Disappointing Beer Festival

I'm going to post off topic and talk about the best beer festival

Off topic for worst festival, because this here is the best beer festival in our state imo
This is the best day of the year to be in Hickory, I didnt make it this year, but I was last year. This lineup looks better than last years too. All day event, no sessions, come and go. Go to the Olde Hickory Taproom and have amazing food and more beer.
Check out the roster

http://www.hickoryhops.com/brewers.html

 

Thanks! Any excuse to get back down there and actually go to The Pit this time!!

Edit: I just saw that Hickory is like 3 hrs from Raleigh, d'oh.

 

NYC has a seasonal craft fest that isn't great but good enough to keep me going. Most of the breweries just offer a seasonal plus a regular rotation. KBS launched at this years spring fest though, that was awesome, and the handful of breweries that had more unique stuff made it worthwhile. They also offer a connoisseur package which gets rare bottle tastings but the ticket price is like $125.

When they announced the KBS tapping over the loudspeaker you could see the real geeks in the crowd book it for the Founders booth. I'd say it was maybe 10% of the crowd. It was empty enough I was able to go through the line 4 times.

 

My problem with Beer Festivals recently has been that I've had most of the beers there. If something is in my distribution, chances are I've had it. The High Country Beer fest is a great festival in Boone NC. 50 breweries in a small college town is great! And of course they have great breweries, however most of the breweries bring their standard lineups. I love the event, and its a great time, but i didn't see any beers that I would write home about. The local App State brewery is the most creative at the event year-in-year out. Last year a Mint-chocoloate chip stout was being served with a scoop of ice cream in the glass to boot.

 

The stout sounds good, but I would prefer my ice cream in a cone to go with it.

 

I've noticed that there is a distinction between "craft beer festivals" and "international beer festivals".

In the case of the first, good or bad selection, it seems to normally be a group of local craft houses. I tend to appreciate these more. In the second case, more often than not, it is a half a dozen distributors dragging in whatever they feel like from their line. Europe is awash in fizzy yellow beer with venerated brand names. So every distributor has its stella/heineken/whatever, its Murphys/Guiness/Beamish/whatever, its Bass/Boddingtons/Speckled Hen/whatever...you get the idea. It gets old quick. Normally the only bright spots are regional craft houses that are big enough to be in the big distributors line.

 

I have always enjoyed going to the world beer festivals in NC. Never been to the Raleigh one but the one in Durham was always a lot of fun.

 

There is one coming up in the Houston area soon that is touted as an international beer festival. One look at the list and you can see its nothing you can't buy at your local store. With the exception of Unibroue, all the beers of "the Americas" are Mexican and Latin America. The "European" category is at least Sam Smith, Ayinger, Paulaner etc. I am sure there is a fellow BA on here who is more computer literate than me who could post the listing of the Kemah Beer Fest. It looks like mostly the AB InBev distributor here.

 

And there you have it. Yet another example of how AB/inbev is hurting the craft beer community.

 

I went to the Magic City fest the year that higher ABV beers were first allowed. So while all you locals were standing in line to get the new stuff, my wife and I were enjoying the lower ABV regional beers that we can't get out here.

 

Yeah, that one was crazy. People were slamming the booths with high ABV.

We keep changing the lineup to keep the event fresh - if you glance quickly down the lists you'll see that we are switching in more and more of the local breweries, and only allowing in non-local beers if they are truly worthy or exceptional. With our exploding local scene it won't be too terribly long before we will be able to do a 100% Alabama-brewed event

 

Scranton, PA just started the Electric City Beer Fest a month ago. Rave reviews! People loved it! All positive feedback! Local newspapers gleefully reported huge ticket sales and happy people as far as the eye can see!

...it was a Who's Who of mediocre breweries peppered throughout a sea of fake craft such as Blue Moon, Red Hook, Third Shift, and Batch 19 stations. The only redeeming quality was the presence of 2 up-and-coming local breweries with HUGE potential, which were Breaker Brewing and Shawnee Craft.

So, is my palate just ruined, have I become snooty? Unimpressed by otherwise good selections like Saranac and Sam Adams, I fear I may have descended into a lonely circle of beer snob hell.

The only other possibility is that North East PA is fairly devoid of true BAs. Not sure which is worse...

 

This is one of the best brewers festivals and they serve a pretty limited numbers of beers- yet it somehow manages to be fun (which is pretty much what is all about, I think):

http://www.oktoberfest.de/en/articl...t+the+Oktoberfest/Dates+and+General+FAQs/751/

 

I went to my first Extreme Beer Festival this year. Nonetheless I will never miss this event again.

 

I feel your pain, as I volunteered at this. I couldn't believe how disorganized it was. They split everyone up into two tents and bascially told us to go to any booth we didnt see a rep at and pour. So, if it was a brewery that someone had no experience with, they wouldn't be able to explain much about what they were pouring. Nonetheless, I had a good time pouring, minus the one person who couldn't grasp the concept of what bitter meant...

 

I went last year to the Maryland Craft beer fest and it was a good beer fest. If you go to the lesser known breweries and brew pubs the lines are much shorter and have great beer.The cask and VIP beers were much better than the regular beers and cask poured. I think this year will be better for the VIP because there will be a separate VIP section and restrooms. It is also a better location downtown.

 

Funny, which table were you at? (I promise I didn't ask any bitter questions )

 

I haven't been to any beer festivals and from some of the posts here, I probably haven't missed much. I guess if I ever have an inkling to attend one, I'll check here first. Yessir.

 

Finch's, evening session