EBF 2014: Tell us all about it

Discussion in 'New England' started by tobelerone, Mar 22, 2014.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Auror

    Auror Pooh-Bah (1,641) Jan 1, 2010 Massachusetts
    Pooh-Bah

    It ran out at some point, but they had 3 other good/desired beers, so they all lasted a decent amount of time. I'm not sure when it did run out (I got it right away), maybe someone else can chime in.
     
  2. HighLowJack

    HighLowJack Savant (1,230) Jun 5, 2013 Massachusetts
    Trader

    I got it very early, but I heard it lasted a good while. like at least the first hour or so? it was the first beer I drank and I didn't get back in the TG line again until the very very end
     
  3. hikeeba

    hikeeba Initiate (0) Oct 11, 2013 Rhode Island

    Overall - a great time was had by all. Started with Morning Delight and pretty much tried everything on my list. However, I was extremely disappointed with Firestone Walker - they had only two selections: Agrestic and Velvet Merkin. (Said the Parabajava ran out last night.) I know all beers are subject to change, but to plan 5 offerings and then have only 2 at the second session is just irresponsible. So, FW gets a wag of the finger.
    But this was just a minor thing compared to the whole event. Funky Buddha, Tree House, TG etc were outstanding. The No Crusts was the biggest surprise to me - and one my favorites of the day.
     
    MenardMa, blckout20 and Rochefort10nh like this.
  4. jiggad369

    jiggad369 Initiate (0) Aug 11, 2011 New Jersey

    So many good things to try that you shouldn't be disappointed by any means.

    If you are, go live on another planet.
     
    Jason likes this.
  5. jbertsch

    jbertsch Pooh-Bah (2,710) Dec 14, 2008 Massachusetts
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Wow. Epic event. Usually I end up dumpkng a handful of beers at events, but at this one, dumps were almost non existent. Amazing beers left and right. Toppling Golaith's Sosus stole the show for me.
     
    Jason likes this.
  6. ShogoKawada

    ShogoKawada Initiate (0) May 31, 2009 Pennsylvania

    Well done!

    Loved the extra space and elbow room. Loved the multiple bathrooms. Loved the crazy beers and fast-moving lines. Loved the friendly volunteers. Loved the merch (including glassware!!!!). Walked out with a tasting snifter, t-shirt and hat.

    Complaints (although minuscule) :

    If a brewer doesn't bring enough beer to pour through even half way into the session, it's a bummer.

    However I'm just being a stick in the mud. I had more than enough great beer up through last call. 5 EBFs in a row and this one was up there as one of, if not the best I've been to.
     
    duceswild and jlordi12 like this.
  7. Mikeluzzjr

    Mikeluzzjr Pundit (862) Apr 26, 2012 Massachusetts
    Trader

    I can't deny that I tried a ton of awesome beers, but I have to agree that it was pretty frustrating to see beers run out so quickly. Cascade seemed to never have a line at any point yet they were completely spent pretty early. Everything kicked at Stone even though everyone claimed half their beers were undrinkable. Waited in lin way too long for toppling Goliath to find King Sue gone. Both Off Color beers were gone when I went to 12%. I chose the Friday session because people told me to go with the earliest option because a lot of things run out before the later sessions. Apparently that really no longer applies. And what was up with Firestone listing 6 beers coming and having 2!? Boo hoo's aside, hats off to Funky Buddha for having awesome beer, last minute updating the forums, and barely running out of beer throughout despite always having a huge line. Also, Carton was an excellent surprise.
     
    Ristaccia and dar482 like this.
  8. jlordi12

    jlordi12 Pooh-Bah (1,844) Jun 8, 2011 Massachusetts
    Pooh-Bah Society

    The fest was incredible. Sojo @ NERAX by nightshift was my favorite beer of the night. Regular coffee by carton, both no crusts and French toast were high on the list. My wife is hugging the toilet so apparently she enjoyed I too! (Not ready for the onslaught of abv)
     
    #28 jlordi12, Mar 23, 2014
    Last edited: Mar 23, 2014
    Ericness, robNSB, MenardMa and 2 others like this.
  9. jbertsch

    jbertsch Pooh-Bah (2,710) Dec 14, 2008 Massachusetts
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    I went to the Nerax booth to try flower power, but it was gone so I had Sojo instead and it was so terrific that I was almost thankful FP had kicked.

    Favorite of the night for me was Sosus from Toppling Goliath. And their Mornin Delight put all other coffee beers to shame.
     
  10. MattVC

    MattVC Aspirant (277) Aug 21, 2012 Massachusetts

    Echoing all the statements here. Both Crooked Stave and Forestone Walker were disappointments. CS apparently barely brought enough beer for 1 hour per session. FW about the same and they were pretty rude as well. Sad.

    But if that's all the negative I can muster up then it must have been a great Fest, which it was. Lines were very manageable. Beer was top notch. Loved Double Daisy Cutter, NEBCO Coriolis, everything from Funky Buddha but Last Snow in particular. Great time! Thanks BA.
     
  11. Gmr75

    Gmr75 Zealot (652) Apr 30, 2002 Connecticut
    Trader

    The biggest bummer about Crooked Stave is they seem psyched at the 40min in mark when they were out of the beer - raising their arms in celebrating that they brought way too little beer. (saturday session - I was standing at the table when the last bottle was gone,it was 41min. into the session). Really the only disappointment for me of the fest (I didn't bother with FW). Toppling Goliath was the highlight for me - damn those were good beers. Waited in that line several times.
     
  12. cbeer88

    cbeer88 Initiate (0) Sep 5, 2007 Massachusetts

    So... much... great... beer...

    Yeah, it's always a bummer when breweries bring way too little beer, but there were just so many amazing options yesterday that I didn't feel like it mattered one bit. You could only drink a fraction of the beers there anyway, and the overall quality was consistently high.

    Plus for every beer that kicked early it seemed like some other brewery made up for it with awesome things that weren't even on the list. Like Sam Adams sneaking out that keg of Utopias...

    As for the venue - EBF definitely lost the intimate charm of the Cyclorama, but the benefits of that larger space are just too much to pass up. More breweries, more bathrooms, more elbow room. It would be cool to keep Belgian at the Cyclorama but I feel like Extreme has found a new home.

    What was up with the port a pottys and having to walk back around to the front of the building to get back in? At ACBF you just go in and out the side there. It pretty much made it quicker to just wait in line at the inside bathrooms instead of walking around half the building like that.
     
  13. HevvyMetalHippie

    HevvyMetalHippie Initiate (0) Nov 16, 2010 Massachusetts

    Easily one of the best festivals I've been to. Loved the larger venue and less ticket count. Everyone was chill, minimal drain pours/dumps. Still heard some butthurt but whatever, I thought it was awesome.
     
  14. EnronCFO

    EnronCFO Pooh-Bah (1,957) Mar 29, 2007 Massachusetts
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Glad we weren't the only ones that thought the FW booth were kinda jerks. Great fest, drank a lot of TG Sue, which beat the pants off Juice Machine. The funky Buddha line was nuts all afternoon, but did one time through for some French Toast and No Crusts. The walk all the way around the building was weird, but once inside it was a perfectly sized venue. And for anyone at the afternoon session, did the crying girl by the bathroom ever find her phone? One of the high/low lights of the fest.
     
    JAramini likes this.
  15. Shaymus

    Shaymus Initiate (0) May 16, 2009 Massachusetts

    Tree House Double Shot was my favorite pour....also enjoyed DFH/Brothers Stalactite.
    Can't say I had a bad beer.....Great Event!!
     
    jomobono likes this.
  16. Dave_Treat

    Dave_Treat Pooh-Bah (2,287) Jun 23, 2012 Virginia
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    The fest was awesome. Well run, from ticketing, to getting in, to fast lines, to great beer. Have some new favorites, like Parabajava, ANTEAD Vanilla, and king sue. People were great, staff was awesome. Loved it!
     
    MenardMa likes this.
  17. johnnnniee

    johnnnniee Grand Pooh-Bah (4,642) Feb 28, 2007 New Hampshire
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    FW seems to have some kind of issue at every ebf, perhaps they should not be invited back!
     
  18. StoutKeith

    StoutKeith Initiate (0) Jan 27, 2005 Massachusetts

    The fest was well run. Pre-scanning tickets and ID checking outside helped the line move well. The World Trade Center is quieter than the brick surfaced cyclorama. The downside was I ran into fewer people than usual with the larger space. I was lucky to get to Crooked Stave early.

    Some suggestions to consider for the future:
    Have small chest height tables like at the cyclorama. It's tough to write notes without them. You could keep them away from the long lined booths such as Funky Buddha.

    One thing I like about the earlier EBF's was when there was an area to the left as you entered that had a bunch of chairs for the open admission forums. Some people liked the chairs to rest a bit, others used them to stow their coats. Something like that would be helpful to future fests.

    Have brewers commit to some kind of minimum stocking. I'm not saying they have to have thousands of gallons of blockbusters.

    As a safety issue, put some traffic cones or something by the traffic gate. I and another guy were hit by it when it came down after a woman driving a small SUV passed by. If there's not going to be any legitimate vehicle traffic how about putting up a wooden barricade at the start of the line?
     
  19. Cherries

    Cherries Initiate (0) Feb 1, 2014 Massachusetts

    EBF was amazing!! Kudos to everyone for such a smoothly run event---fantastic having a chance to interact with the BA staff, industry reps, and attendees. I was there volunteering for most of it and wanted to share a few observations/suggestions, for whatever they're worth:

    1) Agree the lines were going quickly, even for the more popular booths like FB & Toppling Goliath. Chatted with an attendee who suggested EBF should have volunteers pour like they do for other fests like GABF so lines go even faster. As many are already aware, BA philosophy is that volunteers don't pour at EBF to ensure attendees have the chance to interact with the industry reps (even if in some cases it does slow down the line--you get rare chances to meet the people behind your favorite beers; personally, that's a huge reason for going to EBF and I'm glad BA does it that way). There are also some liability reasons to have it work that way--makes sense especially with the strong beers. Each vendor gets a generous number of reps they can bring so some of the ones with more traffic (can't always plan ahead for that, I guess), should try to have more hands on deck.

    2) Glad adjustments were made with having staff stationed outside to help direct attendees--there still seemed to be the issue of having people walk all the way around the building rather than the shorter way (especially with how windy it was yesterday, received a few complaints on that, although none during the third session so that might have been resolved). Not sure how to prevent this, but when you exit the Silver Line and go through the upper walkway, you seem to end up at the back side of the event hall--not sure if we can have a better way of directing folks in the future. (This might have been resolved after the first night--if so, you can disregard comment.) Re: port-a-potty-related walking around the building issue, I'm guessing security concerns may have been a factor. I thought on the first night that folks were coming in the same way they went out, but things might have been different on Saturday.

    3) Really applaud the management for making adjustments to how the volunteers were trained on the second day to ensure that everyone was more visibly on task.

    4) Something I think might help for next time is providing volunteers with a map (like the floor plan photocopy I saw floating around at some point with the vendors identified) that has key things drawn on it--where the recycling points are, where the water sources/dump points are, where the ATM is, etc. I think everyone did eventually figure out where things were, but this might help prevent misinformation and also help volunteers be more helpful to attendees who have questions. (Happy to help make a prototype if anyone is interested--just email me the floor plan file.)

    5) There were lots of people who wanted to use credit cards to pay at the merch booth. They were told about the ATM nearby, but might be worth testing something like Square at a future event to track transactions. Also on merch, selling pens is a brilliant idea! Maybe consider doing ones with BA logos in the future? Would be a fun (and really useful) souvenir. I've worked with 4imprint.com in the past on this sort of thing--they do a pretty good job at competitive prices.

    Overall, an incredibly fun, educational and well-managed event! Thank you!
     
  20. Wolfe

    Wolfe Initiate (0) Feb 2, 2013 New Jersey

    Another great festival by BA. I always appreciate how they have everyone carded, banded, and scanned when the doors open. Max time to enjoy the beer.

    Didn't have any line issues, even getting a few go-arounds in the FB. Just picked up another beer to enjoy while in the line. French Toast and No Crusts truly are unique beers, well worth it. Faves were probably Sue from TG and Night to End All Dawns from Kane, but I didn't really have a bad beer all night. Really enjoyed how happy everyone was at the booths too, talking about the beers and having fun. SV bringing snow cones was great.
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.