Beer Brochure - WYES

y 2004, they moved into the Senator Nat G. Kiefer UNO Lakefront Arena.The WYES staff had investigated the Arena when looking for a place tohold their “Family Fun Fest” but realized that it was set up perfectly forthe Beer Tasting event. 2004 was also the year that Anita Hedgepath,formerly the Volunteer and Special Events Coordinator of WYES, recalls asignificant jump in participation by microbreweries and homebrewers.In 2005, Hedgepath fondly remembers the band of bagpipes that circledthe entire Arena three times – once at the start, once at the midpoint ofthe evening, and once at the end. “During the first go-around, there waspolite applause, second time around there was raucous clapping andcheering, and by the last loop, there was quite a large and merry bunch ofmarchers dancing behind the group,” Hedgepath says. “It was a good year.”The WYES International Beer Tasting stayed at the Lakefront Arenauntil 2012 with two Katrina-related exceptions: it was at the Riverwalkin 2006 and at Generations Hall in 2007. Hedgepath was surprised at thelarge turnout of the 2006 event at the Riverwalk for the first Tasting sinceKatrina, stating that it was one of the most well-attended beer tasting inits history as well as “one of the most difficult events to orchestrate. Itwas so crowded! People seemed to be looking for something familiar -- apre-Katrina event that made things seem normal -- while at the same timehelp WYES in its rebuilding efforts.”After two years away, the Tasting returned to the UNO Lakefrontarea for its 25th Anniversary in 2008. The success of that year’s silveranniversary led to the creation of an entire night dedicated to premium,special beers: the WYES Private Beer Sampling. Sharon Snowdy, thecurrent WYES Events Manager, remembers that she was looking for away to grow the WYES beer event with either a VIP event, dinner or someeducational component. “WYES needed to increase our income from theevent,” Snowdy says. “I could see the craft beer market was about toblossom in Louisiana. This new event was a way to introduce beer loversto high end beers they would not be able to discover without the newWYES event. It was a way to make them a connoisseur of beer. It wasdifferent from our Saturday Beer Tasting in that the majority of the brewsserved would not be available at the Saturday event.”Snowdy approached Dan Stein, owner of Stein’s Deli on MagazineStreet, which at that time was just about the only place to get craftbeer in the city. Stein brought Kirk Coco and Dylan Lintern from NOLABrewing into the conversation, and Coco offered the brewery as the newevent’s location. After kicking around some names for this new night ofhigh quality beers such as “WYES Brews and Bites Party” and “Beersand Cheers for WYES,” they settled on the name “WYES Private BeerSampling.” A committee was formed of several prominent beer purveyorsin the city, including Stein, Coco, Lintern, Derek Lintern (avid homebrewer),Ron Swodoba (Crescent Crown), Polly Watts (Avenue Pub), and VasuTummala (beer blogger.) The ticket for entry was $50 and it included foodprovided by Crescent Pie and Sausage Company. This was also the firstyear that WYES held the Saturday event for three hours, instead of two.By 2011, the Private Beer Sampling had outgrown the NOLA Brewingspace and moved to the Black and Gold Room at the Fairgrounds RaceCourse, where it was held again in 2012. Also in 2011, WYES added aneducational component in the form of free 20-minute seminars on topicslike pairing beer with cheese and how toproperly taste and evaluate beer.This year, for the first time, the 5th AnnualWYES Private Beer Sampling and the 30thAnnual WYES International Beer Tastingare both at the same venue here at MardiGras World. Thank you for coming on out,supporting WYES, and taking part of thirtyyears of history. Cheers!3