Quality Wines, Great Beers, Sensational Food And Top Atmosphere Again Shine In SD

Here’s all you need to know about the 2013 San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival’s premier Grand Tasting event held Saturday, Nov. 23 in Embarcadero Park.

Near the end of the day, a pretty girl was in line at the Belgian beer tent and turned to me and said, “This is only my second time here but I wish it were my fourth or even fifth. I’m coming every year now.

“You can get a lot of great wine and beer, terrific food and the atmosphere and location, well, you just can’t beat it. This is an awesome event!”

She was then handed a Leffe Belgian Blonde and left a very satisfied customer.

 

 

 

 

And so it was for many others at the Grand Tasting. The food was the best I’ve experienced in my four years covering the event – everything from ceviche to shrimp to seafood to pork and the decadent 50/50 ground beef and ground bacon burgers from Slater’s – all served up in a stylish presentation.

And oh, the cheeses. Tons of great cheeses.

This is never one of those food & wine festivals where you walk away from still a bit hungry because there was either not enough vendors or the portions were too small. There was plenty of both, from Jake’s Del Mar to Roy’s to the Galslamp sports/party bar Barley Mash.

There were wines from all over California and even Mexico, and enough beers to keep one happy for hours.

I spent much of my time (as usual) at the Belgian beer tent where I had mostly Stella Artois, but I also frequently ventured over to the Goose Island station for its outstanding Honker’s Ale craft beer. I also had samples from Shock Top and Widmer Brothers.

The Belgian beer tent in 2013 again proved to be “party central” which makes it the ideal place to hang and mingle with other people.

As usual, the servers were just like the patrons, and that is to say in a San Diego sunny mood. That’s really what makes this event so great, the constant fun of just being at it.

Even the weather gods like the event. San Diego was uncharastically pelted by rain for much of the week but come Saturday’s event, the skies were sunny and the temperature warm.

Cheers!