ZooBrews at ZooTampa

A few months ago we stumbled upon an advertisement for a late night trip to the Tampa zoo with alcohol called ZooBrews. It looked sweet as it was a single price for an inclusive trip to the zoo where food and beverage vendors would be all around with samples. Alyson had been to the event before in years past, so we booked some tickets and the event was this weekend.

It had been awhile since we had been to the zoo and Lowry Park had done an upgrade to the parking lot - so the free parking was gone, but instead we had a parking lot setup much more mainstreamed and easier than the previous iterations. 7 dollars later we had parked and arrived roughly 30 minutes too early for the general admission time. The entrance looked to be letting people in, but we quickly learned those in the GA group were roped off and stuck in a little area.

We probably should have chilled at the car for a bit longer like Alyson suggested, because that roped off area kept growing with people till we were shoulder to shoulder with a hundred others. Finally though at precisely 7:30pm the ropes were removed and hundreds of people descended into the zoo.

The music and lights were going and I wondered how the animals felt for a once a year party at night. I figured some animals were awake at night anyway, but as we walked around the park maybe half were asleep or out of sight. Around every corner was either a food station or beverage station and there were some great items. From memory I got:

• Surf Side Pink Lemonade or Tea
• Keel Farms Cider
• Chicken slider
• Korean burger
• Dave's Hot chicken sandwich
• Ribeye Meatball
• California Pizza Kitchen pizza
• Wendy's Frosty
• Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream

It seems like a lot of food, but everything was sample sizes or tiny pours of alcohol so you could experience all the different vendors around the park. It felt a bit odd enjoying a drink or food as you stood in front of an animal in cage, but on the same time it was a chance for a good influx of money to the zoo.

The coolest up close exhibit was probably the rhinos who were just walking around slowly eating some grass, which let you appreciate the sheer size and weight of these creatures. Other exhibits had creatures that appreciate the night and stalk you with a glare.

That was the owl who clearly had some level of night vision that us humans could not obtain. As the night fell some of the zoo had some cool designs to light the way while others were a bit dark.

As we wandered into the Africa section of the zoo there was overhead lights and a large circle bar in the middle. This place was cool as the large circle bar kept people evenly balanced around bar while all the food stops were placed on various outside points of the center area.

As the night continued to fall towards 10pm the amount of people dwindled and the amount of animals able to see decreased. I could tell the zoo part of the event was losing steam, but the bars and dancing area had a solid amount of people still. Though with a weekend of yard work, running cable in the attic and workouts - my legs were ready to call it a night.

Thankfully we grabbed a photo with the mascot before it got dark. I may have eaten too much ice cream and too many little samples, but all the food was great and getting to experience the zoo without an army of little kids running around was a fun time.

We will be back next year with maybe a few more friends.