Recap: Amazing Taste Beer Cruise with Buckeye Brewing

Long overdue, I want to fill you guys in on a great day I had a few weeks back, thanks to Buckeye Brewing Company and fellow Cleveland beer blogger, Brewer's Daughter. I was the lucky contest winner and got to go aboard Cleveland's Nautica Queen on September 10th with fellow beer enthusiast and my cohort from MI Summer Beer Fest, the Wolf. The weather was gorgeous and we had something to be pretty excited about - Buckeye had some new releases available for tasting, including their tribute to Cleveland Beer Week!

Let me frame this story by saying that the Wolf has never been to Cleveland, but he was an instant fan after 2 1/2 hours aboard this cruise.

Before boarding the ship, we were handed 5 tickets, each representing one sample of the beer available on board. We were also given a slip of paper. The Amazing Taste isn't just for tasting beers - you also get to compete for sweet prizes like a $150 gift certificate to the Buckeye Beer Engine. Being a competitive person, it was hard to decide which to tackle first - the beers or the scavenger hunt. Lucky for me, they were relatively intertwined.

It didn't take long to run into my newest Cleveland beer friend!

The beers we were sampling were excellent! I was most excited about the Cleveland Beer Week beer. This year it was a German altbier and probably my favorite that I tried aboard the cruise. Another new beer was available - the Hipster, a cream ale. I didn't like this as much - it felt vaguely off-style and a little bland, but there was plenty more to sample and make up for it. Also available was the Hippie IPA, one of there most popular; the Wheat Cloud, a tasty and refreshing Hefe; and the Summer Girl, a German style Helles lager. With the nice weather, all of these beers were nice and refreshing while cruising along the coast of Lake Erie.

To recap the rest of the fun, I have to say that we had a blast completing the scavenger hunt. There weren't too many embarrassing moment (except perhaps having to sing "Pop Eye the Sailor Man" to the DJ in order to enter our name for prizes). The cruise had some tasty appetizers available as well. The Wolf and I made some friends during our cruise who were, like us, beer lovers. Thanks again to our friends for all the extra beers - five tokens wasn't really enough!

Already a Cleveland Fan!

All in all, I have to give a big thank you to Brewer's Daughter, 107.3, Ameriprise Financial, Buckeye Brewing Company, and the Nautica Queen for a wonderful afteroon and a great craft beer experience in CLE.