2013 Epcot International Food & Wine Festival – review of BEER & WINE so far…

We wanted to give you a quick rundown of our impressions of the beer and wine offerings at the 2013 Epcot International Food & Wine Festival (so far)…

WINE

So far, all of the wine we’ve had has come from the Festival Center. Nick took some photos of the menus there…

Complete menu at Intermissions Cafe – don’t forget, this can be a nice air-conditioned place to relax and grab a sip or a bite

beverages only…

We had “The Seeker Pinot Noir” and “quantum Leap Kaley’s Rescue Red Blend” on our first stop at the Festival Center – we weren’t impressed with either. We had “The Seeker Pinot Noir” last year, it was okay but nothing spectacular… ditto this year. The “Quantum Leap” was new and I’ve been trying red blends more often lately… it was “eh”

I had the “Caposaldo Sweet Sparkling Moscato” – it was a little sweet to me, but rather nice.

The Ghirardelli area also has two wines and drinking chocolate…

Ghirardelli “The Chocolate Experience”

We had the “Rosa Regale” last year at one of our culinary demonstrations, we weren’t really impressed… so we passed on it this year.

We were early to an event at the Festival Center and decided to get the “Buena Vista Winery, The Count Founder’s Red Wine” – we both got an overabundance of tannins on tasting it. We didn’t finish it, we threw it away.

So, as you can see, our limited tastings of wines so far isn’t impressive in number or in flavors.

Now, on to…

BEERS

Brazil Marketplace: Kaiser Brewery, Xingu Black Beer (here) – we had this the evening of the soft opening, it was okay but we’re not going to be seeking it out

The Outpost: St George Beer (here) – it was pretty floral, not hoppy, not bitter… okay, but not going to be seeking it out either

Hops & Barley Marketplace: two beers so far… Samuel Adams Octoberfest on draft – we’ve had this many, many times; we always like it on draft, some years it’s better than others, this year it’s quite good and we’re likely to have again …. Rogue Chocolate Stout on draft – new to us, nice, deep, dark stout with chocolate tones, very good and we’re likely to have again

Canada Beer Cart (now this isn’t specifically Epcot Food & Wine Festival, but the only time you can get Unibroue on draft (excepting when dining at L’Cellier) in Epcot is during the Food & Wine Festival… so we’re counting it!):

• Trois Pistoles – I love it, it’s really dark, great flavors; the first time I had it was at dinner at L’Cellier on Epcot’s 25th anniversary, Nick’s not a huge fan of really dark beers, but I suspect that one of us will be having this again
• Ephreme Cerise – a festival beer, I wasn’t massively impressed, but then again… we don’t typically like fruit flavored beers; tried it, it was okay, not in a rush to have it again
• La Fin Du Monde – a festival beer (although you can get it at L’Cellier if you have lunch or dinner in there, BTW the food at L’Cellier is highly overrated), this is one that we like… chances are we’ll have it again
• Ephreme Apple – fluke, it was at the beer cart because the regular drafts had run out, typically don’t really like fruit flavored beers, but it was okay
• Blanche de Chambly – another fluke, it’s our niece’s favorite Unibroue, it was good but not as good as Trois Pistoles or La Fin Du Monde