The 2013 Epcot International Food and Wine Festival Beer Survival Guide
September 27th, 2013 by Scott in Walt Disney World Beer Reviews, Walt Disney World Locations
Bier… it’s why we’re here.
The 2013 Epcot Food and Wine Festival begins today! We’ve discussed what’s available at the Food and Wine Festival this year, but let’s talk about what you should be doing and drinking.
First, make sure your smartphone has either the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival Beer List iOS app or web app. They’re free, so there’s no reason you shouldn’t have the app on your phone or a bookmark in your browser.
Here are the booths I think you should focus on:
- Craft Beer Collection – an improved lineup this year makes this booth even more intriguing
- Brewer’s Collection – try the BraufactuM beers and the Warsteiner beers especially as they aren’t normally in World Showcase
- Hops and Barley – the selection isn’t as good as it has been, but Rogue Chocolate Stout is delicious
- Florida Local – Orlando Brewing’s Sun Shade Pale Ale is being specially made for the festival, and Cigar City Florida Cracker White Ale is highly rated as well
- Scotland – Innis & Gunn Original should be an interesting choice, and the Glenfiddich scotch flight will be a treat if you’re a scotch drinker (especially the 18-year)
Naturally there’s more than these five booths, but these are the ones I’d try to hit first. Also, the west side of World Showcase plaza is a murderers’ row of beer; Craft Beer, Scotland, Hawai’i, and Desserts and Champagne are all right there. This would be a good place to camp and drink beer. 12 different beers are right in this one area, and the Canada Beer Cart, Terra, and Brazil aren’t far away.
Speaking of the Canada Beer Cart, our friends at Eating WDW dropped the bomb and shared the Canada Beer Cart menu for Food and Wine with us! I’m pretty sure we can start calling this a tradition now; the Unibroue beers have shown up at the Canada Beer Cart every year since we started this site. This year a special Cherry Éphémère joins stalwarts La Fin du Monde and Trois Pistoles. Cherry Éphémère is a rarity in the United States, so get on that!
Beer flights are your best bet at the big beer booths (Brewer’s Collection, Hops and Barley and Craft Beers). This will give you a four ounce pour of four beers for $13. The small pours individually will run around $3.50 so you’re saving a dollar or so by getting the flight.
I haven’t heard anything more since we received the menus for Via Napoli’s beer lunches, but if there are spots still available it should be an excellent meal.
Also, there are more beer seminars this year than there have been in the past. However, none of them are from Sam Adams. Instead, Florida Beer will have two seminars, one on October 2 at 2:00 pm and the other on October 3 at noon. The following week, Full Sail Brewing will have a seminar October 9 at 2:00 pm. All three seminars will be held in the Festival Center (better known as the former Wonders of Life pavilion) and will be $14 per person. I still think Disney could schedule more of these seminars from different brewers (Cigar City) but three is better than the one or two they’ve had in previous years.
Finally, the Beer Dinner is being held in Epcot on October 18, 2013 at 6:00 pm. We’ve heard very little about this meal in the past, probably because of its $125 per person price tag. It used to be the Radeberger Beer Dinner, but considering Radeberger beer isn’t being offered at the festival at all this year (Radeberger is still served in the Germany pavilion if you need one), the event seems to have moved onto other beers (hopefully some craft beers will be involved).
Enjoy the 2013 Epcot Food and Wine Festival!
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Tom
The Unibroue selections will be our mainstay even though they are not technically one of the “official” F&W offerings. It’s a shame they don’t offer this year round. I don’t think any of the other booth offerings (other than maybe Cigar City) are in the same league.
My wife and I are signed up for the Beer Dinner (our first) but as you stated, no advance info is provided. We really enjoyed the Italy pairing last year and are signed up again this year.