Washington Brewers Fest 2018

A small minority do a good job of ruining it for everyone else. I’m sure they have good reason to implement these rules in consultation with their legal counsel.

Friday has always been the kid free beer free for all. They’ve always portrayed Sat/Sun as a family friendly Fathers Day option.

 

I haven't been for a few years now, but always had a good time and I don't think I ever bought more tokens so I don't think it would bother me much. Never stayed for more than a few hours. I also know it's just like my opinion, man.

It's always easy for those of us on the other side to complain about things like this, and maybe those who want more beer are right, but I'm guessing there's a legitimate reason why they decided to do this. Kinda reminds me of everyone complaining to WSDOT about the weekend I-5 closure. Has WABL publicly responded with a reason why? Lawsuits and event insurance can be expensive.

 

All the WBC fests have gotten increasingly nanny-ish the last couple years. They're becoming less and less fun to attend, and to work.

 

They got dinged by the liquor control board last year, it's not like WBF chose these restrictions on a whim.

 

Dinged how?

 

This is exactly what I was wondering. Thanks for dropping the truth bomb.

 

It's mentioned here:

http://www.washingtonbeerblog.com/washington-brewers-festival-changes/

 

It sounds like "we will try and do better" wasn't good enough and they had to devise a corrective action plan.

 

It says in the article the WBC who runs the event has run 50 events, and only been cited for violations once. So either the LCB skipped 49 of their 50 events or your "no exceptions" comment is not accurate

Either way, that's allegedly the jist of it. They were cited last year which led to the changes; I'm not saying they were forced or whatever, I have no idea, but it's what motivated the changes.

 

I will definitely not be going this year. The new token policy has part to do with it, but the private security they had running the place last year were total clowns. They had an old private security guy, probably in his 60's with a cane, kicking people out for "over consumption" when all the person did was trip on the uneven grass field and spill their beer a little bit. The security was kicking people out for no reason a lot of times, it was total bullshit in my opinion. The WA Beer Commission and WABL have shit the bed. I wish I could enjoy the festival but the way the fest is being run I can't

 

I stopped going several years ago. The last time I attended it was still being held at Saint Edward State Park. Events at breweries and bottle-shares are more fun.

 

This seems to be somewhat of an over-reaction on WBCs part. They put on, what, 6-8 fests a year, and have for quite a while, and this is the first time they've gotten popped? That's a good record. And, if they had competent folks checking IDs, they wouldn't have gotten popped that time.

When LCB sends in underage decoys, there is always an obvious flaw on the ID, so that the charge will stand up in a court fight. Too bad WBC doesn't have access to folks who check IDs regularly. Like folks who have to pass a test to get a permit to serve beer. Like folks who work at breweries.

I volunteer as security in the beer garden at the local roller derby bouts. We got a visit from our local LCB lady Saturday night. She checked that the servers had their permits(which, BTW, she was able to do on her device. Typed the names in, and copies of their permits popped right up on the screen. Pretty neat.), checked that we had all the proper signage, and spent about 20 minutes watching how we did things. All this for a couple hundred folks in a JuCo gym. Yeah, WBC should expect more scrutiny than that for the type of event the Father's Day fest is.

I get that they're just being proactive, but, again IMHO, they're overreacting.

 

A lot of people who go to the Brewers Festival probably don't think about the economics involved in just going to a brewery instead. If you don't like it, vote with your wallet and don't go. I don't anymore, I don't particularly find the beer selection worth it.

My Fathers Day plan is to go Urban Family Brewing with my wife and daughter and order a pizza and a few beers.

 

Yeah the fact restrictions were announced after tickets went on sale is a little bogus; but as far as I can tell as long as you go Friday you can just over-buy tickets and keep them for Saturday?

 

The rules won't prevent anything, just make it less convenient. At the end of the day, it's just tokens. You can pass them around, give them to other people, bring mules (but don't forget to take them to Daniel's) or even buy multiple tickets and just go through the line a couple times.

I don't think I've ever bought more than 3 extra tokens personally. I often go multiple days and carry tokens over from one day to the next until I walk out on Sunday when I find a group of people and hand them a big stack.

 

Definitely just go to postdoc or black Raven instead if you are in Redmond that weekend.