Even if you didn’t catch the fun way Fifty West offered up free tickets for their Fifty Fest last year, I’m sure that you’ve seen that movie with that wack job who runs a candy factory staffed by slave labor, right?  You know the one with all the spoiled kids who may or may not be tricked into near (or certain) death?

Well… Fifty West took a page out of that playbook – not with the slave labor or child abuse or anything, but with their Golden Tickets.  As if it’s not exciting enough when the brewery releases a packaged beer, let alone a canned package beer into stores – they turn the whole thing up a notch when they put a removeable label on the cans that is redeemable for admission into their annual festival deemed ‘Fifty Fest’.

I’m getting slightly ahead of myself, though.  Let’s take this one step at a time.

What’s Fifty Fest?

In the coming month I will have a more in depth look at what this year’s festival is going to look like, but the brief synopsis is pretty easy to wrap your head around.

Food – Fifty West has gained quite the reputation around their food program at their Brewpub, and so it only makes sense that they’d fill their festival with some fantastic food from them as well as some of their favorite food trucks.  You can’t have a great day drinking on an empty stomach, after all.

Music – I mention this every time I talk about a beer festival that features music.  It’s become such a part of festivals in Cincinnati.  We like something to listen to while we drink, and Fifty Fest takes that whole thing up a notch.  They might have even been the first festival in Cincy that was as much a music festival as it is a beer festival.

Beer –  The beer is obviously the star (for me at least).  Fifty West uses their festival as an opportunity to showcase everything that this city has to offer.  They line up some of the best kegs that they can get their hands on from all their friends around town, as well as brewing up some of their best too.  Beer. For. Days.

Again, I promise that I’ll have a more in depth look at all this once all the details are released, today I just wanted to get the cans on your radar!

I Got A Golden Ticket!

Not one to just do things the way that everyone else is doing them, Fifty West really steps up their game each year for this festival.  They put out two packaged beers last year, Rainbow Road and Penny’s Pilsner which had removeable labels.

The idea was simple, but brilliant.  Bring in a label, get in the festival for free.  They’re rolling with the same idea this year, only rocking two new beers in the cans.

Doom Pedal

This Witbier is a grest beer for the summer months – it comes in at 5.5% ABV and is full of citrus and peppery notes that go well with a hot sun beating down on your shoulders.

Coast To Coast

A favorite of cask experimentation in the Brewpub, Coast To Coast is an IPA bursting with hop flavor from the addition of five different hop varieties.  It’s well balanced by a solid malt backbone, and it’s 6.8% ABV certainly takes the edge off.

The brewery hasn’t released the artwork for these yet, but if you saw what they did with the recent Punch You In The EyePA bottle, and remember what last year’s cans looked like, you can start to see their branding and how it carries on into what they are doing lately.  Either way, you’ll definitely see the new artwork right here once I get my hands on it!

So… when can you get your hands on these puppies?  Soon… very very soon.  The word I’m hearing is that you could see them on shelves all around you as soon as next Wednesday.  Get your cans, get your tickets, get ready for Fifty Fest!!