The Beer of Epcot International Food and Wine Festival 2012

August 3rd, 2012 by in Walt Disney World Beer Reviews

After trying all the beers at Food and Wine, your table may look something like this.

The menus are out and the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival Beer List is updated (along with a brand new app). Let’s chat about what’s on the list. Last year I wrote a huge article detailing every beer at every location. This year I’m going to cut it down a bit and talk about the changes; a lot of the beers, especially at booths like Mexico and China, have the same exact boring selection.

The majority of Brewer’s Collection is the same as last year and half of the beers come from Biergarten and the other Germany locations serving beer. The BraufactuM beers are gone this year and in their place are Berliner Kindl Dark and Schöfferhofer Grapefruit. I’m having trouble matching Disney’s “Berliner Kindl Dark” to an actual beer brewed by Berliner Kindl. Perhaps they mean the Berliner Kindl Bock Dunkel? Schöfferhofer Grapefruit is a hefeweizen that Jenn has already expressed interest in trying.

Hops and Barley is still the home of Samuel Adams, but Angry Orchard is also making an appearance this year. Blackberry Witbier was removed in order to make room for the hard cider. The Festival Beer this year is Samuel Adams Chocolate Bock, replacing last year’s Boston Ale. Samuel Adams Octoberfest isn’t specifically listed this year; the ever so vague Samuel Adams Seasonal is listed instead. However, Octoberfest is the fall seasonal and should be there.

Right near Hops and Barley is the new Florida Local booth. Florida Beer Company will have a presence here with its Florida Lager and Key West Southernmost Wheat. Both are new to the festival, however Key West Southernmost Wheat can be found at Cabana Bar and Beach Club at the Dolphin.

The Belgium booth retains its three beers from last year and adds Leffe Brune, a Belgian Dark Ale.

Canada is not listing any Unibroue beers at their booth; however, last year Disney brought three out of Le Cellier to serve during the festival. They may show up at random, so keep an eye out.

Hawai’i is still serving Kona beers, but they replaced Longboard with Kona Big Wave Golden Ale. Pipeline Porter will also be available at the booth.

Last but certainly not least, the Craft Beer Collection has a few changes to its selection. Instead of Blue Moon, a Blue Moon Seasonal will be available. Florida Beer Company makes another appearance here with Devil’s Triangle, an IPA that seems to be brand new! Widmer is sending over one of their Rotator IPAs, a Spiced IPA, instead of their Hefeweizen. Craft Beer Collection will have three IPAs this year (Full Sail IPA is the third), as opposed to only one last year. Along with Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, the booth has a much hoppier selection.

Assuming it will be similar to last year, tasting pours will cost $2.75 – $3.25 and full size cups will cost $5.00 – $7.00 or so. A beer flight may also be available with three tasting pours for $8.00.


  • Jenn

    Too bad they didn’t replace the Leinenkeugel berry weiss! 🙂 And looking at that picture reminds me how much fun that was. mmmmmm beer!

    Reply

  • Ken Goyette

    The disappointment I get when I see this list makes me … sad (maybe angry). I don’t get why they don’t try to get more from Dogfish Head, or Stone, or New Belgium. I get they aren’t going to have WWS by DFH, but 60 minute or 90 is an easy get. Stone or Lagunitas have nationwide distro and could provide some beer. But I think my biggest disappoint is the Belgian beers. We can’t get a few really good Belgian beers. It’s the Mecca of great beer, and they bring AB/InBev owned beers, I get why, but its disappointing. I am interested in the schofferhofer Grapefruit, no idea how they got around the German purity laws, but sounds interesting.

    Also as an aisde, Angry Orchard is Boston Beer Company’s cider maker. They do make some tasty Ciders too…

    Reply

  • Scott Post author

    Disney used to serve DFH 60 Minute; I’m not sure what happened there but it’s definitely a viable option. Katie would die if they served Lagunitas at WDW (they are serving Lag at Carthay Circle in DCA).

    I would love to see some Belgian beers other than the ones listed. Duvel and Chimay should be able to provide enough beer.

    I completely missed that Angry Orchard was a subsidiary of Boston Beer when I did my review a while back. The Crisp Apple is pretty good though.

    Reply

  • Eric

    You will be happy to know Italy is making a big effort in the coming weeks to improve our beer selection. They have been working for the last six months to bring in true Italian Craft beer and are happy to announce they have the first one on draft as of Thursday, Amiata Contessa Italian Pale Ale is currently on tap at all three restaurants. In the next two weeks Via Napoli will be adding two 750ml Bottles to their table tent from Birrificio L’Olmaia – PVK (Ancient Etruscan Recipe similar to WitBier) and Birrificio Grado Plato – Strada San Felice (Chestnut Amber Ale).
    Tutto Gusto, the new wine bar will add two rotating guest draft beers for the remainder of the year, starting in two weeks when they arrive, putting their draft selection at 5 italian beers. (First two will be Birrificio Italiano TipoPils and Birrificio L’Olmaia La Nove (Double Malt)
    Tutto Italia and Via Napoli will be featuring a seasonal draft selection from Amiata Birre.
    As for Food & Wine, Via Napoli’s Beer Pairing lunch is exciting this year. They will be featuring only craft brewers from Italy, and it is hosted by a former intern from Birra Del Borgo.

    Reply

    • Scott Post author

      Hi Eric, thanks for stopping by!

      I’m going to work on adding these to our beer list. We’re to see that the Italy restaurants are working to improve their beer selection.

      Please keep us posted; you can always email us at beersandears@gmail.com. Comments on the site always work too!

      Thanks again for the update!

      Reply

    • Ken Goyette

      Just saw this, this is outstanding news. Tutto Gusto will have to be a stop for me now later in September…

      Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


Copyright © 2024 Beers and Ears - Drinking beer in Walt Disney World and beyond