We go to beer festivals, and 99% of them are the kind where you fill up a glass boot. That's a…read moreslight exaggeration, but to be honest, we go to them to get drunk, in a place filled with drunks so much more louder and obnoxious than us that we feel good about ourselves.
So, it stands to reason that an event like this would seem too expensive by someone like me, who is not a beer connoisseur by any means, who is fine swilling domestic light beers because anything too bitter or tart or hoppy (or, let's be honest, flavorful) is not as easy to get into my belly. There, I said it. I don't home brew, I don't go the Yardhouse, I don't drink from taps with giant geese or sharks on them, I don't have ironic facial hair or an Arcade Fire t-shirt. There is no I in I-P-A. Oh wait there is. Anyway...
So, for someone like me to justify the price ($45 just for ADMISSION, tastings not included), I get that an event like this prices out the riff raff, the drunks, the glass boot fillers, the people who'd potentially start a fight because they are wondering what you are looking at. To me, it's the price for peace.
So, when I say it's expensive, you know where I am coming from, and we can move on...with that out of the way, here's what I liked and disliked:
THE PEOPLE ARE AWESOME.
That guy holding ten tasting glasses looks like Cornell West!
That guy over there looks like a MythBuster.
That pourer looks like a young Morrissey
(Hop me, oh oh oh, Hop me, Hop me if you think that you've heard this one before). That guy looks like a Details magazine ad.
And, yes, there were bros, but the kind of bros who don't start fights in bars-
they were the kind who want to break up a potential fight by buying a round.
The people were happy, shiny people- friendly and genuine.
THE BEER SELECTION WAS OVERWHELMING.
My favorite was the Bottle Logic Dragonfruit and the Japanese Pumpkin.
I also steered people toward the Ginger Beer
(sorry I forget their name: something like Alternative?)
which tasted like when you take a sip of your sake bomber after eating a piece of ginger. Many were just too sour to drink--- I mean, they were so sour I thought Ashton Kutcher was gonna come out and reveal I had been punk'd.
THE EVENT SPACE WAS COOL.
It was a huge hangar with string lights overhead, in a clean, clear structure with vendors side by side along the perimeter and middle, just like an expo but with much wider space for the guests, so it was real easy to walk around- a big plus.
THE GLASS.
Cool keepsake glass for tasting, and we were happy to see the pours were not as "EXACT" (you know, like a Chili's bartender) as we expected.
CRITICISMS (THINGS TO IMPROVE):
*The food area was in the dark. The tables and chairs were in the dark. It was depressing. Thank God there weren't loose belts around. It was borderline dangerous- you wouldn't want your girlfriend walking there alone. It's almost as if someone said, "Hey, let's make the food area dark and unattractive so people will return to the beer area". Just a few string lights would have made it feel like a wedding; instead it felt like a Sons of Anarchy burial in the woods.
*There was no smoking area.
*They could have afforded at least ONE person to cruise the eating area and pick up the trash left behind. Just one. I don't care if the inventor of beer himself was at the event with Doug and Bob McKenzie as special guests: a $45 admission fee should ensure that you aren't going to eat on dirty, trash-ridden tables. Maybe that's why it was so dark--- to not see the trash and cigarette butts.
That said, we had fun.
WISH YOU WERE BEER!