Hopped Up Caribou Beer Festival - Intro

Last Friday, a buddy and I were cruising north on Highway 61 after passing through Duluth. Seeing Lake Superior in all it's glory along with the beautiful wilderness of the North Shore, I knew it was going to be a good weekend.

When we departed the Twin Cities the temperature was in the 90's (way too hot for me), but it dropped as we went north and was a comfortable 70° just off the big lake. The birch trees were numerous and really stood out it the mix of all the other foliage. Turning left, away from the lake, we approached Eagle Mountain. One more quick turn on the back side of the towering peak and we had reached our destination just outside of Lutsen.

Coming through the main entrance, I noticed the main area of the lodge looked great and had a beautiful window view of the landscape. After checking in, I was looking forward to inspecting the room. I swiped the keycard, waited for the green light, and opened the door. Right then, I knew it was going to be more than a good weekend; it was going to be spectacular. There, sitting on the desk, next to the lamp, was a six-pack containing 6 different tasty craft beers. It was our "welcome basket." We had arrived at the Hopped Up Caribou Beer Festival.

When I first read about this new beer fest, I immediately checked into the details. There were 2 attendance options for participating in this event at the Caribou Highlands Lodge:

1. Buy a ticket to just the Saturday afternoon tasting, which is similar to most beer fests, or
2. Pay for the full weekend package.

What's included in the weekend purchase price? Well, let's see here. First, there's your 2 nights in the lodge. Next, your beer "welcome basket." Then of course, there's the 3 beer events (along with all the food and drinks for each one): the Friday evening Meet the Brewers Social, the Saturday morning Bloody Mary Brewers Brunch, and the Saturday afternoon Hopped Up Caribou Beer Garden. I knew immediately that I had to do the whole weekend package. The price? Trust me, it was a great deal.

In my next few posts, I'm going to break down the progression of this excellent beer weekend for all of you. This post is the intro, and I'll work through each of the 3 main events. Just a warning; if you're a beer geek like me, you may have a very strong desire to attend this event after reading all of them.

My next post will cover the Friday night Meet the Brewers Social.

Until then...