Zoo Brew!

Brew at the Zoo, Year 1

(They took down their webpage for it)


                I love the Waco Cameron Park Zoo; I take my friends and their kids there, I’ve taken dates there, I visit there just to clear my mind and walk around. This year I finally became a Member and take full advantage of it. When I heard that they were planning on hosting a Beer Tasting Event there, I jumped at the chance and bought my ticket as soon as I could and tried to get as many of my friends and family to join in as well. It sounded great- Could try 20 out of 50 available beers, snacks, live animal encounters and live music, and all for a great cause… it doesn’t get much better than that.

After a bout of month of waiting, the big day finally came! It was a big day in general; Baylor vs TCU home game, Baylor Parents Weekend, and it was a tad cloudy outside with a slight chance of rain. After work and feeding a couple hundred Baylor student and family, I went home got cleaned up and grabbed dinner with some friends before heading to the Zoo. 

It started at 7:00pm and we arrived a little past 7:30pm, already getting a little dark and the parking lot was pretty full. Did I mention they sold out nearly a week ahead? Ya, they did. So they had a pretty big group of folks here, all of drinking age. We head up, turn in our tickets and in return they hand us an awesome miniature beer mug and a “beer passport.”  The mini mug was for us to drink our tasting beer out of, and the “passport” was to be used as a record for the number of beers we tried- every time we tried a beer, they would stamp the passport with a special stamp. Was a pretty cool idea, and everyone loved the mini mugs.

So far so good… but now it starts to become a tad shaky. As we are walking toward the sound of music, we start to see this large, long, winding line. We have no idea what is going on, where it’s going, or what it’s for. So we hopped in line anyway and go along with it. It is slowly moving, and we ask some of the people that are volunteering there, no one really knew what was going on. After waiting in line, we finally figure out that we are in the first line for beer tasting. Really? This is really long line! The whole deal was this; Apparently due to the weather, the lines and table set-ups were moved around. There were 3 tables serving samples of beer… 3 tables for 50 beer samples. That’s what, roughly 16 beers a table and you are getting one sample at a time. Doesn’t exactly sound like a smooth train, huh? 

Because of this chink, the lines weren’t moving and people were getting tired of just standing in line. People weren’t able to fully enjoy the full experience, the live music, the animal encounters, etc. Speaking of animal encounter, we met a couple of reptiles and an opossum (something that sneaks in my yard almost every night, the sneaky b@stards). We also met a corral snake that my cousins fiancé was slightly obsessed with.

                So we decided to stick with a simple game plan; get in line, sample a beer, go chill listening to the band for a while, then start it back over again. But even after a while, that was tiring so we just bought some beers and drank those. Through the whole night, we left just trying 6 beers. I know others tried all 20, but they had to have waited in those lines for quite a while, and I know we could’ve snuck in a few more that last hour since the lines had shrunken so much. It really seemed that people were leaving early and no one seemed to be having a great time; which was really disheartening. 

                They had a nice beer selection, they had nice snack foods, received a nice Brew at the Zoo shirt upon leaving, and they had great local music. But with all the other problems they were having, it really was disappointing. I would really love to see them put this on again next year. If they do put it back on though, they really need to make some changes;
1) Spread the beers out over more tables; ex, 50 beers spread over 10 tables.
2) Have the Volunteers a little more informed
3) I would’ve liked to see more live animals out and about.

4) Keep the awesome mini mugs, passport idea and shirts.

                           Over all, my friends and I had a good night, but it could’ve been much better. This was their first year, so leeway is to be given and understood. I can’t wait for them to host this again next year, I will be one of the first to purchase my ticket and I honestly encourage you to buy a ticket if you like some beer.

And I guess I should mention the actual beers I tried, well I never really found on I liked. I am really picky when it comes to beer. I suppose the one I like best, out of the 6, was Magic Hat #9. It had a definite bite to it, a tad sweetness, with a slight bitter aftertaste.