Goose Island Brewery Event 25th Anniv.

Why??

Do you buy floor seats to the Bulls and then expect them to hold the game until you arrive??? If you were late, that's your fault, you should feel lucky they even let you in after 12:00....They very easily could have said "no entry after 12 or 12:30

 

So ultimately, JEG and PlayaBenedict thought this was a well run show.

/Thread

 

But they didn't say that. They should know that, at an event like this, that people come at different times. And if everyone did show up in time to be there at noon, then you'd be on of those that are upset because you would have been in the long lines with everyone else. Since they sold ticket that offer all of those beers, they should have been available to those that showed up with a reasonable amount of time to try what they wanted.

 

They had Rare there?????

 

I dare someone to find a better quality And diverse lineup of beer for $25 -- all included

 

Only if you tell me where you got that hat

 

Garbage can.

 

HEY GUYS I'M INBEV, AND I WANTED TO THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING US AT OUR ANNIVERSARY PARTY AND AT OUR BLOCK PARTY. We figured you wouldn't mind if we had no classic hits like Rare or Vanilla because the food was great, right! ...??? Thank you again for your continued patronization of our events. #caymans #yachtclub

 

Here was my day, and I couldn't have planned it any better with the resources they provided, so I feel lucky in that regard:

- My group got there early because we know what Chicago beer events are like. We were about 300 people deep as of 11:15, and I really didn't mind the line, but I didn't like the check-in process. Why did they have to check our names if we had tickets, why did I watch 20 people who were behind me in line get ahead of me because the A-M line moved so much faster than the N-Z line, and why would cash buyers be allowed to walk right in while those with tickets had to wait?

- After getting in, I went straight to the Goose line cuz, you know, it's their event. Man, I could tell no one thought that one through. Why were all the Goose beers in the same area? There was no organization whatsoever, just a mob of people shouldering each other, trying to get closer to the front. Thankfully they got their heads out of their asses quickly and grabbed some barricades to form a line.

- After about 20 minutes, I got a Napa BCBS, my father-in-law got a Rare, and we went to find my dad who bailed on the clusterfuck to share our beers with him. We then decided to hit up the guest taps from one end to the other, trying every beer there, sharing pours of course, so no complaints about them (at first).

- After that it was 1:15. We figured we'd give Goose another go, so we loaded up with some full beers and got in line, but this time it took us an hour! Thankfully we had grabbed some extra glasses so that when we got to the front we each had two, and thankfully they were cool about filling more than one cup for you. I grabbed a Blackberry BCBS and a King Henry, which was a nice surprise.

- So it's now 2:15, and we know we won't have time to go through the line again, so we decide to hit up some more guest taps, but they're all gone. Really? You only brought enough beer to last two hours? All we could do at that point was finish our beers and leave. Shitty part was the security started pushing people towards the door at around 2:30. They told us the event was going to end right at 3. We had to be done with our beers and out by then, so you couldn't even relax and enjoy the last half hour of your three our festival.

So that was my day. Not terrible, but far from great. The thing that really bothered me though was what the fuck happened to all the beers they said they were going to tap? Remember this list?

312 Urban Wheat Ale
Honkers Ale
IPA
Matilda
Green Line
Summertime
25th Anniversary Ale
Sofie
Dark Traveler
Gran Gas
Golden Goddess
25th Anniversary Ale
Bourbon County Stout Buffalo Trace
Bourbon County Stout Tempelton
Bourbon County Stout Speyside
Bourbon County Stout Coffee Brazil
Bourbon County Stout Coffee Columbia
Bourbon County Stout Coffee Kenya
Sofie Paradisi
Bourbon County Stout Napa
Boring
Sour Pere Jacques
Scully
Dominique
Bourbon County Stout Rare

Half the Bourbon Counties advertised didn't get tapped, and neither did several others listed. I can't believe I'm the first to bring this up. This was the real disappointment of the day, and Goose should be embarrassed because there were plenty of people there to drink the beer.

In the end, I got to try three Goose Island beers at the Goose Island Block Party. To all those who say we should expect this by now, I call bullshit. All they had to do was have two, three, or even four areas pouring the good stuff, and problem solved. Luckily I had a good time because I'm a laid back guy who was there with family and friends, but I still think this event was run as poorly as any I've ever seen.

 

Agree that spreading out the beers would have been MUCH better, as it was a cluster fuck. Everything above was tapped but Speyside ( apparently didn't even bring it?), and I didn't see Brazil or Columbia. Maybe they had the last 2 and no one knew? Or the employees didnt know what coffee variant was on? The rest were all on at some point.....

Edit: they also brought Scarlett ( my fav) and Fruit BCS. Also saw an untapped keg of a Bramble...

Edit 2: and King Henry.....

 

Goose claims they tapped all the BCS coffee versions

 

i arrived at 11:30 and didn't get inside the gate until after 12 because of the slow ass lines, so you are wrong

edit: the bulls also have more than four people checking tickets

 

Beers I didn't see get tapped, but I could be wrong:

Dark Traveler
Golden Goddess
Bourbon County Stout Tempelton
Bourbon County Stout Speyside
Bourbon County Stout Coffee Brazil
Bourbon County Stout Coffee Columbia
Sour Pere Jacques
Scully

And Boring was tapped 15 minutes before the event ended, so if you weren't right there when it happened, tough titties.

If Goose really did tap all the Coffee variants, what good is using three different coffees if no one knows which one they're drinking?

 

This was definitely tapped, and was pretty good

 

i also saw a number of sour pere jacques checkins.

 

That's certainly a miscommunication issue it is sad to hear happened. Were some of the people pouring though volunteers?

FWIW, I was informed of at least 2 different coffees (keyan and java) from the pourer, while I was told of another from the person who brought back the pour.

 

I thought I saw Dark Traveler at one of the side booths, but could be wrong.

 

Scully, Sour Pere Jacques and multiple BCS coffees were on tap too

 

Sour Pere Jacques blew me away. Unexpected favorite, but Rare eludes me once again. Thankful to get two pours of King Henry. Even on such a hot day it tasted amazing.

Also if anyone reading this is planning on hosting a beer festival, DON'T USE CLEAR CUPS ON A BRIGHT SUNNY DAY! I had to pour out quite a few glasses of skunked beer.