SAVOR NYC

Grabbed two tickets for the Friday session. Will be attending the New Holland/FSW Vintage salon. Pretty pumped, should be a blast.

 

Got my tix but the salons I wanted were sold out! Guess ill just enjoy the general tasting then.

 

I went to this for the first time last year in DC. I've been to many beer festivals, but was not properly prepared for SAVOR. Here's two things to keep in mind if you're new to it

1) There's an suggested dress-code. If you show up in jeans or shorts, you'll feel very uncomfortable. Most in DC were dressed like they were going to a cocktail party. I'm not sure if this will carry-over in NYC or not. Think Business-Casual or Better.

2) I ate way to much varied food from the beginning. After getting half-way through, I really couldn't stomach anything, and unfortunately that included beer. As with any fest, pace yourself; even more so at Savor.

 

I'll be there on Friday and doing the Crooked Stave salon

 

will be there saturday and attending the beer/food pairing 7pm salon

 

I will be going to savor this year for my first time ever. I cant wait! I also got a salon package with Jim Koch so I am pretty stoked about that as well.

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...tickets-arent-selling-as-quickly-in-new-york/

 

I suspect that article wildly understates the effect of the cost increase.

 

Any word on some of the "Events" that will be happening during that weekend? The ones on the Savor website dont sound too appealing...I am hoping there is something else lined up they just havent posted yet...any ideas?

 

so far just these

http://www.savorcraftbeer.com/attendee-guide/week-events/

 

I agree. I don't think it is not selling out because NYC beer people are unfamilar with the name SAVOR, I think it is because there is a price point a lot of people won't go over, and by increasing tickets by 42% in one year, they've severely underestimated what it was.

I don't doubt that NYC is more expensive for them to hold the event in, but I doubt it calls for that large of a price increase. I lived in DC for seven years before moving to NYC last summer; DC isn't cheap either. They have raised the prices of tickets the last few years, if not every year, in DC, and probably thought coming to NYC they could jack it up even more, but at a certain price, people won't go. There are beerfests held in NYC all the time for ~$40-50...something tells me you could hold it in Brooklyn for prices similar to last year and not $170.

 

Agreed. I would also add the opportunity cost in NYC changes the equation. Not that there aren't great restaurants in DC (there are), but a $175 per person night out in NYC is something like a $130-$150 per person meal (before tax and tip) at a number of pretty extraordinary restaurants. While I'm sure the food vendors at Savor are excellent, their crossover appeal is greatly diminished in a city like New York. The audience is probably more limited to the die hard beer geek who doesn't mind the ticket price, whereas in Savor DC my impression was it drew an audience of beer geeks, foodies, and parts of the general populace who were interested in both.

But I'm just speculating - all I know is I'll be passing on Savor in NY, unless in the future the bring the price way down (mdfb, you're probably right about doing it in Brooklyn).

 

Don't expect any events involving breweries that don't already or will immediately following SAVOR distribute in NY. Washington DC is the wild west for beer/wine/liquor. DC allows "grey market" beer. Grey market mean real product with questionable acquisition. Essentially the beer laws in DC mean that if you can get an alcoholic beverage into your establishment, you can sell it. That's why you see breweries being poured at bars without any official distribution. New York requires actual registration which is very expensive. So unless Three Floyds is deciding to enter the state officially I wouldn't expect to see an officially advertised event. Maybe something under the radar though.

Bell's is an interesting case though. Bell's is registered in the state because they entered Western NY. If a bar in NYC can get either Bell's to bring them beer and sell it to them through the Western NY distributor or buy it from the distributor and bring it down themselves, technically they can legally sell the beer. There is a bar in Hoboken that had Great Lakes for a while before it was officially distributed in North Jersey. The owner bought it from the legal South Jersey distributor and was legally allowed since there was not a distributor selling in North Jersey but the beer was registered in state. NJ is a much smaller state and the entire state can be traversed in 3 hours from tip to tail. NY is much larger and Rochester/Buffalo is as far as you can get from NYC so the likelihood is slim. Shangy's in PA, the Bell's distributor for Eastern PA is less than 2 hours away but any beer purchased there cannot legally be sold out of state. Bell's would have to buy the beer back from Shangy's and then sell it to an NYC bar through the upstate distributor. That's a lot of work for a few beers. Festival registration is different and more than likely tied to the physical address and won't allow beer in other locations around the city. If JessKidden is reading this I'm sure he will correct 90% of what I wrote and quote the proper laws.

 

Agreed....DC is nuts with that stuff.

The good news is NY has some great distribution already; would love to see some events with special kegs/bottles from guys already in the market like Allagash, Founders, Bell's, GI, Cigar City, CL, FW, Avery, or the Bruery though.

Also out of curiosity, wasn't Zombie Dust on tap at a bar a month or two ago? Maybe it wasn't approved, though they were advertising it.