and of course, what better way to start the day when you haven’t had anything to eat?<\/p>\n
Craft Beers!<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/span><\/span>Here I ordered flight#1 and was told they had run out of the Dogfish Head Brewery, Namaste.\u00a0 I chose to replace it with the Widmer Brothers Brewing, Alchemy Ale.\u00a0 So, my flight #1 is not entirely a flight #1.\u00a0 Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to go back and try flight #2 and some Dogfish Head.<\/p>\n The flight as I enjoyed it contained <\/span><\/span>Leinenkugel’s Seasonal Shandy<\/a>, <\/span><\/span>Abita Brewing Company, Fall Fest<\/a>, Florida Beer Company, Devil’s Triangle, and <\/span><\/span>Widmer Brothers Brewing, Alchemy Ale<\/a><\/p>\n This flight was pretty good.\u00a0 My ranking from favorite to least would go something like this,<\/p>\n <\/span><\/span>1-Widmer Brother’s Brewing Alchemy Ale<\/p>\n <\/span><\/span>2-Abita Brewing Company Fall Fest<\/p>\n <\/span><\/span>3-Leinenkugel’s Seasonal Shandy (in this case, Orange Shandy)<\/p>\n 784,342,394-Florida Beer Company Devil’s Triangle<\/p>\n <\/span><\/span>I’ll start with the good.\u00a0 The Widmer Brothers beer was excellent.\u00a0 The website describes it as follows;<\/p>\n “Alchemy Ale melds years of experimentation and our special Alchemy hop blend, in a pure expression of brewing art and science. Join us in unlocking the mystery to the perfectly balanced, perfectly hopped ale. Alchemy Ale has a bright, distinct hop character balanced with hints of caramel and a remarkably smooth finish.”<\/p>\n All I know is it was yummy.<\/p>\n Now, the bad.\u00a0 The Devil’s Triangle was nearly undrinkable.\u00a0 I say “nearly” because I absolutely finished it, but it was a chore.\u00a0 It was very bitter and tasted like perfume, and the aftertaste was worse.\u00a0 It lingered with you for a while.\u00a0 I should not have save that one for last!<\/p>\n Next I hopped sides and went to Terra<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/span><\/span>This was a new booth last year with the same offerings and I remember being pleasantly surprised.\u00a0 I decided to try the Chili Colorado with House-made Chip & Cashew Cheese featuring Gardein Beefless Tips and the Chocolate Cake with Coconut Mousse & Passion Fruit Sauce.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/span>The cake was the most surprising item here.\u00a0 Cake is already pretty vegetarian.\u00a0 How do you mess that up?\u00a0 I love love love coconut too, but this was the most bland combination of chocolate and coconut one could possibly imagine.\u00a0 The only thing that had any flavor was the passion fruit sauce.\u00a0 That was great, but not enough to carry the dish.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/span>Like many of the items at Food and Wine this year, I remember last years incarnation of the Chili Colorado being spicier.\u00a0 The flavor was still good and the texture is better than expected from meatless meat, but I would have liked a little more heat.<\/p>\n Next stop Brazil<\/strong><\/p>\n Here I decided to try the Crispy Pork Belly with Black Beans, Onions, Avocado, & Cilantro.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/span>Pork belly is not something I usually enjoy.\u00a0 I actually ordered this because I had read good things online.\u00a0 Typically I find pork belly to be overly fatty and chewy and just not that great, but this was different.\u00a0 This was absolutely fabulous.\u00a0 Definitely the best thing I ate today and one of my favorites of the whole festival.\u00a0 It was hands down the best pork belly I’ve ever eaten!<\/p>\n On to Mexico!<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/span><\/span>Here I tried the Taco de Rib-Eye with Salsa de Chipotle and the Mango-Habanera Margarita.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/span>This is the only booth I’ve said this about so far, but it’s totally skip-able.\u00a0 The taco is just okay, no better than you could get at any Mexican restaurant and the margarita was weak and way too much mango.\u00a0 I couldn’t taste any tequila or habanero in it at all.\u00a0 I just tasted like drinking mango mix, thick, syrupy, and way too sweet.\u00a0 Which is a shame because I was eager to try tequila from Mexico<\/a><\/span>. Tequila is my absolute favorite spirit and I feel like it’s still very misunderstood in this country.\u00a0 We’ve all had a rough collage night with the worm in the bottle, but\u00a0 there’s so much more to try in Mexico. This country is renowned for it’s variety of tequila options<\/p>\n If you want a good margarita, do yourself a favor and go to La Cava Del Tequila<\/a> inside the pyramid.\u00a0 They’ll take care of you.\u00a0 Their margaritas have literally ruined other margaritas for me (my favorite is the Jalapeno Cucumber!)<\/p>\n Germany!<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/span><\/span>Germany has had pretty much the same menu for years now, but it’s always good.\u00a0 Here I got the Roast Bratwurst in a Pretzel Roll (they were doing it before it was cool) and a glass of the Weingut Pitthan Dornfelder Dry Barrique Style wine.<\/p>\n I get the bratwurst here every year.\u00a0 It’s very good, perfect level of spice and comes with a pretzel roll and spicy mustard.\u00a0 You really can’t go wrong.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/span>The dornfelder was nice as well.\u00a0 Dornfelder is probably my favorite wine in the world.\u00a0 It’s a softer red wine that’s really easy to drink.\u00a0 This one was not as good as my favorite, the <\/span><\/span>Valckenberg Dornfelder<\/a><\/span><\/span> (it’s available by the bottle and glass inside the Germany Pavilion’s wine shop).\u00a0 It’s another one though, that may not be the best pick on a super hot day.\u00a0 Beer or one of their rieslings may have been a better choice.<\/p>\n Next Stop France!<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/span><\/span>This is another one that has essentially the same menu every year, but they are crowd favorites.\u00a0 If you can find France without a huge line you should definitely go!\u00a0 Here I tried the Escargots Persillade en Brioche (Garlic & Parsley Snails in Brioche), the Creme Brulee au Chocolat au Lait (Chocolate Milk Creme Brulee topped with Caramelized Sugar) and the Sparkling Pomegranate Kir.<\/p>\n![\"Craft](\"https:\/\/magsonthemove.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/image96.jpg\")
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