SeaWorld Orlando seems to have found their niche lately and have found tremendous success with their events, specifically when it comes to food & drink festivals. This year, SeaWorld has decided to take advantage of an otherwise slow period between the Halloween and Christmas season and introduce the new Craft Beer Festival.
The SeaWorld Craft Beer Festival features 100+ brews on draft at 18 locations around the park on from breweries across the state of Florida, plus a few domestic and international craft favorites.
Local breweries such as Orlando Brewing Company, Crooked Can and Dead Lizard Brewing are featured at this year’s festival. In addition, the event will also feature a variety of beverages from Florida based craft breweries in Tampa, Gainesville, Jacksonville and St. Petersburg.
The event is very reminiscent of SeaWorld’s sister park Busch Gardens own craft beer festival, Bier Fest, which took place earlier in the year – which was also met with positive reviews.
One of the must-try beers of the event is the Beer Float; allowing guests their choice of beer served over vanilla ice cream and whipped topping. Here, we sampled Dead Lizard’s Koko Dragon Chocolate Stout; but there is also the option of Breckenridge Brewery’s Vanilla Porter.
The food is where is this Festival shines, however; especially since they’re offering Bacon ON A STICK!
The festival also features 20+ unique bar food staples designed to perfectly pair with the event brew selection; including Infused Bacon Cheddar Pretzel Bites with Beer Cheese, BBQ Brisket Mac-n-Cheese, Chorizo Potato Skins, and did we mention Bacon on a stick?
During our preview last Thursday, we were able to sample many of the dishes and can’t say we found any fault with any of them. SeaWorld has consistently delivered great tasting, inspired dishes at each of their festivals.
The bad news, the event only lasts one more weekend; so get out to SeaWorld this weekend to get in on the final days of some great food & drink. Hopefully, next year the event expands beyond just 2 weekends.
