Hunahpu's Day 2017

Not sure we are taking about the same thing. Early entry was just that nothing else. No VIP or anything. I have no problem with that especially since it's for charity.

No one has sour grapes about yesterday, like I stated , I had a great first experience. Everything was excellent with exception of this "VIP" area that people brought all their buddies into. Regardless, I had a great time. No festival is perfect and there is nothing wrong with voicing concerns/feedback.

 

Lol, they're definately looking out for themselves. Sell a $12 shipper for $50, what a great guy.

 

@FATC1TY did you see Proof got third place for best beer and brewery?

Secret is out. I had to wait in line this year for pours

 

I just want to make it clear these were not "buddies" -- everyone in the tents were involved with the breweries or the festival. Those people you saw were almost entirely people from other breweries, sharing with each other.

Part of why this is such a good festival is that they make it a desirable festival for breweries. Part of that is paying for the beer, but a lot of it is making it easy and fun for the breweries to be there, and sharing their passion with other brewers is a big part of that. The whole reason there were so many amazing beers was because the breweries really enjoy coming to this.

I'll also add that I didn't go for pours from anyone who had a long line in front of the table, as a matter of courtesy. I don't think I was alone in this.

 

I agree with all the great comments about yesterday. The expanded space and food truck alley was a great idea along with mutiple Ccb tents and the trailer being located on the street. Only improvement I can see is splitting the whales further apart. But that's nitpicking.

As for the VIP comments, this was much better managed than last year. They removed people that didn't belong and the guests inside didn't lineup behind the whales, like last year. I think last year the line at 3 sons as big inside the tent as outside. I have zero problem with Brewers and employees having this access and ability.

I did try about 2 dozen "NE style" IPAs from various breweries, without great results. So many breweries trying to imitate this style and coming close but not quite good. Lots if good berliners though.

Also happy to see a different brewery win yesterday. See everyone again next year... assuming it happens again

 

I agree great festival. Improvements welcomed

I wish they'd put the more sought after breweries on the ends of the tents

3 Sons line ran into Wakefield line. What a cluster.

Maybe even have past winners in their own tent. CCB had their own tent that was virtually zero lines all day

 

No complaints from my side here and was my first Huna day. Got dropped off at 11:15, walked right in, and drank what was available including the elusive Bake K. Favorite brew of the day for me was that Mexican Siberius Maximus from Wrecking Pub in fact the only beer I had twice. But that Kopi Luak Huna was up there, Rusty Nail(Fremont), and of course JW stuff. My dad had a blast , and between us two we sampled around 30 beers. We ended up leaving around 2:30pm to pick up the bottles without zero hassles. The biggest hassle was waiting for my family to pick us up while the barrel aged sweats.

 

My biggest happy surprise was how good Southern Brewing was. I didn't know much about them beforehand, but I was super impressed with their stuff.

 

I didn't. I got two pours but the line was too long for me to care. I screwed up big time talking about them to everyone.

MIA was smashing the berliners too so I just stood there and drank it. Evil kiss wasn't like t was last year I thought.

 

I think CCB nailed it this year. Great fest all the way around.

 

My thoughts for this year - for whatever they're worth...

Bottle Pick-up: Amazing. I was glad to see Marriott agreed to allow bottle pickups at the hotel again this year. I decided to pick up bottles before the fest, and showed up a little before 10. There was zero line at all. A bunch of stairs to climb, but I was walking back to the waiting car immediately. Beer in the trunk, one less thing to worry about.

Entry line: Wow. This was a huge improvement. There were maybe 5 people in the line if front of me - if you could even call it a line. I did notice, however, that while my ID was checked and my wrist band was scanned, I don't think they were compared to each other. Anyway, then there was about 50 minutes waiting in the holding tank. It felt like we were about halfway back in the final crowd, and I was glad we were in the shade of that tunnel. People were reasonably ordered during the walk forward - I was a bit concerned that could have turned into a mad rush. But overall, the best entrance into a Hunahpu Day since I was setting up home-brew tents early.

Food: I'm still a fan of the tickets-for-tapas approach. For me though, I didn't like the decision to move the food options out onto the street. It did open up more spots for breweries to pour, and I'm sure the food truck operators found it much easier to do it that way. But it felt more like you had to make a conscious decision to finish a pour, walk out of the main festival, and get something to eat. I enjoyed just walking around the corner and grabbing a small plate last year, and having a beer while you were eating. This was really the only step backwards I felt like the fest made this year.

Bathrooms and water: I think it's a compliment to any festival that hardly anyone is discussing these necessities. I wish more booths had rinse water handy at the table. But beyond that, it was flawless.

Miscellaneous: There were a few breweries that had brought different beer than the ones listed on the app. When I asked them, each of them said they were told (ostensibly by CCB) that they couldn't update the information on the app. While I realize a true 11th hour change likely couldn't have been accommodated, I feel like the app developer should have been about to put out an update within a couple days.

Beer and Lines: It was great to see the general goodwill and easy going atmosphere in the beer lines, and a minimum of line-cutters. I think both are largely due to the increased physical space in the park and the sheer number of world class beers available. I was disappointed again with the number of breweries that were tapped early, but I'm not sure that's entirely preventable. I was a little frustrated to read here that Wakefield poured more Bake during the day. I was at that tent about 11:45, and was told flat-out that it was gone. I wasn't too upset that I hadn't made it there in time, but if they had told me they might be opening more later I would have made it a point to come back. There were a few breweries that did announced timed tappings of their "whales" (Coconut Medianoche, for one), rather than having them all on at 11. I thought that was great.

So..."Move the food back" is my biggest complaint?? That's not much. And 4+ hours of drinking amazing, world-class beers and getting to talk to some of the people responsible for making them is one hell of an afternoon.

 

My favorite finds were Aardwolf, Alefarm and Aslin. Rum barrel aged White Russian was ridiculously easy to drink. The purple Berliner that Aslin was pouring from cans was outstanding. I had three pours of that.

 

I got a question. I got my beer all put in wine shippers ready to go. Can I check the beer like luggage on the plane or should I FedEx it home? I was planning on checking it as luggage but, since I'm leaving Monday night I'm starting to worry a little.

 

You can check it like luggage no problem, but keep in mind hauling around a box of beer through an airport with no wheels is a pain in the ass. If your checked bags aren't free, it'll cost you about the same to FedEx without the headache of dealing with the airport.

 

More detailed thoughts:

Check in- much easier. I agree they were not checking names with IDs they were just checking your DOB. Line took about 10 minutes for me to get in. I got there at 9:30 so was out of the tunnel. Went to the side and got under the trees, which made the wait better.

Setup- Much better this year. They spaced out the most popular breweries. Wakefield and 3 sons were running into each other but just asking what line was what made it no problem. I got Bake within 10 minutes of standing in line and Wakefield had a separate line going just for it. A lot more space which made it easier to get to all the breweries. It seemed clear most did not send extra kegs only what CCB actually bought from them. I was disappointed a lot of beer was gone very early but that's to be expected.

Food- I liked it better with the food off to the side. Opened up the park more and let you get out of the beer area for a few minutes to take a break.

The only negative is them continuing to tell people that IDs have to match bracelets, not transferable, ect. This is clearly not true. I had several friends sell their bracelet after not being able to go and the person got in no problems. There were likely a lot of people who just ended up wasting money because they thought it could not be transferred. If you have a policy just to stick to it so everyone knows the rules.

 

So you are complaining that your friends were fortunate that they didn't enforce the policy?

But seriously, I think the policy is a good one and unfortunately necessary in this day in age when there are plenty of people looking for any opportunity to profit, say if tickets sold out fast and there was demand.

Get proof of drinking age and payment (wristband) and then who cares, especially without the festival selling out.

 

Huna Day was great this year. They continue to improve the festival and experience.

Moving the food options (and having more vendors) was a great decision and allowed more space for beer lines.
Separating some of the bigger name breweries/beers was thought out.
The bottle pickup execution/added personnel as well as allowing pickup BEFORE the festival = perfect execution.
Sounded like the "check in and put in holding area" was a big success as well to get people in efficiently. It was fun watching the masses come in on the jog.

Early Entree/VIP discussion: the few early entree and "VIP" (friends of CCB) people were in early but only a few were even ready and many of those wouldn't/didn't pour (as they were told not too). Nothing kicked super early, even Wakefield Bake was pouring for a while (and again later).

The people behind the tent were brewers, CCB volunteers, and some friends/family of brewers. I'm sure there were some "casual friends" that went behind and brewers recognized and gave pours to on the side, but it hardly would have effected wait times or anything from kicking.

CCB Xquic was better than everything not named 3 Sons, IMO.

My only complaint was that CCB didn't rub sunscreen on our necks at check-in.

 

They never check ID's to bands last year either. I think you're right, they say it to try an prevent people from profiting from the tickets (buying up a whole bunch and reselling them). That turned out to not be an issue this year with it not selling out but it is an issue with other events.

It's a tough spot for the breweries. You want to let people buy tickets for their spouses, frineds, etc. But then you have people that basically sell their "services" to stand in line and buy Cycle BA Day tickets for other people or auction off their plus 1 tike to 2014 Hunahpu (which ended up being less of an issue than all the counterfeit tickets).

 

I'm not complaining. Just pointing out that there was a lot of confusion about the policy. It worked out fine for everyone I know but would hate for people to lose $200 when they could have sold the wristband unregistered.

 

Great job man. The best of everything guy clearly has nothing on you.