I've struck out 4 consecutive years in the Great Taste lottery. Thinking of making the drive this year to Madison from the Twin Cities for IP tickets. Would have to shuffle some stuff around to do so however, sooo.... If anyone can help with any of the following I'd really appreciate it! 1) for Madison Beer Week veterans: is the Saturday night before Great Taste tickets typically a big one for tappings/events? Any particular recurring event that night? 2) the old man question: of the IP ticket locations, would any be amenable to getting a few hours of sleep in my lawn chaise, or can I expect an all-night vociferous party? I would try to arrive between 1-2 AM, to ensure I could get tickets, and because I would have to head home as early in the afternoon on Sunday as I could... 3) other tips/advice? Thanks in advance for any help/input
1. If you haven't looked at the Madison Beer Week site, here it is. We usually go plop down at our favored spot & don't move around a lot, but there have always been good tappings in the past. Usually nothing out of this world, but really good taps can be found across the city. http://isthmus.com/search/event/madison-craft-beer-week-2016/#search_date=2016-04-30 2. I've been to two locations over the past six or seven years: Vintage & Steve's. At both places there are the isolated folks who will stay up all night, but if you sleep like the dead, like I do, you shouldn't have much of a problem. Sleep lightly? Be prepared to not get much sleep. I slept for about seven hours last year & that's been about the norm for me. 3. Be prepared! Make sure you have all the obvious stuff (sleeping pads for us old people, water, beer, snacks, etc.). I believe the last tickets at Vintage were given out around 9:00 AM last year...but there were people showing up around 7:00 AM who said they would have been shut out at other locations. That time frame has been pretty consistent all the years we've been going, but you know how these things sometimes change suddenly. The bottle sharing at Vintage was much sparser than previous years at Steve's, but on the other hand, we had a restaurant/bar right next to us & both food & beer were very good. If you have any specific questions let me know. This will be our ninth Great Taste in a row & I wouldn't miss it. While I think ABR is a great festival, the Great Taste is out of this world fantastic, not to mention the amazing tappings the night before. It can be hard to rein oneself in & not end up fuzzy the next day for the actual fest! tl;dr The Great Taste sucks. Please stay home.
Maximum hit it pretty well. I've only been to the GT once, and have been unable to attend the last couple years, as well as this year (damn weddings!). I camped out at the Wine and Hop shop on Monroe the year I went. Getting there at 5 put me comfortably in line to get tickets, so 1-2 AM should put you up towards the front end of most lines. Make sure to check the weather and don't forget your raincoat. We got rained on when they called for no rain... Besides having some beers to enjoy during your morning wait, we also had an insulated cooler with breakfast burritos and coffee. Turning it into irish coffee made for a much more pleasant rainy morning. Hope all goes well!
We found downtown the day before GT to be a major disappointment last year. Waits everywhere were incredible. Just getting in took a looong time at several places & then actually getting a beer once you were inside took ridiculously long. Getting the really sought after beers was nigh impossible. Every year it seems to be more of a cluster fuck. Given that, we decided on a bottle share in our room the night before with some friends we rarely see outside of GT.
