How crazy is Hunahpu's Day?

Last year there was an estimated 4-5k people there, which it never really felt like to me. We got there around 9:30ish and were probably 600 or so in line. A friend of mine got there around 1-1:30 and was able to get bottles. Honestly the longest line there was all day was to get tickets for pours (and waiting in line for BA Dark Lord, but I was in the first 10 so it was guaranteed). Definitely going back again this coming year.

 

Pretty crazy. At least IMO it was a giant clusterfuck. Tons of line cutting,lots of really rude people (which generally isn't my experience with craft brew fanatics), etc. The beer selection was absolutely phenomenal, but the crowd was too much for me. I know others will disagree, I got massively flamed for posting something similar right after the event, but that was my experience. Also, bracelets (and thus guaranteed bottles of Hunahpu) were most definitely gone before 1-1:30. I arrived around 12:30 and they were gone. Luckily, a very nice employee had some discarded bracelets from people who had left before the bottle release, and gave one to me as I was leaving (after about 4 hours of waiting in line only to get shut out of most everything I had been waiting in line for secondary to the aforementioned last minute line cutting at seemingly ever 'rare' tap, so I was able to get two bottles.

But if you do go, make sure to hit up Pegs. Presumably they will do another barrel aged day coinciding with Huna day. Much better event, more intimate, friendly people, equally amazing beer.

 

It's crazy, but I thought it was really well put together. There were lines, but it wasn't a big deal to me. I would get a beer and then go stand in line for the next one. By the time I was done with my beer, I had another in my hand. It'll be a bit different this year because I can only imagine that reserve society members will be guaranteed bottles. So the line in the morning will be much shorter. Im definitely going back again this year.

 

Ugh. its stories like these that make me avoid these kind of things (release parties). Kate day for example. i keep telling myself "one day i'll go" but deep down i know i never will. i hate waiting in lines for a roller coaster or even a flight. i love beer and everything but unless i was with a big group of people i dont think i could handle waiting for hours to potentially pay big bucks for some beer.

but hey, to each their own. I'm sure its worth it in the end. just thought i'd give my 2 cents

 

Has this been finalized?

 

Definitely not finalized.

 

Hmm . . . I'm hoping to have moved to central FL in the next three weeks or so, so hopefully I'll be able to actually attend Huna Day or something like it this year. All of this is good to know.

 

Kate Day has been great the past two years. Since they changed how the bottle release works, there is no more getting in line at 4am, etc. A couple hours of waiting in the cold and you are in for as long as you want. Definitely worth doing it one time. This coming March will be the fourth consecutive year I do it.

 

I must admit that the crowd was much larger than I had anticipated, but thought the CCB staff did well considering the mass volume of people. You basically have to prioritize which beers you want to try because the you know beers like the BA Dark Lord won't last 15 minutes, but those are the breaks. Well worth the long day to meet fellow BA's and drink awesome beers capped of by taking home Hunahpu bottles.

P.S. I missed out on Peg's this year, but will definitely be there in March.

 

Hunahpu Day was awesome we arrived around 8am brought chairs and food and beer to drink and trade..A beer party was going on in line way b4 the gates opened..It was well worth getting in line early we were able to purchase tickets and start drinking long b4 the poor people standing in line around Home Depot..It is true about 4-5k people showed up, im sure next year it will be same or more. But the CCB staff was wonderful and the way they had everything set up was great..

 

I've gone the last two years and it was definitely larger and crazier this year than last. The lines for rare beers were insane. In fact, the lines for all the beer taps were ridiculous. However, if you just give in to the chaos, it's a good time. My wife and I set up deck chairs behind some of the food trucks and took turns in the beer lines. I was literally the next guy in line when the BA Dark Lord tap kicked, which kind of bit, but we were second in line for Funky Buddha's Maple Bacon Coffee Porter, the line for which was announced by a guy with a megaphone riding a golf cart through the parking lot.

Although they cut the bottle limit, the Hunahpu distribution was organized a lot better this year. Last year, you had to wait all day and then it was a huge crush of people in the main brewery. This year, they started far earlier so people were trickling in all day to get their bottles.

In all, I thought that they did a decent job organizing an event that obviously was bigger than they were anticipating. I moved back to NY last month, but I've had such a good time the last two years that I'm thinking of flying down for it this year.

 

Well that gives me hope. too bad the 22oz bombers are gone now though

 

I'll be flying down and staying with my grandparents so I can go to Hunahpu Day '12. Excited to meet some fellow BA'ers!

 

Being one of the few that has been to both Darkness Day (granted it was 2010) and Hunahpu Day (every one they have had) there are a lot of similarities, but a lot of differences too. For Darkness, the lining up at night, at least the year I was there, was more partying all night than it was lining up. That group up at the front had an insane tasting and essentially were tailgating for the event. I was at Cigar City the night before and there was a lot of people there drinking and having a tasting as well. It just did not last the entire night as far as I know. I got there around 7:30 to both. I was probably 300 or so in line at Darkness in 2010. I was about 200 or so in line at Hunahpu this year. As with any other release I expect there to be more people earlier this year than last though. Same thing happened from what I understand between Darkness 10 and 11. It is just how beer releases are going. I would not expect you to have to camp out though.

Once you got in the gate, the two were similar. Lines were just way worse to get beer at Hunahpu 12 than it was at Darkness 10. This happened even though there were way more places to buy beer. There were just way more people it seemed. Since I understood there were 1000 wrist bands to get bottles, I totally believe that there were 5k people there over the course of the day. There were people everywhere. The list of options for beer to buy that day was WAY longer than the options at Darkness. They had a ton of guest beer options at CCB. Everything worked based on tickets similar to the tokens that were used at Darkness.

Darkness Day seemed to be a release where the main attraction was buying the bottles for most of the people there. Hunahpu Day is a large party where you happen to buy beer to take home late in the day if you survived the day long party. Of course I can only speak for those that were not in the "upset because I did not get the bottles I was entitled to after sleeping in" group.

 

I just checked my text messages from that day and my friend texted me at 12:50, so not quite 1, however I watched him and everybody else who walked in the gate when he did get bracelets out of a box. They weren't the gold "Hunahpu Day" bracelets, but everybody who got them got bottles when they went on sale as well. I think somebody was trying to act like a hero to you with getting discarded bracelets.

 

You mean '13? I want to go to next year's too. The tap list from last year was epic, but the idea of getting my hopes up to try some beers and then waiting in line only to find out it was already kicked is basically enough for me to not go.

 

I was given a bracelet out of a box, it was not a Hunahpu bracelet. I asked multiple employees if the bracelet I had would get me Huna bottles, they all said no, that bottles were only for the Hunahpu bracelets. Glad it worked out for your buddy though, and I guess it worked out for me as well (although my girlfriend and I got 2 bottles total instead of 4, I guess its better than none!).

 

Honestly, I understand not wanting to miss the "OMG BA DL" type stuff, but frankly there wasn't a bad beer on tap. There were just tonnnnnns of special treatments and beers that were retired that lasted a long time. I mean it was beyond awesome and worth it x1000, even if you only got 1 of the beers you really wanted out of the 50. Plus your consolation prize is bottles of Hunahpu and ridiculous food trucks everywhere. Cannot lose.