8th Annual Isthmus Fest Review
On Saturday, January 21, 2017, the 8th Annual Isthmus Beer and Cheese Fest was held at Madison’s Alliance Center. The approximately 150 booths of beer, cheese, kombucha, and other wares crowded the warehouse-like convention hall. Fortunately, I was in the area and was able to attend the event with hopes of celebrating these fermented products with my fellow Wisconsinites.
The atmosphere was a mixture of chaos and excitement, but smelled of hops and curd. The celebratory crowd mixed and shifted through a series of seemingly random walks“The celebratory crowd mixed and shifted through a series of seemingly random walks”, formed perfect lines in front of the various booths, and swelled in an echoing “Oooh” when another fest-goer accidently broke their commemorative tasting glass. These waves of sound became more frequent as the afternoon progressed, as you may imagine.
The annual event will put you back $50 for general admission and another $35 for premium tickets (extra swag and an additional two hours of tasting prior to the mob). There was a distinct feeling that the general admission ticketholders were out to “get their money’s worth”; the rush and the fervor to make the rounds to each booth overwhelmed any chance for conversation with the companies participating, which was unfortunate.
The few cheese vendors, with whom I had an opening to chat, were quite enthusiastic about what they were sharing at the event and visibly tired from the reiteration of what they had brought. I was amazed by the cheeses from many of the Wisconsin brands; Landmark Creamery out of Albany, WI, had an amazing sheep’s milk cheese. Other cheese vendor booths were less helpful as I was curious where another company sourced their sheep’s milk (i.e., on-site or from a regional farmer); their answer of “sheep” helped me realize that it had been a long afternoon for those manning these stations.
The beer vendors seemed to struggle to keep up with the demand. Those with few selections seemed less frustrated than those offering a half-dozen selections – the latter had ‘tenders that grunted and pointed to the beer list sign, having lost the ability to converse. Some early questions about what one brewery’s “popular” IPA’s IBU was – purely out of curiosity – led to much confusion of ABV versus IBU. I decided to leave the questions and fermenting small-talk for another time and simply enjoy the festivities.
The event also boasted quite a number of activities from an introduction to cheese session, grilled cheese 101, a hammer-pounding game, a silent disco, and dueling pianos. The four hours that my ticket granted me flew by with all the activity and great people watching opportunities. The end of the evening concluded with many more boisterous waves of “Oooh” and folks stumbling home, pleased to have gotten a deal from their typical Saturday night frivolities.
What I had assumed to be a festival celebrating the art of beer and cheese endedup being more of a fest of consumption. And there was nothing wrong with that. My advice to future goers: wear a homemade pretzel necklace, brace yourself for the throng, and savor the quality beers and cheeses made in (and around) Wisconsin.
