{"id":18638,"date":"2015-06-09T12:05:53","date_gmt":"2015-06-09T17:05:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.guysdrinkingbeer.com\/?p=18638"},"modified":"2018-02-06T14:11:18","modified_gmt":"2018-02-06T20:11:18","slug":"the-lagunitas-beer-circus-come-one-come-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.guysdrinkingbeer.com\/the-lagunitas-beer-circus-come-one-come-all\/","title":{"rendered":"The Lagunitas Beer Circus: Come One, Come All"},"content":{"rendered":"
[NSFW Warning — A couple of the photos in this post get slightly racy.]<\/em><\/p>\n It seems almost unfair to categorize the Lagunitas Beer Circus as a beer festival.<\/p>\n No, it\u2019s completely unfair.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A beer festival, it ain\u2019t. An incomparable festival of oddities, which happens to include dozens of taps of outstanding beer, it is.<\/p>\n Saturday<\/span>\u00a0marked the second time the Circus has come to 17th<\/sup>\u00a0and Washtenaw. And in that time, it didn\u2019t get any less bizarre \u2013 though it did get noticeably more crowded than last year\u2019s inaugural event, judging by the overflowing parking lot and jammed neighborhood parking. The word clearly got out on those Lagunitas folks and their one-of-a-kind approach to celebrations.<\/p>\n But this wasn\u2019t a beer festival.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n No standing in line for hours just to try one of the whalez, no checking the clock to ensure you were in the right place for that rare tapping at the top of every hour. It was just good beer, good music and good people (and insanely good people watching).<\/p>\n Amid the circus performers, stilt-walkers, acrobats, contortionists and magicians, there were a handful of tap stations \u2013 most noticeably the tractor-trailer equipped with 20 taps. And between the beer stands were quality food trucks and complimentary water coolers dotting the grounds.<\/p>\n That meant short lines and virtually no waits for pours of a Little Sumpin\u2019 Sumpin\u2019, IPA, Pils, Daytime<\/strong> and other quality Lagunitas standards. Finding the more limited Undercover Investigation Shutdown Ale<\/strong> and Equinox<\/strong> were an added bonus. It was a bit of an adventure to find the newly-released Citrusinensis Pale Ale<\/strong> \u201cwith 100% uncooked blood orange concentrate\u201d and by the time I did find the right booth, it had been tapped. Call it an excuse to visit the massive brewery another time.<\/p>\n For the most part, it was wandering the grounds in wide-eyed wonder. After all, there aren\u2019t many \u201cbeer festivals\u201d where you get the chance to watch someone stop the blades of a box fan with his tongue \u2013 and then an even lower, more sensitive, extremity. Or observe a bit of sword-swallowing, right after a woman uses an electric sander to shoot sparks from her dangerously-close lady parts. Yes, the Philadelphia-based Squidling Brothers Circus Sideshow<\/a> brought it all.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n