Did anyone else in the GTA waste their time and money at this past weekend's Toronto Brew Fest? It was hands-down the worst beer event I've ever attended. Tokens were 10 for $10, most beers were 3-4 tokens for a 4 ounce pour (!), the crowd was better suited for a nightclub, there were no one-off brews and, worst of all, there were almost no breweries in attendance pouring their own beer. As a Toronto craft geek, I feel like it's worth making enough noise about this in an effort to try and keep it from coming back next year.
I've read a lot of terrible reviews, and heard it directly from a couple buddies who went on Friday night. A fail of epic proportions. Obviously the guy running it is purely about profit and made assumptions about the Toronto scene (as he's not from there). He bought most of the kegs up front so didn't need the brewers to do anything but I think a couple brewers did show up. Apparently had a lot of no shows of volunteers so was understaffed. Maybe the worst part of it all, bribing people to leave 5 star reviews on FB by giving them a free refill. At least one brewer did that. So many problems and complaints yet they say they are planning for next year. Good luck with that.
Yeah, the Brewfest was way overpriced and overcrowded. Beers selection was not very good with many beers frequently running out. A big disappointment.
http://linkis.com/bottomlesspint.ca/t3cEO One scathing review. A BlogTO article: http://www.blogto.com/eat_drink/2016/02/torontos_first_winter_brewfest_leaves_a_bad_taste/
The NL beer expo is coming up in the spring - that one is awesome if you want to make the trip, professionally done with the beer geek in mind.
I stayed away partially since I had to work all weekend. I heard from friends who went on Friday night and the bottomless pint article might actually be sugarcoating how bad that evening was.
Doesn't sound like it was any better in Ottawa - http://www.ottawabeerclub.com/reviews/2016/2/22/ottawa-winter-brewfest-2016
It's the group that runs Festibiere in Gatineau and they are more interested in making money rather than having a "beer event" There are a lot of breweries/bottle shops in the Ottawa area that don't particularly like the business model but with a lack of alternative they are stuck on paying the price and participating.
I am really glad I didn't attend now. There was a last minute price reduction on tickets from a group-buy website and I am glad I didn't bite.
It's sad, clearly the type of company that tries to make money off the popularity of craft beer, but knowing who's behind the event, not really surprised by this. It's in fact the same person who owns Gainsbourg, and I find it quite sad that they were offering free refills for 5 star reviews on Facebook (and it's clear as day that it's exactly what happened with those phony glowing reviews for the event and Gainsbourg specifically coming from their friends and acquaintances in Gatineau, Ottawa and Montreal). If there's a market where your reputation is made on the quality of your product and not on cheap marketing, it's craft beer. The event can attract all the wannabe beer enthusiasts they want, that still won't make them credible to the knowledgeable ones. Nothing wrong with catering to the masses though. But not an event I've ever been interested in.
One of the guys, yes. I've only tried one of their offerings so far and it was very average. However, I'll give their beers a far shake and rate them as they should. I just find it lame to try and buy ratings.
I will always give a brewer a fair shake and rating of a beer they make if its put in front of me. I appreciate the time and effort ANY brewer puts into making their product. Now I do take exception to how businesses are run and when people try to pull a fast one on the public. That, I have zero time or tolerance for. Ultimately it will likely mean I never try their beer. It would be a shame if it was good, too.
The funny thing is the Gainesbourg beers were probably some of the better ones there that I had never tried before. Their west coast IPA was quite good. The guy at the booth actually tried offering me a free pint for a good review on Facebook and I laughed in his face.
Offering free beer for a good review is pretty lame, I don't know any actual beer fans who would do that. At least I'd hope they wouldn't. Curious, were beer prices listed before the event?
