Nebraskaland Microfest in North Platte

Nebraskaland Days is coming up again and that means their microFest is about to take place.  Here are the details.

WILD WEST microFEST

Thursday, June 23, 2011, features the 4th annual Wild West microFEST at the Wild West Arena. Come join in the fun and sample 15 different microbrews made available by Johnson Brothers Liquor Company from Omaha, Nebraska.  The North Platte Lions Club will be doing the pouring.

Tickets are only $15.00 and are available online, at the NLD Office, or at the gate.
Must be at least 21 years old to enter the event (ID will be checked at the gate) - Begins at 5:00 p.m.

Make it "An evening of cold brew and hot rock" by staying for the Free Rock Concert featuring 3D In Your Face, Nebraska's best 80's cover band.

EDIT Got the beer list

Supplier	Item
Great Divide Brewing	Wild Raspberry Ale bottles
Breckenridge Brewing	Agave Wheat bottles
Odell Brewing	Easystreet Wheat bottles
SKA	True Blonde cans
Newcastle	Newcastle Brown Ale cans
Big Sky	Moose Drool cans
Left Hand	Stranger Pale Ale bottles
JW Dundee	Dundee Honey Brown bottles
Sierra Nevada	Summerfest bottles
Twisted Pine	American Amber
Odell Brewing	90 Shilling
Boulder Brewing	Sweaty Betty

 It is no secret that this festival has frustrated me.  In the past they have yet to serve Nebraska beers at this festival celebrating NEBRASKA!!!  I have contacted Johnson Brothers to get a beer list for this years event.  There at least 2 breweries working on opening in the North Platte region and I know that Lucky Bucket and Empyrean make it out there, so it is possible.

I think having a festival ran by a distributor is a mistake because you lose the diversity you can get with multiple distributors.  I am not sure who is at fault here, it could be the organizers just asking Johnson Brothers to do it and obviously they are just going to serve what they have.  It might be that Johnson Brothers is putting the microFest on and wants to keep it that way.  Either way, some one from a festival called NEBRASKALAND DAYS, should step up and make efforts to make it about Nebraska.  You could easily have a festival with ONLY Nebraska breweries and really promote and surprise people in western Nebraska about how many breweries there are in Nebraska. 

So ends my little rant, I hope someone reads this and sets me straight or fixes the problem.  Until these things change I will not be making the one hour trip to visit the festival.  Not to mention it is on a Thursday, pretty hard to make the trip and drive home and work the next day...

Anyway, good luck and I hope you take my advice into consideration, Nebraskaland Days is a fun event and really does a good job celebrating the western culture of Nebraska, I just wish that some time would be spent on this part of the festival.

One last point, I don't want to sound ungrateful because I am not, I have been excited that this festival has occurred for the last 2 years but we are on the third year now and things need to change.  So please go if you haven't been and support the festival because I don't want festivals to stop, I just think they are missing a great opportunity to support local at a local festival.