Disappointing Beer Festival

We have a beer, wine and spirits festival (it's mostly beer) every August. The first year I went, the line-up was pretty damn good. The standout was five-day-old Schlafly pumpkin ale being poured straight from their draft van. A handful of other local breweries had super-fresh offerings at their booths as well as some good stuff in bottles from a fairly wide variety of what's available in the region. The homebrewers association also brought the heat that year. The following year, essentially none of the good local breweries sent representatives and even the stuff from the HBA was pretty lacking. And funny that you should mention InBev, as they had a much bigger presence the second time I went.

I went ahead and skipped the event last summer, and from the sound of it I didn't miss out on anything. Apparently the problem is that the event organizer doesn't bother compensating for left-over beer or provide lodging for the out-of-town reps (both said to be common practices for these kind of events). Considering that the tickets are $35-$40 with nearly 1,500 paid visitors, it's no wonder that a lot of breweries opted out.

 

Dude, are you referring to Brew Haven?

 

OP - It sounds like you're mentioning an event that took place on the Lower Eastern Shore. My first thought is that the organizers of this event failed to do their due diligence to seek out a wide range of international beers and styles, apart from what one could easily find at the LBS.
It's also probably due to the simple fact that they really don't have a lot of beer knowledge. The organizers may know of many international beers, but Stella, Hoegarden, Leffe, Guiness, Paulaner, and other usual suspects hardly comprise of an international beer tasting/ beer fest. These beers are easily accessible and can have a place at such an event, but in no way should they be the offerings that are featured.

I have not gone to a beer festival and not been very happy with my experience. This year will be my fourth ACBF and it's always a great event. I haven't gone to many local festivals though. I heard from friends the beer fest in Annapolis last year was underwhelming. I've also heard mixed reviews about the Good Beer Fest in Salisbury.
Good luck talking with the organizers. It sounds like cost may be a concern for them. I hope they're welcoming to your feedback and willing to listen.

 

I had the same experience at the World Beer Fest in Raleigh a few weeks ago. "Disappointing" is the exact word for it. I didn't have high expectations to begin with, but it was way worse than I could have imagined.

The beer selection was decent (enough), but certainly wasn't a representation of beer from around the world. In fact, "North Carolina Beer Festival" would have been a more apt name - as I believe 25% of all the breweries were local (which, under any other circumstances, I would have been a fan of). And there were a ton of BMC drinkers pushing and shoving their way through the lines, only to get to the front to put their cups out and say 'more' or 'gimme' to the person pouring. It was also interesting to hear different comments from these patrons: too bitter, not sweet enough, too thick, etc.

But the most disappointing thing of all was that the servers were just volunteers that had ZERO knowledge of beer - or at the very least, the beer they were specifically pouring. I started off asking questions: do you know what kind of hops are in this 80-Acre Wheat? Or why is it called "Last Chance" IPA? After enough shrugged shoulders and I dunnos, I stopped engaging.

On a more positive note, the experience has gotten me to really think about the kind of beer events I go to, and to be a lot more choosy about it. So far, Dark Lord Day and Extreme Beer Fest are on my radar now.

 

There are 3 beerfests in Rochester
Rochester Real Beer fest...The best always KILLER beers and great times
Flour City Brewfest ... Longest running fest, beer choices the last couple years not that stellar I go and pour.
Roc City brewfest.. Total waste of time and $$$

 

Brew haven was the shit last year, all the hombrews blew me away think they has like over 50. Only down side was the heat!! Swear it was like 95 out that day. Can't wait for August again.

 

I went to the first Hops and Props fest in Midland TX. The beer distributors brought old stock that had not sold and pawned it off on the people that paid $25 to get in. Crap like Leinie's Sunset Wheat, Sam Adams Cherry Wheat, Smithwicks, Harp Ale, you get the picture. I understand that fest has gotten better since my homebrewing club now has input on the beers, but I have a hard time convincing the wife and even myself to take a weekend and go to that fest.

 

Honestly it sounds more like the AB distributors normal method of giving free or discounted kegs (and/or other kickbacks) to events in order to push their beer. Festival organizers need to learn to say no to these things as it only serves to cheapen their event.

Another example: There's an event coming up in NC called the NC Brewers and Music fest. Last year it was all NC breweries. This year in addition to NC beers Goose Island, Starr Hill and Southern Tier (all distributed by AB here) will be poured. I know quite a few people who are disappointed in that decision.

 

Nah. SWIRCA down in Evansville. Sucks that I apparently also described another Indiana beer fest. However, I do know that the Keg Fest-of-Ales down in Jeffersonville is generally sensational. Last time I went was 2010, but it was pretty awesome.

 

Beer Festivals of many sorts have gone downhill over the years. Not all of course. The sweet spot was late 90's to mid 00's in my opinion when they were attended by mostly enthusiasts and not quite mainstream yet.

Too many are drunkfests, and now the various changes to festivals to curb the drunkfest issue.

 

No, actually you weren't. I was concerned that maybe you were referring to Brew Haven. As another BA posted, it was the shit last year. You may want to plan on making a trip to Fort Wayne in August to attend this event.

 

I would like to attend a festival someday. I am open to all beers from all places, so I am not to hard to please. As the OP said, he was hoping to experience beers from all over the world which is exciting, and even mentioned Italian craft. And speaking of which, another BA here said that a great place in Maryland actually has an Italian craft day somewhere!

 

I'm on a beer fest committee for my city right now and there are two big problems some of these festivals are up against. Number 1 is that in our state in order to get a special events liquor license you must be a non-profit. This means a lot of people putting on smaller beer events know very little about beer. The whole reason I volunteered for our committee was basically to assure we would have some good beers represented. Our local non-profit running the event sees it as a good way to raise money and are great people but wouldn't know a Ten Fidy from an OE 40. The second issue is that if it is a small event a large distributor might try to get exclusivity. Initially our big INBEV distributor tried this with us. They offered to pay for pretty much everything at the festival as long as we did not invite any other distributors, we said no thanks. I have been to many beer festivals in my life but never realized how much work goes into them, so in a sense you do have to give people some respect for probably volunteering countless hours to put one together. With that said if you are not satisfied with your local one maybe offer to sit in on some meetings and offer to help out. This is what I did and they were more than happy to let me pick out all the breweries to approach and also set up lodging for out of area brewers, both fun jobs.

 

Funny, I went to a "Hop and Props" event in Oshkosh a few years back. Pretty much the same deal. And to make matters worse, pretty much every brewery was out of beer an hour or sooner before the event ended.

 

*cough* http://www.rocketcitybrewfest.com/beers/ *cough* http://www.magiccitybrewfest.com/breweries-and-beer-lists/

Our theory is, "if you're going to do it at all... do it *right*

 

Ubfoetuna

Unfortunately I have neither the time nor money to travel for a beer festival, no matter how good it is.

 

Decatur Beer Fest in Decatur, GA. (October, every year).

Totally worth $40 (and a plane ticket). Plus, one of the best beer bars in the country (Brick Store Pub) is right there in the square when the festival is over.

 

I am about to go to my first beer festival, the Maryland Craft Beer Festival. I got a VIP ticket for $35, which only gives me 4 extra 4 oz. beer tokens for a total of ten and I am able to go in an hour early to sample the specialty casks and brews from all of the MD breweries in attendance. It looks fun but I don't think any of my friends are going and I am not too excited by the musical lineup. Also, they haven't released any of the VIP or regular draft lists yet. I mean I doubt that I will make it out of the 1 hour VIP part with any beer tokens anyways. I just read that I can buy additional tokens during the event. So, that's where they get you. They better be like a dollar a token.

I was going to go to CBC, but it was the week after my spring break and getting to DC from Catonsville after 5pm, is not fun. It is no fun trying to get into DC with a car.