Spring Beer Fling Review

Spring has come to Florida!  We are enjoying beautiful weather and nice, not too hot, temperatures.  Mike and I spent a gorgeous Sunday at the Spring Beer Fling held at Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park in downtown Tampa.  It was supposed to happen on Saturday but wisely was rescheduled to Sunday because of rain and thunderstorms.

The event started at noon but we arrived at 3:30 pm.  There was no line and we entered right away after showing our IDs verifying we were indeed over 21.  We headed to the VIP tent to check out what beverages were available.  Our VIP wristbands entitled us to unlimited drinks, including beer, wine, cocktails and bottled water.

The VIP tent had two IPAs and four types of Deep Eddy vodka.  I didn't even know Deep Eddy came in anything other than tea flavor.  I tried Deep Eddy Ruby Red with club soda and Deep Eddy Cranberry with club soda and lime.  Both were good but sweet and I could only drink about half of each glass.  We were also informed that our VIP wristbands could be used at the other beverage tents outside of the VIP area.  I went in search of cider!  I found two of my favorites!

I enjoyed ice cold, crisp, hard cider in my Spring Beer Fling souvenir glass.  Angry Orchard was sweeter and higher in calories than Strongbow but both were excellent hard ciders.  I was thrilled that they included hard cider at the beer fling since I don't like beer.  The lines for beer were short and moved quickly.  Mike sampled Samuel Adams' Rebel IPA, Sierra Nevada's Torpedo and Ruthless Rye, New Belgium's Snapshot and Sunshine Wheat.

Mike and I met up with our friends Denise and Allan. It was so much fun hanging out with friends, sipping beer and chatting.  There were even some muscle flexing and calf pictures taken but those didn't make the blog.

No one tried the surfboard this time.  I rode bull at Bourbon Fest but didn't want to wear the helmet required for the surfboard.  Other patrons seemed to have an exciting time on the surfboard with cheers from the crowd.

The Spring Beer Fling had four different food options.  We ate at the PaniniRiffic food truck. I had a delicious mojo chicken Panini and seasoned french fries.  Then on the way out, we shared lime chicken nachos that were so tasty!

The Spring Beer Fling went on until 10:00 pm that night but we left at about 7:00 pm to get home.  When we left, the party was still going and beach balls still flying.  I really enjoyed the Curtis Hixon venue for this event.  Curtis Hixon was clean and had really bathrooms in addition to the porta potties brought in for the crowds.  We had a great time!

Disclaimer: As a Tampa Bay Blogger, I was given two VIP tickets in exchange for promotion and review.  All opinions expressed are my own.