Extreme Beer Fest 2016: Feedback

Discussion in 'New England' started by madmanjf, Feb 8, 2016.

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  1. madmanjf

    madmanjf Pundit (850) Sep 18, 2005 New York


    So I think the Brewery and Beer selection was, as always, fantastic. Outside of that, here’s some peripheral feedback:


    Great Job

    1) Coat Check, loved it. I had not planned on using it, but after about 15 minutes my heavy winter coat was getting to me more than usual. I was happy to have the coat check option and I utilized it instead of sweating it up for 3.5 hours

    2) Logistics/Security. You guys do an AMAZING job of checking IDs and scanning tickets well in advance of entering the venue. As I got on line at noon, someone checked my ID and stamped my hand. At 1230, someone scanned my ticket and gave me a bracelet. A great example of doing things in parallel outside of the critical path of entry. At 1pm we all walked right in at a pretty fast pace. Great Job!


    Areas of Improvement

    3) Floor Space. As in past years at WTC, it is way too crowded for my taste. I’d happily pay an extra $10 if it made it cost-feasible to take advantage of some of that unutilized floor-space that’s available in there. It was far easier to get around at Cyclorama and I miss the High-Tops to write on and quickly socialize with people at. Bottom line, ratio of SqFt/Guest at Cyclorama seemed much better than in recent years at WTC.

    4) Water rinse stations. It’d be nice if there were more of them. With the crowded floor, I found them difficult to spot and/or walk to.

    Overall, a great festival and probably the best one to attend in the North East
     
    #1 madmanjf, Feb 8, 2016
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  2. Rysk22

    Rysk22 Savant (1,240) Nov 12, 2014 Massachusetts
    Trader

    Have they always shut the bathrooms down 15 minutes before doors close? Found that to be pretty inconvenient. Otherwise, great event! Looks like they got the Tree House line in check for sessions 2 & 3.
     
    #2 Rysk22, Feb 8, 2016
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  3. madmanjf

    madmanjf Pundit (850) Sep 18, 2005 New York

    Not sure about your bathroom question
     
    #3 madmanjf, Feb 8, 2016
  4. Patches826

    Patches826 Pooh-Bah (2,479) Aug 28, 2013 Massachusetts
    Society Pooh-Bah

    That's probably a risk management tactic to get everyone out quickly. To be fair, the portables outside were kept open for those who needed them.
     
    #4 Patches826, Feb 8, 2016
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  5. warrendietrich2001

    warrendietrich2001 Pooh-Bah (1,692) Feb 13, 2013 Nevada
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    Thought Saturday session one was more organized than Friday. Bathrooms outside on Saturday, saw more security on Saturday and lines were a bit more oraganized. I also felt it was very crowded, there was very little space to just stop to enjoy your beer. Also would pay a bit more to have a glass tasting cup that I could take home with me. I have been to a lot of festivals on the West Coast and have never used a plastic cup and I have not seen many glasses broke in my time so not sure why the plastic.

    Great beer selection, everyone was super friendly, the line to get in could not have been easier. Love the location as my hotel was a 2 minute walk.
     
    #5 warrendietrich2001, Feb 8, 2016
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  6. Rwalden

    Rwalden Initiate (0) Mar 16, 2013 New York

    Compared to past years, I thought that more breweries ran out of beer earlier than usual. Maybe just my experience with the breweries I was hitting up, but had more misses at ~7:30 than I'm accustomed to.

    I thought the line situation was generally pretty good and well managed. Only line more I waited in for more than 5 minutes was probably Treehouse. And it didn't hurt that I got a pour of Doppleganger while in line.

    March is preferable to February for going to Boston for a weekend... but even with the snow on February, getting around town was very manageable. Boston's a great city for a beer fest.
     
    #6 Rwalden, Feb 8, 2016
  7. pwoody11

    pwoody11 Savant (1,222) Nov 23, 2009 Delaware
    Trader

    Friday session here.

    Thought it was way more crowded than I recall in the past, and lines seemed longer. More food options would have been nice as the lines got long and KO Pies ran out of a few items.

    Coat check was a home run. Pre-checking everyone in was great too. Beers were good.
     
    #7 pwoody11, Feb 8, 2016
  8. EnronCFO

    EnronCFO Pooh-Bah (2,193) Mar 29, 2007 Massachusetts
    Pooh-Bah

    As usual the check-in and wristbanding process was very smooth. I agree with others that it just felt more crowded this year. I don't have last year's map, but it seemed like there was a lot of open space at the front this year but from the middle to the back was as packed as I've ever felt. It was likely due to the long lines for Funky Buddha, Grimm, and Kane as they were in the middle and the only brewery with a line towards the front was DFH. No complaints here.
     
    #8 EnronCFO, Feb 8, 2016
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  9. Todd

    Todd Founder (13,518) Aug 23, 1996 Finland
    STAFF Mod Team Society Pooh-Bah

    We did have a couple of glitches on the line Friday (snow) and Saturday (communication) night, but we've identified the issues, have solutions and will coordinate with security to implement them.
    It's still under capacity for the space, and moving around wasn't an issue, but we can certainly explore using a bit more of the floor space without increasing the number of breweries or attendees.
    We'll definitely look at adding a couple of more stations. We had 4.5, but I'd prefer at least 6.
    Yes. It's a venue/security thing. If they don't, it greatly impedes clean up efforts, increases security issues and starts to become a major bottleneck. But as someone else noted, the portables were still open.
    Glass tasters aren't allowed by order of the venue for safety reasons. And when we did hard plastic custom tasters years ago the vast majority of them were being thrown away; wasting a ton of resources and money.
    We work with the dates that are available to us, and we're locked into February for next year.
    It might have been the booths you were hitting. But we want brewers to kick beers in order to avoid having leftover partial kegs/cases. And it would be impossible for every brewery to bring enough beer for every single attendee.
    The number of people on the Friday vs. last year was virtually the same. As for the food, we'll be look at adding another 1-2 vendors starting with the BA Microbrew Invitational.

    Thanks to everyone for coming, and thanks for the constructive feedback. We're listening.

    Cheers!
     
    #9 Todd, Feb 8, 2016
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  10. jlordi12

    jlordi12 Pooh-Bah (1,856) Jun 8, 2011 Massachusetts
    Pooh-Bah

    I agree that it felt a lot more crowded this year. I don't have a good theory on why though given it was the same amount of people. Also I thought there was a separate room for food a couple years ago? I didn't like the food setup as much this year

    I had a blast and really enjoyed the fest no matter
     
    #10 jlordi12, Feb 8, 2016
  11. BearsOnAcid

    BearsOnAcid Pooh-Bah (2,239) Mar 17, 2009 Massachusetts
    Pooh-Bah

    I have to agree with the water station setup. They seemed hard to get to and possibly further apart than normal. Many people dumping samples in the trash instead; which I imagine sucks for whoever is on trash duty.

    Other than that I thought the fest was great.
     
    #11 BearsOnAcid, Feb 8, 2016
  12. Todd

    Todd Founder (13,518) Aug 23, 1996 Finland
    STAFF Mod Team Society Pooh-Bah

    That was for ACBF, where the venue ran the food out of their facilities on the sides; not an option for us. This year all we did put the food vendors together, making them easier to find.
     
    #12 Todd, Feb 8, 2016
  13. jlordi12

    jlordi12 Pooh-Bah (1,856) Jun 8, 2011 Massachusetts
    Pooh-Bah

    I could have sworn having a separate room to sit and eat 2 years ago at EBF. My memories are a bit foggy but my wife thought the same thing
     
    #13 jlordi12, Feb 8, 2016
  14. Todd

    Todd Founder (13,518) Aug 23, 1996 Finland
    STAFF Mod Team Society Pooh-Bah

    You're correct. The venue ran the food for the first EBF we did at the Seaport, which was more or less the same setup as ACBF.
     
    #14 Todd, Feb 8, 2016
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  15. jlordi12

    jlordi12 Pooh-Bah (1,856) Jun 8, 2011 Massachusetts
    Pooh-Bah

    Gotcha. Is that an option for next year?

    Edit: I think this is part of the reason it felt more crowded this year
     
    #15 jlordi12, Feb 8, 2016
  16. warrendietrich2001

    warrendietrich2001 Pooh-Bah (1,692) Feb 13, 2013 Nevada
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    I appreciate Todd coming on and responding. I would like to say this was a big festival and it was run very smoothly. The issues raised are all pretty basic and straight forward. I have never thrown a party for 2500 people who had access to unlimited beer. Yes I would like to have had more room but the fact that there were so many people made it a success as I am sure those ticket sales paid for what went right. Would like to thank you for a great party.
     
    #16 warrendietrich2001, Feb 8, 2016
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  17. Todd

    Todd Founder (13,518) Aug 23, 1996 Finland
    STAFF Mod Team Society Pooh-Bah

    We've never been a fan of the venue's food (quality and pricing issues), and we hate having areas for people to sit as it always creates issues during the session and bottlenecks at the end.
     
    #17 Todd, Feb 8, 2016
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  18. csniezek

    csniezek Pundit (982) May 5, 2004 Massachusetts
    Society

    PLEASE bring back the raw bar! It was awesome, and give the fest a real New England flair!
     
    #18 csniezek, Feb 8, 2016
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  19. Todd

    Todd Founder (13,518) Aug 23, 1996 Finland
    STAFF Mod Team Society Pooh-Bah

    I like oyster too, but they didn't get any real traffic last year. I'd be open to working with another oyster farm though and giving it another shot.
     
    #19 Todd, Feb 8, 2016
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  20. cappy201

    cappy201 Zealot (538) Mar 25, 2012 Massachusetts
    Trader

    Food from outside vendors this year was MUCH better than the venue's generic food in prior years. I agree with the feedback about the room being more crowded than in pair years, which made it harder to cut through the room. Otherwise, all was top notch.
     
    #20 cappy201, Feb 8, 2016
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