm and after that until 11pm. We chose the afternoon one because we didn't want to abandon Ahri all night and we were happy we made that choice. After grabbing some brats and other goodies to soak up the beer, we headed back home to our recovering dog. Ahri was spayed and had 2 teeth removed on Wednesday. She is doing well now and just bursting to get back to the dog park and chase all the other dogs around.

Way too much flour on the buns...but so delicious

Princess Ahri recovering at home

 

 

 

 

 We had a great time meeting new people from close to home and enjoying some great beer. Can't wait until next year!