Northern Lights Rare Beer Fest

Seriously? $100? Does that come with a souvenir pony? I was excited about it until I saw the ticket price. It feels like prices for these events are getting out of control.

 

I think it sounds like a pretty solid event. $100 is a bit spendy but food is also included. Plus the chance to try some beers you may never get the opportunity to try again is pretty cool. It will be nice to see the owners and head brewers at an event as well instead of just volunteers, who usually are good, but don't have the knowledge the brewers do.

 

A bit spendy? It's 25% more than a GABF session. GABF sessions are also 1.5 hours longer.

Ridiculous.

 

Twice the price of FOBAB and I'm guessing the lineup won't be half as good.

 

This price-point is insane. Especially so, given that 10 of the 30 breweries are from MN.

$25 more than Casanova's Dark Beer Fest, which I already thought was overpriced.

 

You all crack me up. If it is too expensive...DON"T GO! This is a one off event that is different than all the others. I am looking forward to it!

 

No doubt $100 a pop is a lot for many of us, but the beer-lovin' crowd has never been exclusive to young bearded dudes with truckloads of college loan debt. With the prices on rare and vintage wine skyrocketing, you can bet that some of those more well-heeled folks that would've been in that speculators' market ten years ago now number amongst our more "common", beer-y numbers. And such a ticket price will not deter some of these folks.

Besides, the people bringing this event to the market have experience with many previous fests and are beer lovers themselves, so they deserve the benefit of the doubt -- it's not only about turning a buck.

 

Im not so offended by the $100 by itself, but only 1 of the 2 beers per brewery is rare? That makes it not worth it IMO. how many 'rare' or vintage beers does ABR have at it...? like 100? probably more in reality. I'd happily pay $100 for a selection of 60 different rare/vintage beers though. Im confident I could drink $100+ of beer in that case

ABR is my only beer fest really, because it ruins everything else. The only better beer fest I've been to was the BeerNetwork/Northern Brewer/National homebrew championships a couple years a go. They had 4 trailers with 8 kegs each, pour your own beer, plus a bunch of championship quality homebrew, plus, the beer chef (sean...forget his name) made extra tasty food! ...it put ABR to shame, and that says A LOT in my book. I havent been to GABF though, and I hear its a whopping good time.

 

I have been going to GABF for the last two years now, and last year my buddy and I shelled out the $100 to go to Pints for Prostates and it was easily the best fest I have ever been to. Great food, little to no lines and fabulous beer. That being said the lineup of brewers and their 1-2 selections was really deep.

Looking at the list of who is coming to MN for this event might not command the same pricetag but I wouldnt write it off just because of sticker shock.

 

oh... and its for charity, you heartless bastards

 

Lets not forget that there are NUMEROUS people on BA that love to argue $/ounce pricing discrepancies between completely different beers/breweries/styles, so are we really surprised people would complain about the price?

 

Have you been to Winterfest? I much prefer Winterfest over ABR even though I love ABR. Better venue, small crowd, great access to Brewers and a cool vibe. At Northern Lights will be 50-60 beers you probably have never had before and many beers that will only be available 1 time ever at this event. If you love whales, this event is for you.

 

As a person with terminal cancer, I'd like to know a little bit more about what rare beers there will be. I'm certainly sympathetic but that's a lot of money for a really short time to taste the beers.

 

I have gone to GABF and Denver Rare the last two years as well. I wonder if they are going to give a shirt for this event?

Lots of people complained about the price for that and we had GI Napa County, Crooked Stave Waelzblood, Prairie Bomb de Balcones, Utopias and etc. It really is my favorite thing to look forward to for GABF week. I might have to wait for a potential tap list to pull the trigger for this event, or wait for the half off deal when tickets don't sell.

 

Hey, I like these events too but there's a problem. Most of these special releases, aged brews, and one-offs are very high ABV and IBU. You have 3 or 4 pours and your palate is getting fatigued, 3 or 4 more its wrecked, 3 or 4 more and you're getting intoxicated. There's no appreciating these after a certain number. Yeah, everyone says they can balance this out with food and water. That's bullshit.

 

ooooooooo boy a lot of monies. But part of it goes to charity so you could write off part of it... I guess I did drop $100 for the Eclipse Release party which was basically only uh 10 different beers offered, food, a glass but you did get a "for attendees only" bottle of Eclipse which averages $30-40 a bottle and dibs on buying cellered bottles and easily the best bottle share I've ever seen (there was a table full of different Cantillons people brought amongst some other bottles hand numbered to < 100 bottles...). It was a blast till Thor let loose all over the floor (not sure his real name, but he looked like thor so we called him that).

 

Not sure if anyone has been following this on Facebook at all but they are posting some of the line up there and I have to say the $100 isn't looking to bad considering some of the offerings: https://www.facebook.com/rarebeerfest

Boulevards Foeder Projekt #1 sounds amazing! Same with Tallgrasses Area 51 "Pool Party"& I'm pretty pumped for there Kansas Gueuze Project. I've tried some small batch stuff they have done in the past with sours and they never disappoint.

 

With 8 of the 28 brewery lists revealed - this is shaping up decently.

Hopefully we'll get some off of this list too:

Central Waters - Sixteen, Fifteen, Black Gold
Dark Horse - Barrel Aged Plead the Fifth
Deschutes - Black Butte XXI-XXIV, Dissident
Green Flash - Silva Stout
North Coast - Bourbon Barrel Old Stock, Bourbon Barrel Old Rasputin
Oskar Blues - Ted FIDY Barrel Aged
Odell - Woodcut Series
Ommegang - Game of Thrones #3, 15th Anniversary
Sam Adams - Utopias
Sierra Nevada - Beer Camp, BA Narwhal, BA Bigfoot
Stone - Barrel Aged Russian Imperial Stout
Surly - Four, Five, 2011 Darkness

 

While I enjoyed Winterfest this year & last, and in the past I've enjoyed Firkin Fest, I honestly think if I could be offered awesome beers, and LESS people. I'd happily pay $100. Sometimes I like having elbow room when I drink.