http://indywinterfest.com/?utm_sour...ail&utm_term=0_3e723aacc2-fac46be2bb-92774577 That time of year again! Who's going? Let's post rumors on tappings and what breweries are bringing what here, etc. in this thread. Last year I think 18th Street was the clear winner with all the good stuff they brought (Bitches Bank, BA Coconut Hunter, etc).
Wife and I will be there, got the VIP tickets. Definitely looking forward to it. Haven't been to this fest since 2012; always used to love the outdoor area w/the fire pits.
Headed there on Early Bird tix – had a blast last year with regular admission, excited to now have an extra hour before to check out the more hyped breweries while the lines are shorter.
I hope Iechyd Da brings Breakfast Cookies with them again. That was one of the best beers I had last year. Can't even remember how many times I stopped at their booth just to get more!
I'm hearing that they have refocused to make it more of a local centric event this year. Each distributor is only allowed two tables so the majority of tables will be manned by the local breweries themselves.
Going this year for the first time. Going to Hop Cat tonight to get my wrist bands early. I haven't had a beer in two weeks, so I'm going to have to pace myself for sure.
I have an extra VIP ticket, $65 (that's just face value plus fee, says it on the ticket). If you want it, send me a PM with your phone #. Will just meet you out front before hand around 1:40pm.
So what were everyone's thoughts? For me, the highlight was Bare Hands, no doubt about it. 40 beers, many of which were FANTASTIC...a Barrel Named Phyllis from Upland was one I hadn't tried before and I thought it was great. Zwanzigz BA scotch ale and Ghost Pepper IS were both on point (they generally do great stuff imo). The grapefruit IPA from Deviate was $. On the whole, though, a lot of mediocre beer, REALLY long lines, and not nearly enough water for glass rinsing. We had VIP tickets and didn't get in until 2:20pm. What was strange was that while we were still outside waiting in line to enter, only two people were doing wrist bands for VIPs right at the door while other people were walking the GA line, handing out wrist bands, 40 minutes early. Clearly, that was sheer stupidity on the volunteers hands, but it is what it is. The portion of that hour we got to enjoy was great, but it was already clear that things were likely to turn into a shitshow because some of the lines (18th St, FFF's, mainly) were already so long they weren't worth waiting in. Neither 18th St or FFF's brought anything worth waiting in a crazy line for (unless they tapped things later on...I never checked back), so we passed completely. Once GA was in, the lines for just about anything worthwhile, and many things that were not, were crazy. Revolution and Rheingeist were the only non-Indiana breweries I saw, Revolution brought Deth's Tar which I love, so it was nice to get a couple pours of that. It is odd to me that the Revolution was there considering you cannot get their beers in IN in any capacity. Otherwise, I'm all for supporting local, in-state breweries, but for the price, it would be nice to see Bell's, Founders, etc., like we used to, at the expense of one of many blonde ale, red ale, pale ale, ipa breweries that was there. I went to this fest the first 4 years they had it, before moving out of state for awhile, and always thought it was amazing. This time was still fun (it's always good to have some good beer and hang out with good friends), but at $130 for my wife and I, waiting in 10-20 min lines for 2 oz of beer surrounded by a million newb fanboys, we won't be back. You can't go home again.
I had similar feelings last year after GA opened up. The wait lines at the majority of the breweries I wanted to try from were too long, and instead I ended up trying way too many mediocre/just plain bad pale ales from other breweries I didn't know existed (and am not sure still do). My friends and I decided we would just drop the ticket price on bottles of things we've never had and host our own winterfest. No lines!
I didnt participate but from what I've read they apparently used a new event organizer. That would explain food, water, logistical issues. I fully understand that the guild wants to go local but for most people it is their best chance to try KBS/CBS, Bourbon County, Black Note, etc. For me, limiting bigger breweries doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
The entire going local movement irritates me to no end. I am 100% in favor of supporting a local product that is of equivalent or higher quality than a comparable, non-local item. However, spending $ on an inferior product just because it is local, is, in my opinion, significantly contributing to the success of lackluster breweries who are flooding of the market with low quality beer relative to their nationally known counterparts. The more breweries the better, IF they are delivering good brew. But there are so many in the Indy area (and everywhere else) that I just cannot believe are in business. It is just beer, but it's irritating that high quality breweries and their great beers are now excluded from events such as Winterfest in favor of going local and including all 500 breweries nobody cares about that make the 4-5 common beers no beer geek wants to have at a beer fest where they are hoping to try special items from breweries they typically wouldn't see. All this stuff was better when HBG was running the show.
While I understand the concern for mediocre beer, it is the INDIANA guild, thus they would want to preferentially exhibit their own guild members over out-of-state breweries. The festival does allow to try out some of the newer breweries and determine who has good and who has mediocre beer. The competition in Indy has considerably increased since you were last year, and market forces, in part, will dictate who stay around and who closes up shop. Personally, if a brewery had the typical 4-5 common beers, I skipped them entirely. But I did try some new- to- me breweries given the length of lines at the popular breweries. Had some hits and some misses. I agree that lines were too long, even for mediocre breweries, much less the much sought after. I fully agree that if one pays for early bird, one should be able to get in at 2PM, not 2:20 or 2:30. Which line were you in? the front? There was another entrance at the west side that was much faster. They let you into the building and behind the yellow tape, and then at 2PM take down the tape. Agree that the firkin tent needed to be much bigger. Standouts: BareHands, Deviate, Zwanzigz, Taxman, Four Fathers (dry hopped sour), Revolution, Devil's Trumpet, Burn'em.
I understand it is the Indiana Brewers Guild, but for more years than not this event was an equivalent opportunity to taste special treats from many breweries outside of the state. I haven't been local and thus did not attend the past 3 years, but for me, the precedent was set in my mind re: what I expected, and the event failed across the board. Compared to the last time I attended (and had the early bird ticket as well), the line situation for early bird was poorly handled at my entrance (I learned about the second entrance after I was inside...), there were way too many people, way too much mediocre beer, and a huge comparative increase in ticket price. The cask tent sucked. The two-sided courtyard with fireplaces going at the previous venue on the fairgrounds was SO MUCH BETTER. Essentially, you are paying about $20 more for an event that is, comprehensively, not close to the quality in the previous years I've attended. BUT, that's okay. They clearly weren't hurting for attendance. I put our extra ticket up a couple hours before the event here and on craigslist and my phone was ringing off the hook instantly. I bet I could've sold it for $100 if I wanted...Next year, I'll buy some VIP tickets and scalp them instead; the newb fanboys will come clamoring...I kid (maybe). Either way, next year I'll save my money and drink some great beer at home instead, and I'm good with that.
In the past there were not enough Indiana breweries to supply enough beer for Winterfest, and World Class, Cavalier and other distributors had tables and brought some out of state beer. When Crown liquors were a sponsor, they also had a table. Now there are enough breweries so that the guild doesn't have to rely on distibutors. Crown is no longer a sponsor, but the distributors had tables. I had some coffee BCBS there, so there were some availability. Here is a list from the Winterfest website of out of state breweries: Anchor (San Francisco, CA) Ayinger (Aying, Germany) Brooklyn (Brooklyn, NY) Bell's (Kalamazoo, MI) New Belgium (Fort Collins, CO) Revolution Brewing (Chicago, IL) Sam Adams (Boston, MA) Schlafly (St. Louis, MO) Sierra Nevada (Chico, CA) Oskar Blues (Longmont, CO) Rhinegeist (Cincinnati, OH) Rogue (Ashland, OR) Victory (Downingtown, PA) Urban Chestnut Dogfish Head New Holland Destihl Urban Chestnut Goose Island Of these Revolution, Rheingeist and Destihl had their own tables, the rest were from distributors. Yes, there was no Founders, and there were only a couple of Bell's selections and not 10 as in past, but I would hardly consider the fest a failure. The line issues can be fixed, and quite frankly I would prefer not to go outside in February to the cask tent. So the question is, what breweries outside of Indiana were you expecting that would have improved the festival for you?
Many of those breweries would have been worthwhile to pursue if they were identifiably present. However, I only saw Rhinegeist and Revolution. You say the line issue is easily fixable, however, I doubt it will occur. I was at the Bloomington beer fest last April and it was an equivalent shitshow crush of people (not the way it was in prior years, going back a few obviously). The responsible party has raised prices and is clearly selling a lot more tickets to make more $. In years past, the line for FFF's was always long, now at both IN brewers guild events I attended in the last 10 months, we were seeing a FFF's line at every brewery's table that was remotely worthwhile, while to now wait at FFF's, 18th St, etc., would have me calling you a downright fool. The events were sold out all the other years too...it doesn't seem to me to be any more than a cash grab, and any dissatisfaction can be disregarded by organizers as the exponential growth of craft popularity outpaces any turnover in event patronage year over year due to these kinds of issues. Whether they fix that issue or not, doesn't matter to me, as I won't be back. For $65, do I think I've paid for Founders and Bells to be at a beerfest they've frequently been in attendance for instead of Chilly Water and Union, for example? I do, and I don't think I'm alone. Your preference not to be outside for the casks is one I'm sure is shared by many. I for one, always enjoyed that aspect of the festival and regardless of preference in that regard, the set-up of the cask tent at this event was a joke. There was no room to move at all. One brewery actually had their table set-up in the back of it, which I'm sure they were less than thrilled about. Ultimately, I've shared nothing more than my personal opinions here. If you thought the event was worth $65, I'm happy for you. I didn't, and as I've said, next year during Winterfest I will enjoy some fine beer in the comfort of my own home, and pay a lot less money and suffer a lot less aggravation to do so. And that doesn't make me the least bit unhappy.
The entrance lines are easily fixable. The brewery lines are not. You are correct in that regard. The guild would either have to sell less tickets, increase the space, or increase the number of breweries, and I'm guessing they are not going to do that anytime soon. When the venue changed from the Ag/Hort building to the current venue, it did alleviate a lot of problems, however things have worsened again since more tickets were sold. I did not go to the summerfest, nor Bloomington last year, and I do not know how the change in venue changed the fest (ie if the line issues were present etc). I do think the growth of craft beer has clearly affected these type festivals. I agree that there are diminishing returns for beer geeks as opposed to newbs. Had you been to the early versions of DLD when it started to become popular? Talk about a shitshow. Lafayette Brewing was in the cask tent. Those crazy bastards are always outside and they prefer it that way. I asked them once and they said they don't want to be inside. You are right about the size of the cask tent, it has been much bigger in the past. Most of the beer guys I know that were not working the festival, didn't go. I suspect for a lot of the reasons you have already cited. It's all about managing expectations. I wouldn't try to convince you to change your mind, but was interested in your reasoning behind your statements. Looking forward to the Mayor Quimby Beer invitational next year : )
