Tag Archives: Beer

FWFWF: Burgers, Brews and Blues

Disclaimer: I was not paid for this post however I did receive tickets to the event in return for the publication. As always, all opinions are my own. #FWFWF #BurgersBluesBlues #FortWorthTX

The perfect trifecta of things that belong at a festival – burgers, brews and blues. Joining forces to provide the most enjoyable evening at the Fort Worth Food and Wine Festival in the most comfortable atmosphere. On top of it all, The Heart of the Ranch venue on Clearfork Main Street may now be my favorite outside venue in Fort Worth. Rustic, charming, calm and peaceful with the tunes from the live music in the foreground. Grab a chair or a rock and just be ready to soak it up.

The event that we most anticipated blew us away. We were immediately relaxed and taken to what felt like the middle of the Texas country, with overhanging lights, a cool brew in hand and the smell of burgers sizzling on the grill. Our feet moving and hips swaying to the beat of the live blues coming from the stage, we could’ve stayed all night. This was an event that you’ll want to spend the entire evening with the closest friends and family and come back year after year. We were already talking about coming back next year before the event was even over! To provide an interesting twist, voting tokens are provided for the best burger and best local brew. Your taste buds have an impact too!

With numerous restaurants participating from Fort Worth, there wasn’t a burger that didn’t get enjoyed. Man, these guys really get creative too. From a PB&J based burger (considering I despise PB&J it was phenomenal) to your typical burger, lettuce, tomato burger, we were pleased, surprised and well fed.

Burgers Brews and Blues, Fort Worth Food and Wine Festival, Fort Worth Texas,

Far Out Peanut Butter Jammy Burger – Far Out Patty & Bun, American cheese, Far Out Strawberry Jalapeño jam, cream cheese, bacon, Far Out Peanut Butter sauce, arugula.

Every great burger must be complimented by an equally superior beer! Whether it is with a full bodied taste, a little light on the corners or even a spicy kick on the back end, it’s the ying to the burgers yang. Luckily for us, this event had a full supply. From our personal favorite, Revolver to new breweries that we’ve yet to discover, we were pretty excited.

And what’s a good beer without some live music. With local artists James Hinkle, Chris Watson Band and the Michael Lee Clemmer Band – everyone was enjoying themselves to the fullest. I mean, how can you not, it’s blues!

What we found at the Burgers, Brews and Blues was the most entertaining, enticing and appetizing event of the FWFWF. When you are talking about coming back the following year before the event is even over, you know it’s got to be that good!

Until next year!

A full recap of our experience at the Fort Wort Food and Wine Festival as well as links to the other events can be found, here.

GrapeFest 2013 – The Largest Wine Festival in the Southwest

2 Replies

Disclaimer: I did receive free general admission tickets in return for this post. All opinions are my own.

In the past, I’ve been a huge fan of the events in Gvine, Texas but this one has got to be my number one favorite! GrapeFest is an annual festival that exemplifies the wine industry in this area. Whether you are looking for a family friendly, couples getaway, girls weekend or even if you live in the area, this is a great event to check out!

Obviously, this event is for wine lovers (hence “GrapeFest”) but it incorporates so much more! An amusement park for the kids, live music, beer tent, champagne tent, an immense amount of food, vendors, unique stores and restaurants and it is situated right down Main Street in one of my favorite towns in the country. (To provide perspective, have you ever seen those Hallmark movies where it seems like these people are from the coziest, small town ever where everyone is incredibly nice and you think to yourself, “I want to go there!”… this is how I describe Grapevine!)

Throughout GrapeFest, magnifying glasses were placed on street lights. This was actually a scavenger hunt for the festival! If you completed the hunt (via cell phones), you would be entered to win a prize after GrapeFest. Pretty fun! You can also see the (people) traffic at the festival Saturday afternoon. Perfect weather and just the right amount of folks! It was amazing!

PicMonkey Collage5

GrapeFest also had a ton of exhibits going on throughout town. One of my favorite and most interesting spots to check out is Vetro. This is a glass blowing studio where they make a ton of beautiful art pieces. They held an open house where visitors could walk in and check out their craft. Pretty interesting!

The Wine!

As mentioned, Grapevine is known for being a wine destination. With a ton of different wineries and tasting rooms situated throughout town, you will have a difficult time running out of options!

GrapeFest hosted a free bus for wine tours to three different. Amy and I took this option up as one of our “must’s” for the day. Cross Timbers Winery was our first stop (below). What was even more interesting is that this winery is located at a historical site in town and is also apparently haunted. Mixing all things into one!

Although there are wine tasting options set up throughout the festival, the real tasting happens at the People’s Choice Wine Tasting Classic. I later referred to this as “Speed Dating with Wine”…. and it was the greatest event ever!

If coming to GrapeFest, this is an absolute must! For an additional $20, be sure to put the ultimate wine tent on your to do list! With various hour and a half time slots set up throughout the weekend, your mission is to explore various wines from throughout the state. You will be given a commemorative glass and a booklet describing the wines available from the wineries (each set up at a different booth). At the end of your time slot, fill out a form and select your favorite wines from throughout the day!

A list of the winners can be found, here.

At first, I was a little discouraged that I had an allotted schedule of time to try out what was available but it’s really a smart move. There’s plenty of time. Amy and I (arrived a little late) but ended up trying 60 wines in about an hour and fifteen minutes (30 each, we tried each others). The lines move quickly and it’s a great experience chatting with those around you to compare what you liked best!

Next up, was a little old fashion grape stomping! (Yes, we moved from the wine tent to the grape stomp contest!) We learned there is a trick to this, but I’m not going to share it considering – what fun would that be?! It’s unfortunate that we don’t have a video of ourselves doing this but it was a lot of fun! Be sure to sign up early, it’s a popular event!

The festival proceeds well into the evening, where the crowds pick up and things really get interesting. With five different stages set up throughout the entire day, entertainment is always plentiful. The headlining band on Saturday was Le Freak, a local cover band who really captured the crowd!

GrapeFest is an incredible festival for all ages and groups of folks. There’s so many events that go on throughout the weekend, I didn’t come close to listing them all (so be sure to check out their website)! This was perhaps the most fun I’ve ever had at a festival. If you have an opportunity to check out the event, I highly suggest it. You can’t go wrong!

Have you ever attended GrapeFest? I’d love to hear what you thought of the event!

Oktoberfest, Southlake, TX

Leave a reply

This past weekend seemed like a blur, there was so much going on and lots that I need to fill you in on, however let’s start with Oktoberfest! On Saturday, we checked out the Oktoberfest in Southlake, Texas. It almost seems like each year there is a new Oktoberfest popping up in either your own town or a town close by, here there have been at least three or four of them in the past two weeks, so we had to at least check out one of them!

The Oktoberfest in Southlake is held in the Town Square. It is actually a pretty nice area with a gazebo, small park which is surrounded by a shopping center (outdoor shops) which holds numerous restaurants. Obviously, there is a ton to do to begin with, throw in some tents in the middle of the Square and you have a party. Top it all off, the event was free to the public.

The gazebo hosted a series of entertainers. There was even a nice patch of grass in front if you wanted to bring some chairs and just hang out. A beer tent was conveniently placed nearby.

Southlake seems to show a huge emphasis on family based events, this one included. There is a section of kids games and bounce houses for entertainment. Even a rock climbing wall for the older kids, or adults young at heart. There was even a martial arts instructor teaching children how to break a board with their hands. It’s all about respect and confidence. He seemed like a great instructor and was great with kids. (I have no idea what company / organization he worked with but if I had a child, I would enroll them.) It was probably one of the biggest highlights of my day.

The center of the park was full of vendors and craft tents.

Look at these cute little guys! I love pretty much anything that has to do with fall. I could’ve bought and made a village!

I love this truck! If only I could drive around in this beast!

Food and brews?

Getting there… the event itself was free, however if you wanted any food or beer, tickets would need to be purchased. I believe tickets were $0.50 each and the amount of tickets depended on the item purchased. Numerous vendors were these selling their delicious treats (even soft serve ice cream there on the end).
Beer tents were scattered throughout the area.

This is a good family event, even to get out of the house for a couple hours on a nice day. It appeared to be more family oriented than food/beer driven. You may even see a celebrity or professional athlete as Southlake is the home to many of them. Sy is convinced he saw Jon Kitna, Tony Romo’s back-up. By the time he figured out why he looked so familiar he was walking off with his family. None the less, the man was pretty happy.

If anyone else attended Southlake’s Oktoberfest, what’d you think?!