Wild Friendship Blend

Feel the same way... Seemed like vendors ran out of food half way in to session 2. I had the pork buns and the mussels but was looking forward to the lobster rolls and left hungry. The beer was amazing and the waits if any were minimal. It wasn't crowded at all and you could roam freely throughout the brewery. It was quite an event! We really enjoyed our time.

 

wow they had lobster rolls?!?!?!?! Man we didnt get any either!

 

I too missed out on the dumplings and lobster roll. I did get a ravioli though. I don't necessarily think it was people not caring about others, but I don't recall any signs asking for only 1 trip though each food line.

 

Was food included in the ticket price or was it an extra cost?

 

Included in cost

 

Given the cost of the ticket, particularly for those that traded in the secondary market, that really sucks to not have food. But I suppose the beer list more than made up for it

 

On food: I'll admit to having two dumplings in the evening session (though my co-ticket holder skipped hers). I apparently missed out on these legendary lobster rolls, so that's karma.

I can understand criticism of those being gluttonous, but it was really up to Allagash to coordinate better between attendees and vendors: If they told vendors to shoot for 350 servings, they should have made it clear to us that the plated dishes were one/person. I think people would have been at least a little more cognizant of the supply and acted accordingly, even if it wasn't enforced.

The food was terrific and a great advertisement for Portland cuisine. My friends and I hit up Bao Bao later that night to satisfy our continued cravings.

Kind of unfortunate that one of the best things about the beer side of the event, namely that you didn't have to worry about anything running out, got turned around when it came to food. I know HF has had similar problems even with their paid food at past festivals; beer drinking works up an appetite!

Given how well every other aspect of the event worked, I'm sure Allagash will learn from this the next time they put together something similar.

 

My wife and I had one dumpling a piece. They were awesome. By the time we got back around the food was basically gone. A bit disappointing but we weren't there for the food. There were some cheese scraps left at the enterance so we had a bit of what was there. Went to the great lost bear afterwards and met a few people who were also pretty much shut out of eating at the event as well. I'm sure it's just a stiff learning curve putting on an event like this. I couldn't have been more satisfied food or not.

 

I don't recall ravioli, pork buns, or dumplings, so perhaps different sessions got different food? Flawless event imo, but maybe a stamp system could have been used to make others happier. Food stamps would have detracted from my experience. Hope the LPK lasted through session 2. I reminded a few of the pourers to stamp my ticket and imagine quite a few people got multiple pours of Fou and LPK.

 

I socialized with a member of local food media after, and we compared notes on food from both sessions. There were different vendors for each session according to our respective maps. And the offerings were quite a bit nicer for session one. Never got a single dumpling at session 2, but there were plenty of cupcakes - lol! We ate lunch at my fave foodtruck, CN Shwarma parked at Rising Tide beforehand for insurance - glad we did.

 

Everything about this event will be what I measure others against. Perfectly planned, perfectly laid out and a perfect time. Yes, food was a bit of an issue, though I hung near the dumpling table a while and got about 3 of them. Had multiple pours of several beers, my wife's pour of LPK, went out for a nice dinner at our hotel afterwards, and then ended up doing a very small share in the lobby of the Hyatt in downtown Portland. Brought a shitload of beer home and got home in time to take my wife(who loved the event as well)and kids out for dinner to celebrate a late Mother's Day. Weekends don't really get any better than that.

 

Amazing event - every beer was great, and I was so glad RR brought a perfectly executed Pils to reset the palate. I also love the fact that there are 3 solid breweries right across the street from Allagash, and Oxbow downtown blew me away (made it twice over the weekend).

My only complaint is the couple years of life I lost drank and ate away in Portland.

 

Let's make it clear that there were different food vendors for both sessions. Lobster rolls were from Even Tide for the first session, pork buns (dumplings) were from Bon Bon for the second session. I attended the second session, immediately hit the 4 year old Cantillon lambic and the cheese/charcuterie station and enjoyed that for quite some time. The pork buns from Bon Bon ran out with about 30-40 mins left in the event so there was plenty of time to get everything unless you saved the last four or so beers for the end. Rob Tod didn't get a pork bun if that makes anyone feel any better. Overall, the best event I have ever been to.

 

We went to the second session and went from Allagash in the back to Lou Pepe in the front. When we got to where the vendor in the main brewery area should have been it was totally cleared out and I heard that happened before 7pm. So no there was not time to get everything. This is the first I was hearing of cupcakes from the second session.The vendors for the second session totally blew it while from everything I heard the vendors in the first session had masses of great food. Certain Portland vendors owe people an apology.
Allagash gave the same instructions to each vendor so it wasn't Allagash's fault. As to the beer it was sublime, I wish I had more time to drink and appreciate each one but while the numbers of beer seemed minimal on paper I felt the number to be perfect in reality.
Awesome if hungry night.

 

laughing over here at people getting upset over me getting extra helpings of the pork bun. like i said, judge me, but it was the best thing there and yeah, i waited until 7:30 to go back for more.

 

Laughing over here cause you keep bringing it up. It's cool you did wait though! Pretty admirable,

 

Had a friend in the first session that didn't get a lobster roll. Womp. Let's focus on the fact that we had 13 world class beers in one of the best breweries on the east coast. Amazing event. Period.

 

@brewinsue and i thought it was a fantastic event. We did the first session and with the exception of *very* minor lines at Allagash (2 min?) and RR Beatification (though you did your best @Heater) it was all smooth sailing.

The food was awesome (lobster sausage or duck sausage (Thirsty Pig), smoked salmon hash browns, lobster rolls and duck fritters (Eventide), or meat/cheese/vegetable charcuterie (tomatoes and grapes were awesome) and the chili (Rosemount) was great.

The beer was fantastic (those of you hating on STS pils were mistaken) and Jean, Rob and Vinny (and Natalie) were great and very accessible.

Jean mentioned that the same barrel of 4 year unblended lambic went into both batches of the friendship blend, but different batches (he couldn't speak to the details) went into the RR and Allagash portions. That beer was divine.

My only real concern was (as others mentioned) the swirling/dreg dumping of the Allagash WFB. The pourers (caterers...Maine law doesn't let brewers pour their own beer) claimed "the brewer" told them to do so, but we ran into Rob Todd and Jason Perkins at Liquid Riot later and they apologized , saying it was not their intent. My wife's pour was borderline ropey, but I was relatively lucky.

Still, all in all, a magnificent event. Cheers to all involved...and let us know if you want ideas on how to get people in the door faster...

 

What's a ropey pour?

 

Perfect example. My friend got the pour on the left, while i got the pour on the right.

Was a bummer that I flew across country to get the bottom of an ICE cold swirled bottle, but was having a great time and was super grateful to even be there in the first place, so i wasnt complaining.

AMEN.