A Renaissance Man

Saturday I went to the Renaissance Festival for the first time. It seems like something I should have been going to for years. At least I finally corrected the mistake. It turned out to be a good place for beer as well as there was plenty of it on tap and luckily for me there was some from my hometown of New Ulm. Not only did they have Premium and Premium Light, they had the new Oktoberfest so my choice was easy.

There's always something that makes me smile about having a beer before noon, ten in the morning in this case. I didn't bother to remember enough about it to give it an official rating but I do know that I liked it quite a bit, it especially paired well with a turkey leg.

After getting so many props from the State Fair crowd about my Surly shirt last weekend I thought I'd see how the Renaissance crowd would react. Same thing, different festival. Apparently there is always a handful of Surly fans around and this shirt is like my secret handshake with them.

I also bought a few beer drinking receptacles at the festival as well, starting with a viking horn that performs double duty as a beverage holder and a noise maker. I also bought a nice commemorative mug as something a little bit nicer to drink from. The big purchase however was the leather mug. The price was a little bit sky high and it took me quite awhile to say screw it, I'm splurging. I really like the idea of using it at Bock Fest and any other beer festivals that I go to. It's nice and light and durable and should see hopefully many years of service. Next year I'll bring it to the Renaissance and tell them to fill my barrel with beer.

Skol!