FW Invitational 2014

I don't care as much about the timed releases but do think all of the breweries should have provided their mandated "rare" and "session" beer during that first hour. It was a beer festival where breweries were to bring one "rare" and one "session" beer, and the VIP tickets included early admission to said festival. Why wouldn't you expect to have access to the whole experience? They can do what they like with all the other beers they bring. Release those any time you want.

I was more bummed by the swag bag. The $200 was supposed to include tickets, a t-shirt, and a bag of swag which they described as "cool stuff". What we got could hardly be described as cool. It was like free crap you get from a bank and none of it, with the exception of the bag itself, had anything to do with FW. I don't have a problem donating to charity and paid that price knowing that was the case, but they could have put together a real bag of FW/festival swag and still donated about half of my money.

 

What sort of festival swag would you have wanted? You said it included a shirt. You already got a taster glass for being in there. What more from the event could you have asked for in terms of cool swag? A bottle of ol' longhorn?

Would some $2 Firestone Walker bumper stickers have really done anything to calm you?

 

The deal was ticket, t-shirt, AND bag of swag. You can't include the shirt in the bag. How about a hat, maybe a snifter or second glass, some stickers, a keychain, another t-shirt, anything that would have shown some effort to put together an actual bag of cool stuff, as promised. Arguing that we received a taster glass and t-shirt is asinine as those were already stated to be included. The bag of cool swag was supposed to be there as well but wasn't. If they didn't want to give away a bag of cool swag then don't announce it as part of the package. It is pretty simple.

 

Best beerfest ever! Running out of beer or food (long)before the event was over is inexcusable though...

 

Hard to complain after having such a great time and sampling so many amazing beers, but I agree that running out of beer/food is a problem. I also would have liked it if they told us that the beers that they posted on twitter would be released at a specific time. I got in line at Triple Rock only to find out that I couldn't get BA Cellarman yet. The dude wouldn't even tell me when to come back either. Oh well, just meant that I had time to get more pours of BA Vietnamese Speedway...

 

Timed releases are pretty standard stuff at rare beer fests, IMO. Last several I've been to didn't tell you when they were pouring until you got there and took a look at their whiteboard or whatever.

The real lesson here is that VIP is rarely worth it at beer festivals. Pay for a normal ticket, show up early/on time, get good beer, wait in line if necessary for a beer you're jonesin' for (are folks seriously surprised to see lines? Have you ever been to a beer festival?), enjoy your time. This is pretty basic stuff.

 

Hard to complain, but there were too many people this year and every special release at 2:00 was bad. Food and beer went too quick this year, and that seems to be a problem with the increased attendance.

 

First time at this event. I was very pleased. GA ticket.

We got in line about 11:45. The line, while long, moved very quickly. Getting in was super easy.

I was pleased by the layout, the size of the venue was very good given the number of people. It never felt crowded.

The lines to get beers generally went very well. A little bit of planning to have a 'waiting in line' beer goes a long way.

Everyone I spoke to was super friendly and knowledgeable. I didn't get the 'i'm just the local rep' feeling.

I got most every beer I wanted to try. I did miss a couple of the limited rare pours because I lost track of time. While disappointed, it wasn't a deal breaker.

Food was good and plentiful early. Shade, bathrooms, places to sit and relax were also plentiful.

All in all, a great time was had. I will go back again next year assuming I can get tickets!

 

This. I figured if one festival was going to nail the VIP thing it would've been FW though.

In the end, I am not losing any sleep over it. I had an awesome time and tried 30+ beers that were all damn good.I had one hell of a good time meeting a bunch of really friendly BA's, at the bottle share, the night before too. It was an awesome weekend. That doesn't mean they are free from criticism.

 

Is this the first year they've done VIP? This was my first year so I don't have any frame of references for previous years.

 

Yes. They awarded a few early entry passes last year for the first handful of people to buy tickets (5? 10? I don't recall exactly) but this year was the first with an official VIP ticket that could be purchased.

 

First year for VIP, and hopefully they change it up a bit next year or eliminate it. I'd also love to know if they increased capacity because it sure seems like everyone felt the increased crowd/lines.

 

Makes sense. What time did the Triple Rock end up putting the Cellarmans on? After they told me they weren't sure what time it was going to be, I didn't bother going back.

 

3. They had no problem telling me

 

Came here to say pretty much the same thing. Longer lines, most food was gone by 2, special timed releases...all of it adds up to my wife and I probably not going back next year. It was still an amazing festival all around with an incredible line up of breweries and beers but maybe it's time to start saving for the Culmination.

 

Gotcha.

 

^ They wouldn't tell me either. Don't know what that was about, but after that reply I wasn't planning on going back. If you don't feel like answering a question you know is going to be asked, put up a sign.

 

Glad to hear I wasn't the only one. I wasn't mad or anything. I went up to get a Bent Ear knowing the Cellarmans stuff wasn't on yet.

 

I'll third that. I asked at the beginning of the festival and was given a shrug and mumbled comment about not even knowing if they had it. Considering it was the first line I waited in I can't imagine that a ton of people had already asked and the brewer/rep was getting tired of answering but who knows.

Not sure when BA Cellarman actually went on but it was in the 3pm hour. I had gone back at least 3 times between 12-3pm and at the end just gave up. Around 3:20ish I noticed the line was pretty long so I assumed it was on. By the time I got to the front they had their IPA and regular Cellarman.

 

This pretty much sums it up for me as well. For those commenting about how you should expect this at a big beer festival that is very true. However the last two years you DIDN'T see that which made this such an amazing "big" beer festival.

I still give FW a ton of credit for continuing to pull off the best beer festival out there of its size. I'll definitely still attend next year so long as the beer bros don't totally overwhelm the ticketing system on Thanksgiving night.