ABR must haves

We were all too busy drinking to look at our phones.

There is hope left in the world!

Pour Decisions MN Weisse. Good lord was that beer good.

 

Great ABR. can't remember at time in the last 6 years that I have made it until the end.

 

Never complained before and have been going for 7 years now. Why the hell don't they start letting people in at noon or earlier so the majority are in and ready to drink by 1pm? We didn't get in until 2pm after waiting in line over 1.5 hours. Bullshit.

When you got close to entering they said "form 4 lines" which was bullshit since it was single file the 8-10 blocks prior to that and all the employees they had were standing there waiting for people. We got in at 2pm and went right to the Bells tent and Black Note and Batch 9000 were already gone.

 

That is bullshit. They cap the numbers, so they know the amount of people that are coming. The situation you described should NEVER happen. Hey, at least it wasn't raining when you were standing (unnecessarily) in line.

 

We got there around uh 12:40 ish or so and I'll be honest this was my first ABR but we were down the block and wrapped down the next building (west of the entrance). Got in about 15 of so after, but yea a lot of what I was initially was hoping for was gone by the time I got there within the first hour or so. Thought it was poorly executed but overall still had a good time. I think they could have easily let us in early but had the booths hold off on serving till 1 which they did at Summer Beerfest 2 years ago.

Overall a good time, still feeling it now some 5 or so hours later, gonna be a fun Sunday...

 

Get there early, get your braceket early, start drinking right away. Priceless!

 

I wasn't at the event, and have no ties to it other than I started it 13 years ago and ran it for a few years. But I think that's a bit of hyperbole with 10 to 20 times, unless you've run events that were 30000-60000 people. Which perhaps you have, I don't know.

I saw a lot of complaining about the lines in, and I suggest you forward those complaints to the Guild. I'm sure they've heard some already, and rightfully so. But don't let it stop on a forum on BA. Be courteous, voice your concerns.

 

OH snap I forgot to completely give kudos to Surly for handling their limited release line. I wasn't going to bother until I noticed the line moving...gasp... So I got in line and waited not even 5 min to get Syx variant, then on my way back saw no line and got syx variant again and then Mysanthrope. Big Kudos to Surly. Every other fest I didn't bother. Todd even came out and asked what we were waiting for and if it was a different one he moved us up in line to that one.

 

Yes, I had friends who didn't get in until 2:30PM & they were pissed, & I don't blame them.

We arrived a bit last at 12:55 & were some of the last people to get wristbands. For some stupid reason they pulled all the people off the line giving out wristbands when the gates opened & made them go to the front of the line, & because of the rain, it seemed like a ton of people showed at the last minute. So instead of the regular "walking-speed" entrance, there was a huge cluster when people without wristbands started bunching up at the entrance. It seemed like that was the root of the problem, & one easily fixed.

There has never been an issue with getting before, & I hope people who got stuck in line complain loudly.

We were lucky & had a great time.

 

I will echo some sentiments and add some. The most impressive thing that I witnessed was that no one was really cutting in line. And to the guy who told his girl "no, absolutely not" when she wanted to cut the line, kudos to you sir, I raise my glass to you. Yes the line was long, and it was raining, and some hipster douches were wearing backpacks so big that it looked like they had several growlers in to pour their beers in to. But....... the wife and I still had an amazing time. Every one was in good spirits with lots of smiling faces. I did not see any drama. I did see:
plenty of porto pots (Bifs, Portolets, whatever you want to call outside shitters)
better schwag, I saw several shirts and other goodies that I wanted to purchase
new breweries to the event
very friendly and courteous volunteers and employees (they were wet as fuck too)
plenty of water/rinse stations
and lots of smiling faces
we circled back to the front of the event at 5 to give someone a ride (who never showed up, ass, you know who you are) and everyone still looked happy as they stumbled from the event. So cheers!! We had a blast.

 

Wow, how did you ever come up with such a brilliant plan?

Now for my beer highlights:

1. TH Russian Roulette - Amazing
2. TH Beach Therapy - They need to bottle this for the summer, Stone take note this is what a Coconut IPA should taste like
3. TH Cherry Wee Heavy - Safe to say Town Hall killed it at ABR
4. Widmer Marionberry Gose - Didn't expect much, but this was tasty
5. Odell Neapolitan - Tasted just like the ice cream
6. Indeed Sweet Yamma - Best pumpkin beer at the event (and there were quite a few solid ones)
7. Indeed Hot Box - Delicious
8. Fitgers Cherry Batch - Yep worth the wait for this one
9. Dangerous Man Chocolate Milk Stout - Finally got to try this and worth the hype
10. Central Waters Exodus - I showed up late, but still got a pour and very glad I did.
11. Surly Darkness - Can't go wrong with a little Charlie Murphy and I second the compliment on the quick Surly limited release lines.
12. Bells Black Note - Second best beer behind Bourbon County

So many good beers, just not enough time!!!! I missed out on the Schell's BA barley wine even though we showed up right at the posted tapping time, which was a bummer. Anyone know if they tapped it early? If you got a pour, please post your thoughts on it.

 

How was the schells raspberry beer?

 

Uh, man what time did I get this at. There was no body there for it unless it was the line that was to the right of it at a table with no beer they were telling people so and they kept standing there. I walked right up and got it, but man for the life of me I can't remember the time, it was tasty. I could probably try and find out the timestamp on my photo I took of myself by the awesome Schell's bus, but I will say it was somewhere in the range of 2-2:30 as we went from there to see when Take the Black Stout was getting tapped which it hadn't been yet and that waas at 3.

 

Exodus and BB9k rocked my world. Damn they were good.
NB's Love Felix was awesome
Syx Variant was great. Too bad there isnt much of this around. the variant is soooo much better than the bottles.
Hopsolution -great
Brooklyn Schorcher #366 - a very cool hop variety. almost wet hop tasting with lots of vegetal and grassy flavors. almost kinda nutty but not a malty nutty, a hoppy nutty. cool


I drank a ton of great beer, but a few heavy hitters left me unimpressed
-Russian Roulette - wayyy to sweet for me. 2oz was plenty (i know this is heresy, but i really didnt care for it)
-Matilda Lambicus - good, but not as good as I thought it was going to be
-Dangerous man stuff, good, but not great. The CMS was good but its the kind of beer Id only want 1 of.
-PD beliner weiss -meh
-Steel to Dissent - nothing special IMO. I wont be buying and bottles in the future.
-Fitgers Cherry - again, decent but not great. didnt see what the hype was about.
[begin flaming]

I think Exodus goes down in my book for favorite beer. The BB9k was Awesome, but I knew what to expect with that. Exodus surprised me.

 

Aroma was really good, but I didn't get as much raspberry in the taste. Still a very solid Berliner though.