BARS & CLUBS: A new beer fest is coming up

Get your tiny plastic cups ready (no, you're not going for a drug test) for the North Central Florida Beer Festival in Sanford on April 18.

The Sanford Wine Company will be hosting the event that is really for the beer connoisseur versus the frat house beer guzzler. Instead of Budweiser and Icehouse, attendants can sample Belgiums and IPAs. I recently got the chance to stop by The Sanford Wine Company and they have an extensive and robust beer list that will have you poring over it for some time trying to decide what you want. Which is the great thing about this festival, it will allow you to sample many of those fantastic selections along with receiving education classes on them from guest speaker Steve "Bada-Bing" Dellasala.

For the $29 advance ticket ($35 day of) there will also be home brews available along with the specialty beers, food and music by local band 2 A.M. The tasting and education portion will take place from 6 - 7:30 p.m. and the band will play from 8 p.m. - midnight with a couple of kegs available for further imbibing.

To buy tickets go to Sanford Wine Company is at 114 S. Palmetto Ave. in Sanford or call 407-302-8620, or go to www.sanfordwinecompany.com