Beer Festivals
BigDog
Posts: 272 Member
How many of you attend or try to attend local or larger beer festivals every year. There are so many of them that it gets impossible to hit them all. (even just locally!)
I try to go to one I have never been to at least once a year. I almost made it to GABF last year but life interrupted and said no. Maybe next year.
I am lucky to be pretty close to my local brewery owner and get to get in to the two biggest ones in Michigan every year, by helping him pour. Beer festivals are so much cooler when you have a VIP pass on.
If anyone is going to be in Michigan for the Winter Beer Festival 2/23/2013 stop by Odd Side Ale's table and say hi! The Summer one is two days and a lot of fun too! Here's the link to the Michigan Brewers Guild: http://www.michiganbrewersguild.org/events.html
I try to go to one I have never been to at least once a year. I almost made it to GABF last year but life interrupted and said no. Maybe next year.
I am lucky to be pretty close to my local brewery owner and get to get in to the two biggest ones in Michigan every year, by helping him pour. Beer festivals are so much cooler when you have a VIP pass on.
If anyone is going to be in Michigan for the Winter Beer Festival 2/23/2013 stop by Odd Side Ale's table and say hi! The Summer one is two days and a lot of fun too! Here's the link to the Michigan Brewers Guild: http://www.michiganbrewersguild.org/events.html
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I'm a cheapskate, I never want to pony up the $$ to get into the ones near me. Maybe this year. We'll see.0
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I go to Dark Lord Day at Three Floyd's every year. There is another one in Chicago that I am going to try to attend this fall. My buddy owns a bar and they specialize in craft brews. He has the inside information. SO excited.0
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I always go to the Great Lakes Brew Fest in Racine, WI. It is very awesome. Over 250 beers from brewers all over the country. Next year I would like to try to attend the Festival of Barrel Aged Beers in Chicago. I hear that is supposed to be pretty killer.
I haven't been to the GABF but I would like to go at least one year.0 -
Would love to make it to Dark Lord Day!
Another awesome beer bash in Grand Rapids Mi, is Founder's Fest. A must attend event if ever you are near.
I have heard of Great Lakes Beer Fest in WI... Does it get sold out quick?0 -
The VIP tickets to the Great Lakes Brew Fest do tend to sell out pretty quickly but general admission tickets don't usually sellout until a week or two before the festival. Tickets go on sale June 1st every year.0
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I went to GABF in 2010. There's a few around Columbus and Dayton that I've went to a few times. Going to Dark Lord day in April in Chicago - the BF says it's "amazing".0
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Would love to make it to Dark Lord Day!
SO. FUN. i have yet to drink any of my Dark Lords yet, but i did sell my 2009 for $80 in a time of need. very depressing.
i am a big fan of the three floyd's product. go down to the brewery at least twice a month!0 -
I really have a hard time paying for the festivals, so I don't really attend any of them..
Except GABF, which I actually volunteer for. I work all four shifts, and we get to taste while we pour, so it's very similar to getting a ticket, except I pay in a few hours' work instead of cash. The bonus to this is that standing on the other side of the table allows me more time with brewers, which has proven to be a very rewarding experience. I've hung out with head brewers and owners from some BIGTIME breweries all over the country, and I soak up every second of it like a proper fan girl. (they also give me teeshirts and stickers... which is a huge bonus).0 -
Our homebrew club gets to serve our beers at local festivals. It's a lot of fun to see Bud Light people trying homebrew for the first time! Some of them just make faces and spit it out, but I think we've made a few converts along the way too. We serve in shifts, so each of us has time to go round and taste other beers too. Plus, we get in free!
We are still allowed to do this in Memphis, though it is apparently a grey area, as it could be seen as selling the beer, which is illegal, obviously. Many parts of the country don't allow homebrew at festivals anymore. So, when that day comes here, we are trying to be ready by also partnering with smaller events, like Rock and Romp and others things where beer isn't actually sold.
I haven't been to any big Festivals outside this area recently. But I did make it to the CAMRA Real Ale Fest in London once or twice. Yum ;-)0 -
Would love to make it to Dark Lord Day!
SO. FUN. i have yet to drink any of my Dark Lords yet, but i did sell my 2009 for $80 in a time of need. very depressing.
i am a big fan of the three floyd's product. go down to the brewery at least twice a month!
We've got a 2010, 2 2011's and a 2012 Dark Lord in the fridge - my BF refuses to drink it. I might never actually get to taste it's goodness unless he loses his rules a bit...LOL0 -
Would love to make it to Dark Lord Day!
SO. FUN. i have yet to drink any of my Dark Lords yet, but i did sell my 2009 for $80 in a time of need. very depressing.
i am a big fan of the three floyd's product. go down to the brewery at least twice a month!
We've got a 2010, 2 2011's and a 2012 Dark Lord in the fridge - my BF refuses to drink it. I might never actually get to taste it's goodness unless he loses his rules a bit...LOL
Vertical tastings are awesome,though!!! Once it's time to bust them out, you will be so happy you waited.
Invite over a few friends (make them bring food, obvs.), and taste each year ... I got to go to an event for a vertical tasting of Alaskan Smoked Porter - 2008-2011, and it was really really cool to see how the beer changed over time.0 -
We go to local festivals, Iowa Craft Brew Fest and Amana Beer Fest (Millstream Brewing) and we get to serve at a bunch of local beerfests, but I'll probably never make it to the large beer festivals. Too many people for my liking. I usually end up walking behind all of the tables because I'm friends with nearly every single brewer (craft and homebrew club) in the state of Iowa haha.
No lines for this broad!0 -
Would love to make it to Dark Lord Day!
SO. FUN. i have yet to drink any of my Dark Lords yet, but i did sell my 2009 for $80 in a time of need. very depressing.
i am a big fan of the three floyd's product. go down to the brewery at least twice a month!
We've got a 2010, 2 2011's and a 2012 Dark Lord in the fridge - my BF refuses to drink it. I might never actually get to taste it's goodness unless he loses his rules a bit...LOL
Vertical tastings are awesome,though!!! Once it's time to bust them out, you will be so happy you waited.
Invite over a few friends (make them bring food, obvs.), and taste each year ... I got to go to an event for a vertical tasting of Alaskan Smoked Porter - 2008-2011, and it was really really cool to see how the beer changed over time.
The other night my brother's girlfriend brought over an Old Rasputin she had set aside for six years and an Old Rasputin XII. I had a couple of fresh Old Rasputins in the fridge so we did a comparison. It was really interesting. 6 years on that beer turned it into a totally different animal. It went from being a good solid beer to being freakin awesome.0 -
In 2012 I went to the Great Taste of the Midwest in Madison and it was magical. So many great breweries present! Thankfully our hotel was within walking distance. I'll be applying for tickets again in May
However, the best festival I've been to was in November of last year-- FOBAB. (That's Festival of Wood and Barrel Aged Beers) Every beer was aged somehow with barrels or chips, and they were truly special. If you like big stouts or sours, the barrel aging tends to make it even better.
Beers I had at FOBAB:
Haymarket- Clara's Thirsty (Barrel-aged stout with raspberries)
GI King Henry
Central Waters Bourbon Barrel Barleywine
Bell's Barrel Aged Batch 9000
And so, so many more. I didn't even try the sours. Seriously, if you like BA beers, find a way to get there.0 -
I sometimes go, but have to be a bit picky, drink & driving do not mix, so have stuck to the new local one last year, in walking distance and organised by a very local brewer [a couple of streets away from me]
I enjoyed it, and as it was in local Social Club all the proceeds were to a useful community resource
Oh, and the free pickled onions cheese nibbles were good to0 -
I've been to the Beer Festival in Greenville, N.C., for the past 2 years and with year on a VIP ticket. I've wanted to go to the Asheville, N.C. beer festival but it hasn't matched up with available weekends so far.0
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My wife and I usually go to Oktoberfest in Addison(Just north of Dallas). In April of this year, they are going to be having a Beer Festival at Fair Park in Dallas that is supposed to have over 200 beers from around the world and local.0
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We went to the Autumn Brew Review in Minneapolis last year as volunteers for Finnegan's, so we got in for free, and before our shift got to go around and sample as much as we wanted. It was amazing there... they even had the brewery from my small little hometown of Lake Mills, WI, the Tyranena Brewing Company. I'm obsessed with Velvet Rooster by Tallgrass and had the hardest time finding it in stores. Needless to say, I spent a lot of time at their tent. I would definitely recommend the ABR, it's so fun!0
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I go to two every year!
The Virginia Beer Festival in Norfolk, VA in May: http://www.festevents.org/mini-site/12th-annual-virginia-beer-festival-in-partnership-with-virginia-arts-festival
And Microfestivus in Roanoke, VA in August: http://microfestivus.squaresociety.org/
They're both really awesome! Hit me up if you want to go to either
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I went to a small one in Yardley, PA last year.... it was very good.
This year I'm going to to try and go to the GABF since I moved to Colorado.... I kind of have to you know0
