A little over a month away from this years Hop Jam Festival in Vermont. http://vthopjam.com/ Looking for everyone's input for this year. Thoughts about the current breweries? The changes they are putting in place to avoid the same mistakes in which happened last year. Who's going!?!
Haha, we must be neighbors - and can never recommend that fest to anyone, ever again. They had 3 years to get it right.
What have they changed? I couldn't find any info stating they've done anything differently. That beer tent situation really needs to be addressed before I'd even consider attending that disaster again. I think it says a lot that Trillium and Tree House haven't returned....
After last year's shit show I won't be back until they have a proven format that works for all attendees. Turning the first few hours into a straight up beer fest might work, assuming they can spread the lines out (multiple beer booths should help) and keep the line cutting to a minimum and actually enforce their "Good Vibes" policy and kick out those who abuse the system. I don't have high hopes, however, as last year I spoke to Meg directly during the fest and she straight up told me they couldn't do anything about the offenders. I'm also curious as to how successful the post-2pm time will be; $43 for GA tickets, plus $6 per pour of "regular" offerings definitely isn't geared towards the beer crowds, and based on last year's "VIP" line prior to opening, at least 2/3 of all tickets sold were "VIP".
I wish they'd post a map of the new setup. Just in reading this, I don't get a lot of clarity about how it's actually going to work. At least they're admitting it needs changing, though. That's a step in the right direction. Still, they'd have to pay me to attend. Or bring in better bands.
The only thing this festival was good for was Good Morning and Headroom The rest of the day was spent in line and getting reprimanded for discreetly hitting a vape pen while people were cranking cigs left and right. The bus ride back home was a shitshow and ended the evening on a sour note. Definitely not returning especially after hearing about last year
Its strange how they did the whole BIP this year as far as entry times. You would think that would actually encourage even more people to purchase this rather than less. I guess the real question is whether they actually put a limit on those tickets. I mean if you think about those planning on spending the entire day at hopjam would benefit from just getting the BIP because well they are going to be purchasing those tickets anyways throughout the day. I've already taken the time off of work and am definitely going to be spending those days up in vermont. But I'm seriously considering not attending this now that Trillium and Trillium are out (has this been confirmed).
Instead... rent a bike at SkiRack. Do a little loop hitting Zero Gravity, Switchback, Simple Roots. Pick up a few and have picnic at one of our fine beaches... beer is permitted as long as it's canned. Mid August in Vermont is for swimming in the rivers and lakes not sweating in lines on the mountain
I've been to HopJam with friends each of the past 3 years now and we're not going back, either. We also decided just to pick a weekend (this weekend, in fact) to spend traversing the wonderful state and stocking up on growlers and cans, camping, and generally just enjoying the GOOD things about VT. I'm sure the crew responsible for HopJam is trying hard to get this figured out. But honestly after 3 years of it being a horror show, culminating last year when we paid over $120 per ticket just to wait in lines for 4+ hours and not get any of the promised BIP beers (because EVERYONE was BIP), there's just no reason to try it again. Sure, this year has a chance to be different, since there's no TH or Trill, and so many people have sworn it off, but I think your money is much better spent on lodging, exploring, brewery hopping, and avoiding this mess entirely.
Well, after reading all of this, kinda glad I never attended and doesn't look like I want to. Sounds like more fishing trips out on the Lake for this dude. They say the "mercury level" has been coming down. And like @NickT1133 said, I'll be brewery hopping more.
And what this guy said! I can't agree more with this! And a quick plug to our newest breweries on the block: Also, if anyone is in West Burke, VT, check out Next Trick https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/49601/ Or if you're down in Bennington, check out this one, Harvest Brewing: https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/49479/
So basically unless you pay for the BIP passes they more or less tell you it's not worth your time. BUT....in their defense, we all collectively have created this mess. Just like what you read about in all of the other threads, it's the hype that curses events like this. My two cents is there really is no answer to this shit show. Instead, go to EBF where at least its indoors and temperature controlled to stand in lines. Save the summer for everything else posted above. Now, what if all of the "whaley" breweries just poured "core beers" and had ample logs of all. I do feel this could eliminate a lot of the headaches and spreads the lines all over. Since, pretty much all the breweries are the "whalers"
Just announced (on FB) - Hop Jam has been cancelled due to low ticket sales. I think that they simply underestimated how horrible last year's fest was, and how that would resonate through the New England beer scene. They had a grand plan to merge a beer fest with a music fest... and failed miserably. The music part they nailed, but missed on every aspect of the beer other than landing some legit big name breweries. Part of me is sad that they had to cancel, because I'm sure they had every best intention, however another part of me wants to point out how they essentially did this to themselves, and the event's failure is completely on them - not some "industry-wide fatigue". VT Brewers Festival did just fine. Demand was as high as ever for FOFA tickets. EBF sold out of their early bird tickets over half a year in advance!!! The industry is doing just fine, and it appears the free market has spoken.
I live about 15 min away but never went to hopjam mostly because of the poor reviews it has consistently gotten. As far as the industry fatigue factor, there is some truth to it. I bought vt brewfest tickets for the Friday night session about two weeks before the event. A couple years ago brewfest sold out in less than 15 min
While sad news for their team (I'm sure some/all of them worked hard), this was absolutely the direction it's been going for a couple years. My friend shared this news with me yesterday and we had a good laugh. If they just admit they sold an equal number, if not a shitload more, BIP tickets as GA and fess up to their mess, maybe more customers would give it another shot. But they blatantly fucking deleted constructive criticism from social media last year and acted like they had no idea what went wrong. Regardless, the state of VT practically is one large brew fest. You just need to make sure you have a long weekend and a good DD and you can grab all the best beers. And take in the amazing sights and get to know the friendly people while just relaxing and enjoying it all.
I tend to think(conspiracy theory time) they had no f'ng clue how to the fix the issues they were faced with and poor or late planning forced them to just cancel. I'm sure tix sales were lower but I tend to think there was much more to this being 86'd. But pure speculation.
This fest was a complete disaster last year, and they would not acknowledge the problems. This exchange on their page also turned me off: Fest fan: "I hope all those people who said last year that they would never come back to this event don't." Hop Jam: "We concur." Really? Own up to your mistakes instead of blaming the people you ripped off.
