Manning the tent dedicated to Savannah’s own Southbound Brewing Company, Nicole Chiodi stayed busy Saturday afternoon.
A long, steady line of suds-seekers led to the station set up on the lawn of the Savannah International Trade & Convention Center where Chiodi was pouring out 2-ounce samplings of each of the new brewery’s four craft beers.
“It’s amazing,” said Chiodi, who volunteered for the sixth annual Savannah Craft Brew Fest. “You can tell people are really liking Southbound’s beers because this line keeps coming. There’s no break.”
Click here to view Spotted® photos from Saturday at the Savannah Craft Brew Fest
Southbound’s creations were among about 200 of the craft beers and ciders from 48 breweries available for 4,000 festival-goers to taste Saturday during the Beer Fest’s main event on Hutchinson Island that sold out within hours of opening.
“Around 2:00 or 2:30 (p.m.) we had to say that’s it and cut off ticket sales,” said Jay Wilson of Red Mountain Entertainment, the festival’s organizer. “We could have gotten more people in here, but we want to give those people who bought tickets in advance and who showed up early and on time the best possible experience we could.
“And, we really feel like we’ve done that; we’re really happy.”
It’s the first year Red Mountain has been in charge of the event after Visit Savannah ran Craft Brew Fest through its first five years.
“It just got a little big for them,” Wilson said. “They built just a phenomenal event and really set a great foundation for us to come in and build off of, and all these people here having a great time and getting to taste some really great beers just shows that.”
While tasting areas outside along the Savannah River proved extremely popular, several festival-goers expressed their appreciation for the indoor drinking areas.
“I like that part of it’s indoors and you can come in and cool off and there are a bunch more beers in here,” said Charlene Tipton, who along with her husband Brad was tasting beers from Marietta’s Red Hare Brewing Company.
Although they don’t consider themselves big beer drinkers, the Tipton’s said was Saturday’s event was a good way to enjoy something a little different.
“It’s a whole lot of fun,” Brad Tipton said. “We’ve got little ones so we don’t get the opportunity to drink often, but this has been great. A great way to spend the day.”