Ballast Point 20th Anniversary Fest?

Discussion in 'Pacific' started by mitchgx, Aug 22, 2016.

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  1. StonedRaider

    StonedRaider Pundit (756) Oct 25, 2007 California
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    This describes it pretty well. After waiting in a couple of lines I just started asking for two pours at once. The first time I had to chug the first pour, the next time, the guy handed me a second plastic cup. That made it easier for the last couple of lines. The barrel aged lines seemed to be a little shorter so that was a positive. The Victory at Sea variants were delicious. Aside from the Roots being amazing, the Creepy Creeps were quite entertaining.
     
    #21 StonedRaider, Sep 5, 2016
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  2. skunkpuddle

    skunkpuddle Initiate (0) Feb 14, 2011 California

    The Roots were great. Played for almost two hours. But as stated above the Ballast Point part was a total shit show. Until the Roots came on the wait was minimum 30 minutes and all the Barrel aged stuff ran out by 7:00. Worst part was the lines were all so close together it was claustrophobic to stand in line which is fine for 5 minutes but for 30 at least for myself was uncomfortable. And after a beer was gotten you had to squeeze by another 100 people to get out of the chaos. By far the worse beer festival I've been too. Plus I'm starting to feel like Ballast Point is similar to the restaurant Chili's. Lots of different stuff but everything tastes kind of the same.
     
    #22 skunkpuddle, Sep 6, 2016
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  3. mitchgx

    mitchgx Crusader (424) Aug 7, 2005 Arizona

    Well, my opinion is certainly no different from the others that have weighed in. I will say that the extra $15 for early entry was worth it; things were very relaxed and uncrowded until 5:00 when all hell broke loose. I was actually the very first person at the barrel-aged section...the pourers didn't know their ass from a hole in the ground, so that should have been a sign of things to come (and there were some BA beers that were "on deck" as they only had 10 taps set aside...once the horde came in at 5:00 it was nearly impossible to get back to the BA section to see if that stuff had tapped). Overall there were definitely some interesting beers (it was fun trying the OG20 homebrew winners, and some other things not widely available), but the bulk of the taps were fairly ordinary and the insane lines made getting to the interesting beers barely worth it.

    I came in with an open mind about Ballast Point, but this left a sour taste in my mouth (and not because of any delicious sour beers). The fact that they had a section selling cans of Ballast Point beer for freaking $12, at a festival celebrating their 20th anniversary, was frankly disgusting (I would find that disgusting at *any* venue, but this seemed like insult to injury).. Seriously, they should be ashamed of themselves, especially after charging $55 ($70 for early entry) for the privilege of standing in line for 30 minutes for a 4 oz. taster from a pourer that doesn't know the difference between an amber and a stout.

    On the plus side, it got me out of Phoenix for the weekend. The music was great. The weather was perfect. The race track setting was a lot of fun (got there early enough to watch and bet on a couple races). But I won't ever bother with another Ballast Point event.
     
    #23 mitchgx, Sep 6, 2016
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  4. Hoppedelic

    Hoppedelic Savant (1,065) Dec 6, 2010 California
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    Doesn't surprise me at all, the heart and soul of Ballast Point is long gone and has been replaced with Constellation executives. Of course they would sell $12 cans and throw a shitty festival. Why would anyone expect anything but a shitty festival? This is not the BP we've known and loved for the last 20 years, this is big beer not craft beer.
     
    #24 Hoppedelic, Sep 6, 2016
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  5. SDReaper

    SDReaper Pooh-Bah (2,174) Aug 15, 2013 California
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    In some defense of Ballast Point on this...

    1. Those that they got to serve the beer were likely just turned 21yr olds since obviously Ballast cannot have their own staff serve, just like at the other festivals around here. I think we got spoiled by some of the festivals where they do "hire" their volunteers that are knowledgeable instead of just a body to take a cup, put liquid in it, and had it on over. (like MT's recent festival of Dankness where the servers were knowledgeable and a few places had reps or the owners walking around engaging attendees in conversation)

    2. The $12 cans, well, I mean, it is the race track and that is the normal price there. Not like there would be a discount or anything since it was the track trying to make some money.


    That is all I got though. So while some of the blame (or most) can be sent in the direction of Ballast, they don't control all aspects of what people have complained about.
     
    #25 SDReaper, Sep 6, 2016
  6. leboffin

    leboffin Initiate (131) Jun 1, 2014 California

    Ballast Point has been offering refunds to some of us without even being promted to do so. So, they are recognizing the event's problems & are trying to make it right.
     
    #26 leboffin, Sep 6, 2016
  7. ryno09

    ryno09 Pundit (835) May 1, 2010 California

    Deja vu...
     
    #27 ryno09, Sep 6, 2016
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  8. mitchgx

    mitchgx Crusader (424) Aug 7, 2005 Arizona

    I probably overstated the pourer issue; I certainly don't expect that all of the people working the festival are going to be prepared to talk specifics about the beers. But on my first stop at the BA section it was clear those guys had just been thrown there and didn't seem to even know what they had. And re: the $12 beers, yes I did think that may be more of a venue (Del Mar Racetrack) thing since they were probably acting as the actual vendor, but in the context of the surrounding mess (and the fact there was a hefty admission price), it can't help but reflect on BP, fair or not.

    Maybe part of the problem was making this a combination beer fest and Roots concert. It certainly wasn't oversold concert-wise (and while it's not my kind of music, The Roots were undeniably entertaining and insanely talented). But it was definitely oversold beer-event-wise. More space and another semi-truck of taps was definitely in order. At the end of the day, I think they were trying to shoe-horn a beer festival into a larger corporate-style concert event.
     
    #28 mitchgx, Sep 6, 2016
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  9. leboffin

    leboffin Initiate (131) Jun 1, 2014 California

    At a concert, I generally expect to pay ludicrous prices for beers. So, the $12 Sculpins don't phase me that much. It's that the beers lines for the festival were so bad, that instead of going for the beers included with our tickets, quite a few opted to buy those overpriced beers just to get any beer. I've never been to a festival where every single line, even for commonly available beer, was ridiculously long. Even at the clusterfork of a festival, What the Funk 2015, I could find at least some stations with small lines & quality beers.
     
    #29 leboffin, Sep 6, 2016
    Last edited: Sep 6, 2016
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