Disney gives craft beer higher visibility

It was a pleasant surprise to see the enhanced presence craft beer is getting at the 2014 Epcot International Food & Wine Festival. While wine still rules here, craft beer has definitely taken a step out of the Walt Disneyworld shadows.

The Odyssey building at Epcot has had many uses through the years but none better than the one assigned to it this year as craft beer’s home base for the 2014 festival. It is the first time beer has had such a highlyvisible and spacious location at this wine-centric event. While craft beer sampling has been available for the past few years, it was relegated to a small outdoor kiosk. This year that changed.

The prominent craft beer signage is hard to miss. It tremendously boosts awareness that drinking beer is cool at the Food & Wine Festival.

Disney craft beer pavilion well received

You can see by the photo that it didn’t take me long to find the craft beer.  These signs are so bold and bright, actually better than any signs I saw promoting wine.

It didn’t take long for the crowds to find it either. The craft beer exhibit and tasting room have proven to be quite popular. Weekends are especially busy, but the lines to the two serving stations move quickly. Inside the large air-conditioned Odyssey, waiting in line is not so bad. Guests also find plenty of stand-up high top tables at which to enjoy tasting their craft beer.

While I was there, I stopped and spoke to many of the guests as they tasted their beer. I was impressed to find about half the visitors were not regular craft beer drinkers. A number of them were trying craft beer for the first time. I noticed a lot of people looking at the exhibit boards.

Large illustrations depicting the brewing process decorated both the inside and outside of the building. While the signs were accurate and informative, they did seem more oriented to large macro-breweries than to small craft operations.

I especially liked the whimsy of above panel as it switched from the technical to the personal.

Some of the  panels are a bit wacky, like this Pale Ale description board pictured above. Several of the other style and ingredient descriptions were similarly goofy. But at least Disney gave it an effort.

I’ll give Disney a pass on the descriptions this time, since I suspect the boards were written by a well-meaning wine sommelier who thinks he knows everything about beer. Maybe next year they’ll get a real beer Cicerone to revise and improve them.

Two beer flights offered

Beer was available in two different flights of four, 4-ounce cups each, or you could purchase individual servings in 7 ounce cups. Far and away, most folks opted for the flights. Each beer purchase was accompanied with a complimentary serving of a premium snack mix.

My tasting flight

I sampled Flight #2. Overall, it was very good.  Here are my notes on the four.

Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat Ale — Blond color. Little aroma. White bread taste with a touch of bitterness. Well made, clean American style wheat. If anything a bit too bland, but quenching on a hot sunny day.

Florida Beer Sunshine State Pils — Pale straw color, clear. Attractive floral hop aroma. Light to moderate bitterness, light pilsner malt taste. German-American pils style. Bright hop flavor. Light body. Clean dry finish.

Magic Hat Dream Machine IPL — Brilliant orange amber color, clear. Moderate herbal, pine hop aroma. Solid bitterness and hop flavor. Emphasis on hops. Lighter body, with a background of toasted malt flavor. Finishes clean and dry.

Terrapin, Rye Pale Ale — Bright amber color with slight chill haze. Sweet spicy rye and fruit nose. Moderate bitterness, nice balance with toasted malt flavor. Emphasis on malt. Lingering bitterness, malt and spice in the finish.

Gradual but positive change for craft

While the special craft beer pavilion is a big step toward bringing more attention and focus to craft beer, the festival’s overall craft beer selection has only incrementally improved the last couple of years. The primary improvements are that a few more craft labels are appearing at the individual food kiosks.

But I have to remember that only a handful of years ago about the only American craft you could find at the festival was five or six Sam Adams selections — and that was because Boston Beer Company was a festival sponsor.

Not long ago virtually no craft beer was offered at the festival’s various international food kiosks.  Today, imported and domestic brews are quite common. This year, twenty of the 33 festival food stands feature beer as a beverage option, often right along side wine. While the majority of these might be not be considered craft, some definitely are.

Festival gift shops now feature beer-related souvenirs like t-shirts, glassware, and bottle openers.

This year and for the past two years, a German beer exhibit and tasting experience called the Brewers Collection has also been featured at the festival.

It includes eight beers, and two tasting flights are offered. Five of these beers are from the BraufactuM label and qualify as German craft beer. They are definitely worth trying. Other German beers offered include a standard pils, a pale festbier, and a radler.

One area of tremendous improvement in craft beer selection can be found at Disneyworld restaurants. Such brands as Cigar City, Left Hand, New Belgium, Oskar Blues, and more now adorn Disney restaurant beer lists. Those brands along with the AB InBev allied group of Goose Island, Kona, Magic Hat, etc. give craft beer drinkers a great chance of finding a solid beer to pair with their meals.

So while wine might still be king of the festival this year, craft beer sales growth is very likely outpacing that of wine. Can it be long before opportunistic Disney marketers announce a future year festival as the Epcot International Food & Wine & Beer Festival? I don’t think it’s that far off.