EBF 2014: Tell us all about it

From another girl's point of view and data point. I had a long converstaion with both of the Crooked Stave guys (at their booth, after they ran out of beer). Their also was, what I assume, a BA volunteer (green shirt guy) next to the booth talking with us as well, no female volunteers there that I saw during the 15-20 min I was there. They were actually very nice and apologetic about running out so quickly. I saw @Auror 's post about getting their quickly, so I was able to try the Batch 60 before it ran out, terrific beer.

Other standouts were Spontaneous Cheer, all of what Cascade was pouring, everything FB, and Morning Delight was killer. I wasn't able to try the cranberry beer from CS but the person in front of me got it and it looked amazing, cool color.

 

I think "hatred" is a little strong, but bringing 30 minutes worth of beer for a 3 and a half hour fest is pretty ridiculous.

To add to your later point, I did see some guy taken out in cuffs at the end of session C

 

Yea the running out of beer part I'm not concerned with. Going out of your way during a fest to speak down to someone you don't know while you are drinking. That's where my problem lies. But this is the last I'd like to speak of it. Live and let be

 

This is terrible and I am sorry to hear this. I will be sure to never support this brewery. Thanks for the heads up about their supremely unprofessional conduct.

 

I was very skeptical at how things would run with a much larger crowd than years past, but I couldn't have been more wrong. Even the longest of lines moved quickly and I had an amazing time. This is not an event I will miss again! Had a blast talking to the employees at every booth, so many friendly people pouring drinks. The Carton crew were especially awesome. I am officially a HUGE fan of the Funky Buddah, I hadn't had much from them before this but they absolutely killed it. Too many great beers and friendly faces all night to even try to remember them all now.

Unfortunately my only complaint also has to do with Crooked Stave. Not only did they run out of beer less than an hour into the fest (are you kidding me?). When I asked if they were all out in disbelief one of them chuckled and the other one just gave me a "yes". Talk about dropping the ball. The story above is much worse than my experience and I already don't think I'll be going out of my way to seek out their beers anymore. yeesh

 

Not to nitpick, but did Crooked Stave even have any gear? Friday night they only had boxes of 16 bottles of each beer and nothing else. No kegs, no stuff that they'd be giving away, just literally two guys with 48 bottles of beer. What exactly did they ask her to watch? The empty bottles?

 

Great experience this year. Didn't mind the larger venue and a previous poster was correct in saying it made the event seem less loud. Besides the usual suspects on the list, went back to Half acre probably 4 times. Daisy Cutter, Navaja and Chocolate Camaro were all extremely good. Also really enjoyed the Right Brain beers. Now I also have some idea of where Traverse City is as well.

 

Sometimes by the same brewer… to that point, I stopped by NEBCO to try Coriolis. It had kicked, but they replaced it with Ghandi Bot. I nearly startled the pourer with my excitement as Ghandi Bot has always eluded me, even when it was distributed to MA. Tasted so good, I see what the fuss is all about. Kinda cool Ghandi was just the back-up beer.

 

Ghandi's great, but man did you miss out. Coriolis was fantastic.

 

It sure was, their line was short too. Every NE brewers line was relatively short, Treehouse was the longest and slowest moving, but Double Shot was worth that wait.

 

This was my first beer fest, so I didn't really know what to expect. I had heard stories of people standing in line for 45 min to grab one of the popular beers, so it was a pleasant surprise to hardly find a long line at all in the third session. We got caught in that mess on the Pike, so were running late, but there was still plenty of beer to be had. Admit I was disappointed to see some of the booths closed up, but I think that has been well covered above. Most of the guys and gals manning the booths were professional, friendly, and could tell you everything you needed to know. A few came off as a bit cocky and were too busy shooting the shit with their friends to care, but that was rare. Next time I think I'll come in with a better game plan, as I never made it to some of the ones on my wish list, as it is easy to just go from booth to booth trying everything. Also, I'll be saving the chili pepper beers for last!

Pros: great selection of beers, plenty of space, short lines, friendly volunteers - overall a great value for the $$$ and the chance to try some beers I'll probably never see in my local package store

Cons: not many - maybe 1 or 2 more food booths would have been great, and making sure that those of us who can only make the 3rd session get to try all the beers the guys in the first session do. Suppose that is up to the breweries, but if you are coming to one of these things, why not bring more than enough? Plenty of other breweries to fill their spots next year!

Great job to all that were involved! Already looking forward to next year!

 

While my friends waited in the TG line I saw nobody at New England right next door and said "hey, I'm gonna grab some Coriolis, BRB." And that was my first pour of the night before hitting up Toppling Goliath. My one buddy who enjoys good beer but isn't a "connoisseur" explained he usually didn't really dig dark beers, but was floored by how good Mornin' Delight was.

 

I bet it was. I'm sucker for Nelson Sauvin hops

 

can I play devil's advocate. I figure the Bros gave each brewery the same amount for beer. CS is extremely expensive. There is no way to barrel age and brew with brett that doesn't cost money.
Perhaps the beer they brought was what the bros paid for. Much has been made about not asking breweries to pay for the beer they bring out of their own pocket. perhaps in retrospect bringing in such expensive beer just doesn't work. Same deal with Cascade.
However if CS reps were such douche bags that is reprehensible.
However I will wait to see a response before swearing off CS, the nightmare on brett was a truly awesome beer.

 

Haha, I did almost the exact same thing...had read that Vanilla Bean Night To End All Dawns was one of the best beers of the fest so planned a route to hit Kane, then get some Chocolate Rain, then try Crooked Stave...but sure enough, NEBCO was right next to Kane so I ended up getting Coriolis first...had only had one small glass of it ever despite having some decent access to NEBCO but have been wanting to try it again ever since...that beer is so damn good.

 

Wow....I saw the CS guys standing around laughing but not in A's are all a great craft beer community' type of way but rather a frat boy type of way. I didn't know if I was off on my perception until reading these posts. Really disappointed in this brewery. Does not fir with the whole vibe of what we are all trying to promote here. F those guys. Won't be trading for anymore of their beer.

 

Not my first brewfest, but first time doing EBF (Friday session). Went with 2 buddies, both beer lovers also, and we had a blast! What a great experience and well executed brewfest! Some lines were long but moved very quickly, almost every beer was mind blowingly good, everyone at the fest was friendly, and although we never had a chance to try everything we wanted to, we definitely had our fill by the end of the fest. Oh yea, and our end of the fest "nightcaps" were a Sam Adams Utopias (on tap) and an Avery Uncle Jacob's Stout! Just flat out awesome, a huge thanks to all the breweries (that still had beer), all the staff there, DFH, and especially BA!

 

I was there all 3 sessions, (I volunteered) and there wasn;t anything that I could see that was there first session that wasn;t there last; there may have been one or 2 beers out of the goodness knows how many, but if so, they were replaced with something equally good.
One of the reasons CS and Cascade were even there Sat night is that they did ration what beers they had across all 3 sessions.