Beer festivals; am I getting old?

I've been to a fair few festivals and rarely seen anybody who set out to get wasted though occasionally someone is a little over enthusiastic or doesn't know his own limitations regarding a head for alcohol.It still seems to be all about the different brews available.I enclose a quotation from a recent festival;
" the last festival broke the
world record with 616 different real ales.
773 firkins of ale and 121 5-gallon containers of cider/perry were sold.
Despite selling 57 500 pints there was no trouble whatsoever.That will
upset the Daily Mail!"

 

I would like your post a million times if I could.

 

With the growth of the craft beer scene as a whole, it stands to reason that there would be a growth in number of beer festivals and a more mainstream sort of crowd attending them. In general, I find that to be a good thing but the trade-off is you have to be much more selective about which events are the right fit for you.

There was a time when if something was being advertised as a craft beer fest/tasting, I could probably count on it being worth the time and money. Nowadays, I really find it in my best interests to probe a bit, questioning the organizers, the venue and previous attendees, to find out what kind of a crowd the event attracts, how large in scope, what caliber of beers show up, whether the brewers are on hand, etc. Nobody knows exactly what a given event will be like, but you can make a pretty educated guess based on how things went in recent years.

There's still plenty of fantastic beer festivals to attend - it just may not necessarily be the ones that were fantastic five or ten years ago.

 

Never too old to go. My 75 year old grandfather still drinks beer even with his bad kidney's. Also you see interesting people at beer fests. For instance in Providence's GIBF some drunk chick stole one of Sam Adam's cardboard figure and started to dance with it.

 

My experience of beer festivals here is sadly not much different. Far too many out with the sole intention of getting absolutely arseholed. I'm getting older and I'm not getting any more tolerant of it.

 

I only ran into this type of stuff at one festival a few years ago in NY at the South Street Seaport. It definitely attracted that "lets just get f'ed up until we cant stand" crowd. Not to mention a serious lack of Port-a-Potties provided by the organizers which resulted in rows and rows of dudes pissing off the pier into the Hudson River.

The others that I have been to in Nassau Coliseum and out in Greenport at one of the vineyards were much more low key, atmosphere-wise and seemed to consist of people more interested in trying great beers (KBS on tap at Nassau Coliseum!) than seeing how many 2oz servings it takes to get shit faced.

 

Take the money you would spend at beer fest get some friends together go to the beer store buy a shitload of great beer go in your backyard and have a friends tasting with music and food that you like

 

I agree and see that from the comments most others do too. That is why I think there needs to be more craft beer events that put more of a focus on the experience and not just how much beer someone can drink in 4-6 hours. Hoping that we can do that with the upcoming Summer's Here Brewfest in Coeur d'Alene ID.

Since I have been to so many fests that have irritated me--decided the only way to change things was to become part of the planning committee

http://cdabrewfest.com

 

Unfortunately there are a number of reasons why this behavior is common(two reasons below):
1) Limited time to drink/sample - people feel a need to "get their money's worth" by drinking as many samples as possible before time is up
2) Cost of tickets - again, feeling the need to "get their money's worth". Unfortunately I feel that ticket cost is a double-edged sword - if you raise them, you dont sell as many tickets and may lose money; if you lower them, more people come just for the party.

I think the best way to sample beers is to do personal tastings at home, or go to limited-access events with tickets per beer. The higher the percentage of people that actually will appreciate the beer, the better.

 

Agree with this. Packing a place with 1000s of people, 100s of different beers, and 2 oz sampling glasses is a recipe for "beer panic." Even when I was in my 20s and living in Germany I avoided the big fests. I still prefer the "common" Bavarian beer garden where there are 1000s of seats, 100s of people, and 1 liter sized glasses...and both the food and the beer are often self-service.

 

I was about to say, nearly all of the festivals I have been to have been awesome. And the ones you listed are the ones I go to. The only other ones I have attended are RS events, K&B cellar's anniversary, plus maybe a few more. I only go to ones that are for true beer geeks not general public ones. I have avoided Stone's Anniversay, though I have heard good things. I am worried though that it would be too crowded with people trying to get wasted.

The only "general public" festivals I have been to are ones I volunteered to pour for. I love pouring so those have been a great time, but I am not in the amongst the craziness.

p.s. just bought my oakquinox tickets, see you guys there

 

i went to stone anniversary from 7th through 13th - great event and it's a charity fund raiser.

 

I think I will try to go this year. I have heard great things about it but have been skeptical, plus this is usually a busy time of the year for me.

 

I went last year. I had a great time (I didn't pay for my ticket). The line for the free onion rings was absolutely ridiculous and I never got any, however I did gourd myself on the beer cheese and crackers, with no line. There was one guy in the whole crowd who seemed to just be there for the buzz and I'm sure anyone who was there knows who I am talking about but even he wasn't being inappropriate, just loud.

 

Having been to quite a few local festivals, the token festivals do suffer from longer lines than the flat fee festivals.
The last major festival was me getting too messed up because the latest trend with imperial beers and my excitement to try so many new beers.
The latest beer festivals in Boise involved a 3 day event, Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday. These events can accommodate all of the crowds- the rowdy and young folks on Friday and Saturday night, the family oriented party crowd on Saturday afternoon, and the chill crowd and old people on Sunday afternoon.

 

We have some awesome festivals in SC...Beertopia in March, Brewvival in February, and a fun little festival in Florence every May that while it doesn't have crazy rare beers, it's never crowded, the music is great, and people have a nice time.

 

I went to a Beer Fest up in Boston last year in Sept, it was at the World Trade Center. In the beginning it was fine talked to alot of nice people but the crowd was some what on the young side. So after about 2hrs there was people butting in line spilling beers. I came close to telling these two dude-bros to get in the back of the line because i watched the butt right in on several line. After the 3hr it was time to go. I did get to try several beers I don't get down my parts. Would i go again? NO! I'd rather go with a local to a good beer bar instead.

 

I agree i went to a Cask Ale Event 2 weeks ago in Philly on a Sunday afternoon the crowd was fine. Only saw one guy shit faced falling down outside with his girlfriend trying to help him up.

 

I heard that was really bad this year.