As the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival is set to start the 2011 rendition on September 30th, it is appropriate to think back to past Food & Wine Festivals to discuss favorite features from past festivals that are not part of the upcoming festival.


Samuel Adams History Of Beer
For year after year, one of my personal favorite attractions of the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival was the Samuel Adams History Of Beer presentation and complementary beer tasting.  Having been and still continuing to be a fan of Samuel Adams Beers I always looked forward to these presentations that shared some basics of beer making and allowed for tasting of 4 of the Samuel Adams brews.  Each year you could count on finding the Samuel Adams presentation adjacent to the America Pavilion.


In the early days, the Epcot Food & Wine Festival was much more focused on wine tasting and wine education and the Samuel Adams presentation helped give craft brewing a presence at the festival.  It was a welcome site each year to attend the presentation to taste and hear about what Samuel Adams was creating, whether it was their landmark light beer or one of their new seasonal offerings it was always a must do when visiting Epcot during the F&W Festival.

Unfortunately the Samuel Adams History Of Beer presentations stopped being offered after the 2009 Festival.  Although you can still find and taste a wide variety of Samuel Adams beers at the Festival, the FREE beer tasting is no more.  It now joins the ranks of other defunct Epcot attractions, parades, and traditions.

The changes will not keep me from attending the 2011 Epcot International Food & Wine Festival as there continues to be new features and events to looks forward to, but this is certainly one that I miss.