Katy Rotary's Brewfest - April 23rd

The 2016 Katy Wild West Brewfest will be held at the Katy Mills mall in Katy, TX – a suburb of Houston. This will be the fifth annual occurrence of this non-profit event, and the first held at Katy Mills mall. According to event organizer David Loesch, the reason for the move was simple: “We outgrew our old space; it simply could not handle our capacity anymore.”

 

All net proceeds of the event go to both local charities in the Houston-Katy area as well as other charities around the world. A few of the charities represented are: The Rainbow Room, Future Farmers of America, The Shaw Center, along with various disaster relief efforts and fine arts programs locally. The event is fully staffed by volunteers, which means that no one works the event to turn a profit, and 100 percent of the net gross goes back to the community. Not many events can say that. Over 6,300 people traveled from as far as the Netherlands to enjoy the raucous atmosphere and wide beer selection at the WWBF in 2015, and event organizers are hoping for an even better turnout this year.

 

April 23rd, at 4 PM (3 PM for VIP admission)  the event opens to the public. For those that don’t want to make the drive to Katy Mills Mall, the “Texas Beer Bus” will pick up throughout the day at various locations around the event. While Uber or a designated driver is always an option, why not hop on a bus with fellow festgoers and perform an out-of-tune version of “99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall” before or after the event? Sounds like a blast to me.

 

The 2016 WWBF will feature over 150 breweries bringing over 500 (!) beers for your perusal. “With over 143,000 square feet of beer nirvana, every style you can imagine will be represented,” according to a WWBF press release. The VIP tent alone is over 10,000 square feet and will feature rare and one-off beers that will be made available for this event only.