The Miami New Times staged its first beer festival, Brew at the Zoo, on Saturday night at the Miami MetroZoo. The six-hour event sold out on Friday, with nearly 3,600 people attending.
"Our sister paper in Fort Lauderdale has been doing a beer fest for quite a while, and it's been really successful, so we wanted to try it here in Miami," said Miami New Times marketing and promotions director Caterina Falcone. "We made it more of a beer tasting event so you could taste American craft beers and international beers."
General admission tickets sold for $25 each and included unlimited beer tastings during the event on the grassy lot near the entrance of the zoo. A nearby pavilion served as the evening's V.I.P. area, where 500 guests paid $65 a ticket for complimentary wine and liquor courtesy of spirits company Brown-Forman, food from Taste of the Wild Catering, and an all-night DJ.
The festival began at 5 p.m., when a line formed outside the main gates. Upon entry, each guest received a shot-glass-size plastic cup for tasting each of the beers and a map of the event area. The newspaper recruited 37 breweries, some of which brought multiple brews, to participate in the fair and organized them into two groups: imports and American craft beers.
Taste of the Wild also sold traditional festival fare like frozen lemonade, hot dogs, and hamburgers throughout the event to general admission attendees.
Known for its appearances in Old School and The Hangover, the Dan Band (booked through the Gersh Agency) served as the night's headlining entertainment on the main stage at the far end of the lot.
