Hunahpu Day 2016

I found it hilarious and beneficial that people were mostly in line for the same 4 or 5 breweries and you could get crazy good beer from places like 18th Street and Almanac all day with no line...18th Street Bitches Bank was definitely one of my favorite beers yesterday

 

I would be happy to take your low trade value bottles of a complete sell out brewery.

 

The event was well planned, food tickets included lots of food options. No problems with getting in ti the event or getting bottles, no restroom wait, lot of water available.
I really do not think it is CCB fault that the brewery's did not brink enough beer! If you are FFF and are going to pore Dark Lord at a beer event that is schudled to last for x number of hours bring enough beer.
Toppling Goliath out early, Noble Ale works done early. Was this their first beer feast? I don't think it's right to make a commitment to show and not do a strong showing!
Heady Toper poured all day long with cans left over for Sunday's enjoyment at CCB brewery. If there was anyone screwing the festival goers it those Brewers that ran out! How hard is it to do the math x number of people x hours plus particular beers demand.
Where the shortages planned to creat more demand?

 

Yeah..I agree the one downer about yesterday was how many breweries ran out of beer by 1 and I am not just talking about their whales....Funky Buddha was out at 12:30 and the 2 beers they brought were not even special...same with Surly

 

Surprised Surly tapped early. I didn't attend this year but I would have spent some time at their tent had I attended. Big fan of Surly. Happy to see they were there.

 

Went back for another read on this one again this AM. Have to say I really love the line about "and let's not even talk about they just did to the trade value of Huna with 20k bottles dumped out today. CCB sold out today. You assholes keep it."

Gotta definitely nominate this one for the most entitled post of the year. Well done!

 

@P-Clinton ccb told surly to bring 2 or 3 sixtels

they told us this last night at the bottle share

 

The best part is there's actually 30k bottles

 

At 11am Sunday, airport brewpub still has Huna on tap.

 

Went to GABF two years ago and their booth was shut down in a little over an hour. I think they do it on purpose.

 

this is a good thing. these festivals need less whining entitlement. im starting to get why these breweries sell off to the big boys. why put forth all the hard work, brewing, planning, organizing, permit pulling, and time when there are so many people like you. get over yourself and enjoy the world class brewery you have in your back yard that bends over backwards to throw one of the best beer festivals in the country for you.

 

Im sure they did their best to try and satisfy everyone with enough beer. I think the object was to run out of beer, also probably why they held it somewhere bottle shares wouldn't be permitted. That way they wouldn't have a shit load of beer leftover.

 

All Beer that is not ccb, is free to Ccb. The breweries bring it and it are donated to the fest.

If surly brings one keg or 100 kegs, it is the same price. $0

 

WOW!!
If Huna day was created for the release of Hunapus and everyone who showed up got bottles, then you can call this a success. It seems all to often people are more frustrated with not being able to land bottles due to lotteries, ticketing, lines etc. You complaining about the amount produced to meet the demand seems crazy to me. As a Floridian, you should be proud of your local brewery's success. As a beer geek who has been on this website the same amount of time as I have, you should know better to show up on time for a line to be formed. The police might kick you out of line, but they cant and wont keep you from hanging out in the area until its time.

 

False.

While a large number of festivals in Florida are donation, Cigar City paid for a majority of beers there, which is where part of your ticket price went.

Deciding what beers to send to a festival is a balancing act. Because Cigar City pays, breweries are generally more willing to bring in special stuff -- wheras donation festivals are dominated by core beers. Even then, when the whales are sent in, many of these breweries don't even have distribution in Florida, so they're getting a smaller return on brand-building than if they'd rewarded a home-market bar with that keg. Cigar City did a great job building relationships and creating an environment that was good for (almost) everyone involved.

I thought the festival was very well run this year, and from someone on the other side of the booths, this was one of the most enjoyable festivals I've been a part of.

Signed,
Someone who sold kegs to CCB for the festival.

 

^^ this is correct.

Again the issue wasn't that there wasn't enough beer to go around, it's just that everyone wants to drink the best beers and those go first. With some places more willing to bring extra stuff. But at the end of the fest there were still BA beers left, Mazurt had BA barley wine on tap And still plenty of hoppy beers, and a full list from Ccb still left. You could drink Huna until 4pm with minimal line. And Whomever said TG kicked early is wrong as well. They were pouring Pompeii and golden nugget late into the fest.

I agree with all the sentiments above on how the entitlement of some is ridiculous. The comment about trade value is ridiculous. Feel bad for people that couldn't get tickets to the fest and in lieu there are people there who can't wait to auction their bottles to the highest bidder.

 

My thoughts, for what they're worth:
Entry line: I decided this year to skip the line entirely and show up about 12:30. Turns out I could have been there an hour before that and walked in without a line (apparently). So, an improvement over previous years. My backpack was not searched (not that I brought in contraband, I was just surprised). And my ID was not checked…granted, I look way over 21. But the name on my wristband was not compared to my ID. Again, just a surprise.

Food: The "tickets-for-tapas" plan worked well. Easier portions to carry and/or eat quickly. You didn't have to decide to take a break from the beer for a solid hour to wait in line and then eat an entire meal. It was disappointing that some of the vendors ran out of their more popular dishes before the end, but a fairly easy thing to rectify, I would expect.

Bathrooms and water: Both great improvements over past year's festivals. There can never be too many of either, and it seemed like that was the approach. I did notice that very few (if any) of the pour stations had water for rinsing at the table. Whether this was a space issue, or just deciding that they had enough water in the large containers, I'm not certain. Not a big deal once I realized it - just rinse the glass out before you stepped up.

Location: The extra space in the large park (versus the parking lot) was a great improvement. While still certainly crowded (and I think about the max number of people the park could accommodate), it felt significantly less crowded than the last several years' fests. Bottle pickup at the Marriott was a bit tedious as the line backed up, but they seemed to be processing folks quickly up at the front of the line (i.e., going as fast as they could). I hope the Marriott permits this again on their grounds next year - but there were quite a number of drunk beer enthusiasts clogging up the lobby, valet area, and "taking a nap" on the sidewalk outside. I wonder if they'll change their mind.

Miscellaneous: The plastic snifters were thick and high quality (for plastic). I thought that was a nice touch to the festival. The Hunahpu Day app worked fairly well for me. I do wish they had included a function to rate or put a couple tasting notes in the beers that you had ticked. The cloth wristband was more comfortable to wear than the standard plastic with adhesive wristbands as well.

Beer lines: I didn't notice nearly the amount of line cutting this year as has been at previous Hunahpu Day fests. More space = more obvious lines to stand in. Even when ropes weren't involved, it was generally clear where the line was and what it was for. I chose to stand in a few (Mazurt, 3 Sons, CCB a couple times). But more of the day was spent walking up and getting a great beer. As it happened, even walked up to Side Project and got a pour of Scribe without waiting behind anyone. The CCB tent pouring any beer from any line didn't make a lot of sense to me at first, but that was what they were doing. But then at the end of the festival (the last few big beers that were tapped) they required you to be standing in the long line to get a pour. I don't have a problem with either policy, but was mildly annoyed that it changed at the very end of the festival.

Beer: I will agree with points above about the number of breweries who were completely tapped surprisingly early - that was disappointing. I don't agree with the suggestion to have generic pouring stations - I really enjoy talking to and meeting the people who make some of the crazy good beer being poured. It's nice to chat with them, and get some more information about the beer and brewery. My suggestion re: the more rare beers going forward - ask the breweries that brought "whales" to pour to not tap them at festival open. If they were tapped throughout the day (time announced or not), it would remove some of the "absolutely-must-get-in-at-the beginning" mentality. If that's why you're went (any of the last several years), you did need to be one of the first in, or those kegs will have kicked by the time you're in the festival. Why have all those on at 11? Just start tapping them at 11:30 or noon and spread them out.

TL; DR - good festival, great beer. Huge improvements, still room for a few more.

 

Cigar City definitely paid for the beer and the beer went through normal distribution to get there.

Breweries are tired of festivals looking for handouts and especially for their more expensive beers. I don't blame them. Giving away beer and paying staff to go to events adds up quick over a year and these are not large businesses we are talking about here. Many are trying to grow and the ones that have grown are paying huge loans.

 

So much this. Unless you're selling VIP tickets, like a lot of the Pints for Prostates events or WTF? or many others, you don't need to have the biggest and best on as soon as the door opens. I realize Huna Day has a couple of VIP-like tickets, but it didn't seem like a focus at all.

 

So some folks on here think that, for example, Toppling Goliath donated the alottment of mornin delight, and that they're supposed to donate enough kegs to last well throughout the day.

This is hilarious.