Funk n Line Fest

HA! Glad I didnt go. Wasnt worth just 2 bottles @ that price and as past events knew it was going tobe ridiculously crowded.

 

Wasn't worth the two bottles...
Or the fantastic beer they had on tap
Or the awesome people waiting in those shitty lines
Or all the great food that was being served
Or the awesome band that played all day

 

Regardless of the bitching from everyone in the thread. I actually had a really good time! The bottle share was very good! The line only made the experience better (as crazy as that sounds), it forced me to talk to people I would never talk to and learn more about them, etc. Hell I got lucky I was next to one of the Defalco's guys, who is a class act for saving my spot during the sweet and sour soiree that started while I was still waiting in line. I ended up learning quite a bit in regards to homebrewing and more importantly on the souring of my Berliner!

Sure it was hell standing up for so long, but it ended up being quite fun having a mule get drinks for everyone. I'm sad I couldn't get a lobster roll or pizza though... It was my only regret.

And screw you guys! I thought Omni was phenomenal! My favorite of the new sours! I'm just sad I couldn't take any home with me!

 

I couldn't agree more. These guys take their businesses seriously, just like we do with our craft beer festivals (Big Texas Beer Fest and Texas Brewvolution). You can tell that they care when even 1 person has a bad time, let alone lots. I can't imagine the way they're feeling today.

I agree though that in the long run, bad experiences like this HELP people make things better. It sucks that a few hundred people had to get pissed off yesterday for this to happen, but it will make them better.

I reached out to them as well, to offer any festival planning advice I can to help.

Cheers,
Chad

 

I liked the Omni a lot.

 

I have no complaints. My fiancée and I had a great time. Good people, cute little buddies and the highlight of the day was....

The cute little baby boy who kept smiling at us. d'awwwwwww! right in the feels. every time.

 

I added some thoughts on your points just because things were a little different from my perspective.

 

You don't need to make the fests smaller, although a Sat and Sun fest would be legit. The whiners will whine. Great beer, good fun, and was able to make the most out of it despite the wife telling me for three hours that staying in line wasn't worth it. O well! I got RU, Atrial and my allotment

 

I bitched and moaned a bit yesterday, because its hard for me to stand too long without being in a lot of pain (medical condition), but after thinking about it more, nothing happened that shouldnt have been somewhat expected, and overall this was a fantastic event.

Yes check in was slow, but that's what we wanted, so people wouldnt buy 10 tix for themselves and hoard bottles. 400 people not named starkmarvelo got to take home a beautiful gift-pack of new beers!

Yes lines were long, but the beer selection was GREAT, so of course people kept getting in line for beer. But I got to talk to some cool people while standing in line, and people were generous enough to keep going to get me beer (gotta thank my lovely wife for that!) and food (CableJelly bought me a lobster roll and delivered it to me in line!) I didnt use all my tickets, including 1 blue one, but that was my choice, and I had to leave early anyway.

I love JK, and think this is a great learning experience for how to run these kinds of events. I know the next one will be better, because these brewers actually CARE about the experience people have.

As far as the bottle share goes, wrap it up by 12, boys, and clean that shit up. That makes all of us look bad.

 

Overall, had a great time. A couple of friends and I drove down from DFW Sunday morning, stayed the whole time, and enjoyed ourselves immensely. The only real complaint I had was the long line to get in, which limited the amount of time to enjoy everything else, and seems to be the easiest to fix (more lines split b/n bottles and regular admission, bottles that came with tix at check-in, etc.). Although, the lines weren't bad at all by the end of the day.

All of the suggestions are great ones, but I wonder if the biggest "mistake" was just trying to do too much in one day:

Limited bottle release of new sours
Release of new sours for tasting
Funk-n-Sour Fest with beers from around the world (including some extremely rare and limited ones)
Limited bottle release of Atrial Rubicite
Bottle sales of other Brewery-only releases (Boxer's, RU55)

Combining all of these things into one certainly led to the ultra-fast sellout (and definitely helps out-of-towners like me who can't make that many trips in), but severely limited a lot of people from just being able to relax and enjoy the beer and the setting. Spreading something like this over a weekend with smaller crowds each day makes a lot of sense.

Also, does JK not own that adjacent open field? I was expecting all that space to be utilized for the event, but I assume they couldn't use it.

 

Dick.

I'm really happy so many people liked Aurelian so much, cause that just means they will make more. I just hope every event isn't like this and the capacity for making fruited sours will increase. I have my personal feeling about the changes JK had made and deep down I know it will be for the best. Hopefully.

My main point is Ken is a dick for bringing up old shit

 

There was some serious line action, but the company from all kinds of people was top notch!

 

I honestly loved this event. I went with a couple of friends who are just getting into sours and they loved all the beer they got to try. Sure, lines were long, but that just gave us the opportunity to talk to other BA's and drink some awesome beer while waiting for the next pour. Even in the long check-in line we cracked some beers with the people in line to pass the time. We definitely made the best of it.

Special thanks to cyde and nsheehan for sharing your blue tickets with those of us who weren't able to get one. Also shoutout to Lutter and Chuck_Hell, always fun hangin' out with you guys (cyde as well!). Everyone else I ran into, awesome seeing you guys! I'll definitely see you again at the next event.

Finally thanks to Jester King for the awesome beer and hospitality. Super proud to have such an amazing brewery in my backyard.

 

Wondered if you'd pick up on that.

 

Seriously clean that shit up

 

Having been part of the bottle share I do apologize for contributing to the mess. I honestly wasn't even thinking about all the bottles that were left behind and it shouldn't be the volunteers and/or employees responsibility to clean up our shit. We're fortunate enough to have JK approve of our shares, the least we can do is be more mindful and respectful of others. If a bottle share ever happens again, I personally will "clean that shit up".

 

Out of curiosity, I was bitching about them not cleaning it up by 6 PM. Does anyone know if any of the bottle share people picked it up after I left? Or was it all just left on the table for the volunteers to do it?

 

My brother and I ended up throwing away all the empties around 7:15 before we left. The bottle share was awesome and I enjoyed meeting everyone, but it would have helped to have someone spearhead the clean up effort. If someone started the process earlier I'm sure others would have pitched in and it would have gotten done very quickly. By the time we did it hardly anyone other than staff and volunteers were there and we didn't want them doing it.

 

I took part in the bottle share and tried to start cleaning up a few bottles around 5 or so and got snarled at for "messing with the graveyard." Methinks these folks kept the clean up from starting earlier...

 

Jesus Christ. Is the point to enjoy beers with people, or to have a bunch of empty bottles out on the table for everyone to see? People seem to be starting to lose perspective on these things.

And there's NO WAY it should have taken until after 7pm for that to get cleaned up. NO WAY.