This year’s Brew beer-tasting festival has an Oktoberfest connection

The arrival of October means cooler weather, colorful autumn leaves, and the coming of Brew, Shreveport’s annual beer-tasting festival, on Saturday, Oct. 18, from 2-7 p.m. at downtown’s Festival Plaza.

Open to visitors 18 years old and older, the festival, sponsored by Live! Casino & Hotel Louisiana, will feature live music, games and competitions, food vendors and over 100 beers for tasting, including pales, pilsners, ales, stouts, seltzers, imports and craft beers from local breweries. In addition, the Tasting Tent will host the popular Home Brewers category with tasters voting on their favorite. A Sports Bar Tailgate Tent will feature college football on TV screens.

A variety of non-alcoholic beers and beverages will also be available for nondrinkers and visitors under 21.

But you don’t have to be a beer drinker to enjoy Brew. A $20 general admission ticket is available for those who want to come, listen to music, buy beer, watch college football, and participate in games and contests. The Tasting Ticket is $65 and grants access to the Tasting Tent, which is open from 2 to 5 p.m. Also available is a VIP ticket with reserved seating for $100 and a VIP Table for 10 people priced at $850.

Terri Mathews, executive director of Downtown Shreveport Unlimited (DSU), said that this year, Brew has transitioned into Brewtober Fest. “In addition to the traditional beer-tasting, we have added a festival aspect to the event so that Oktoberfest beer can not only be sampled, but sold as well,” she said. “This is the first year we have offered this as an Oktoberfest atmosphere, selling Oktoberfest beers such as Sam Adams, etc., in addition to the tasting event.” Visitors can also sample food offerings boys, Mi Meza, Newk’s, Kajun Korner, provided by Mr. Fricklz, Hippies & Cow-Noble Savage and Texas Roadhouse.

“There will be the Backyard Games area, where anyone can play cornhole, Jenga, Connect 4 and other backyard games,” Mathews said. “The contests, which are new this year, will include Stein Holding Contests for men and ride an empty keg for eight seconds; women; Keg Rodeo, where contestants Drinking Relay (non-alcoholic beverages), where teams can compete for fastest times; and costume contests for the best dirndls for women and lederhosen for men (or women).” Local beer distributors have donated prizes.

The festivities will be enlivened by live entertainment. Local musician Chris Gates will open the festival, followed by 8 Track. The headline act will be New Orleans-based band Cowboy Mouth, known for fusing alternative rock with album-oriented rock, roots rock and jam band influences.

“Brew was originally co-created in 2013 by the Mudbug Madness organizers and the Red River Revel. Eventually, the organizers of Mudbug Madness took over the reins,” Mathews said. “As a tasting event, only in the past, up to 1,200 tickets were allowed. Now that it is being turned into Oktoberfest with general admission, we expect that number to grow.”

Brew is produced by Downtown Shreveport Unlimited, a nonprofit organization whose mission is “to create a vibrant and welcoming downtown experience.”

How has Brew changed or improved over the years? “Brew has grown to not only celebrate the love beer craft community, but to pair everyone’s favorite fall pastimes — beer, football, food, music, cool crisp weather and fun,” Mathews said.

Why is Brew such a popular fall event in Shreveport? “We believe it is the combination of all of those things,” she said.

“It’s a fall afternoon of some of your favorite fall elements.

“And it is designed to create community.”