Firkin Fest 2013

Anyone know when the program comes out? Is the 2012 program posted anywhere? Can't seem to find it..

 

Didn't we just have this exact conversation last year?

Your money goes to charity. You drink incredible beer.

Don't like incredible beer / giving to a reputable cause? Then this isn't the beer event for you.

 

If there is a charitable side to this that changes my opinion somewhat, but i see no reference to that on the Gnome website or the Tempo Ticket outlet.

Any idea what charity?

 

Love incredible beer.
Charity - to which cause?
This would alter opinions for sure - please enlighten.

 

I am surprised that this deal is still on. I thought that they probably allocated 100 tickets to this special, but I just checked and 114 have now been sold at the $25 price.

As far as the charity aspect, I kind of doubt it or it is the worst promoted charity event ever. I have promoted charity events and the whole idea is to have the charity named right up front through the promotion of the event. This wasn't one of my events, but this is what a charity beer event promotion looks like:

http://www.beersearchparty.com/beachwood-pliny-yes-the-younger/

And while that was a 100% to charity event, even if it is a partial proceeds to charity, the idea is to bring attention and recognition to the charity/cause, as much as it it to donate proceeds.

 

We boycotted the Gnome for a couple years over some shady shit they pulled at a beer dinner they hosted.

Now we just don't go very often, since the price for a beer is usually $1-2 higher (or sometimes $3-4 for 'special' tappings) than other bars. It's a nice place, with great food, but it's premium priced for no apparent reason.

I'm not a big fan of firkins, & the one fest we went to years back was not well run, so I'm not even tempted to go at the $25 price. Hope y'all have fun.

 

To be fair, I think that the apparent reason is in the first half of your own sentence. Without question, I think that they way overshot on the price of their parking lot event, but they charge a premium price on beers at the bar, because it is that type of place. I have been to a lot of beer bars around this country and in regards to atmosphere and food, HG has to be in the top 5 that I have been to. In fact, I would argue that the quality and portions of the food, actually makes those options a solid value. Last time, I had a bowl of 35 Prince Edward Island mussels & chorizo in an amazing broth for $12. I probably would have spent that much just trying to buy the mussels themselves at the store. The beer prices are definitely on the high end, so it wouldn't be the place that the average beer geek in the neighborhood would regularly hang out, especially considering how close the Muddy Pig is. But that isn't their business, either. If I lived in the neighborhood, that isn't where I would go to get my beer on, but it is where I would take a date without compromising selection and without my date feeling like I dragged her to another beer bar.

 

150 sold through that special offer and it is now flagged as sold out (the special, at least).

 

Does HG post anywhere, a list of what beers will be available, before this event? It would be good to be able to get a game plan in place before getting there.

 

They have all the previous years. Not sure why nothing is posted yet.

 

I have not been before, but assume that they probably have a hand out list printed up for when you walk in. If so, that list has to be done and sent to the printers by now and given that it would most likely be a cut and paste (or at worst, a PDF), they should be posting it somewhere.

Also, I noticed that they are still selling tickets. Really nervous about how many people they are going to try to cram back there.

 

Yeah, they print out a list and give it to you as you go in.

I just called the Gnome and a guy said they have not received all the firkins yet, but would probably post the list once they get them all in.... He didn't really seem like he knew what he was talking about/making stuff up on the fly.

 

I had emailed the gnome expressing distaste for the ticket prices being chopped, here was the response.




Thank you for taking the time to express your concern. And thank you for your support year after year, it certainly is essential to a business like The Happy Gnome and to an event like Firkin Fest.

We did not reduce our ticket prices, however. We did an advertising trade for a certain amount of tickets with City Pages, which they then offered at a reduced price. It was a small amount of tickets that were available only briefly, and it was done as a way to cut advertising expenses. All tickets sold by The Happy Gnome before, during and after the City Pages offering were sold at full price. I do realize that tickets to this event are expensive. But organizing the event is also expensive, and becoming more so every year. So while I do understand your frustration at paying full price while a handful of others got a discount, it was a necessary exchange on our part.

I hope this explanation makes sense to some degree, and again, we at the Happy Gnome and in the local beer community truly appreciate your support!

 

150 tickets to a parking lot event, being described as a "small amount" and just a "handful" of the over all sales, has me now really, really, really concerned of how much they are going to cram this event. How have the port-o-let lines been in the past?

In regards to the deal that they set up, yes that makes sense and a lot of companies do trade for services, but whoever set it up wasn't thinking the deal through as to how what Citypages would do with those tickets, would reflect back badly on HG. A much better deal would have been to offer up 150 half-price meal vouchers. Presuming most people here have eaten there before and paid full price. So if you heard that they had had a half price meal deal, it probably wouldn't have raised an eyebrow for anybody.

 

"tickets are still available, but going fast". According to JJ Taylor's Facebook page. Haha. It looks like we've hit that tipping point on what people are willing to pay for these events.

 

Not bad at all. Maybe a minute or two wait.

 

So now that everyone has finished ranting, who's going? I should be there around 12:30

 

I am getting a solo drop off and pick up by my GF and her friend, who are doing the lunch/shopping thing today.

BTW, I just clicked on the ticket link for this event and it says that tickets ate the door are $60. I don't recall seeing that posted anywhere before. Luckily, I jumped in during that deal.