Comments on: West Coast Brewfest

By: beeryum

beeryum — Fri, 23 May 2008 04:18:19 +0000

We had a great time. We were still pouring Sac Brew until 5pm. We had 4 different brews. We were close enough to the line of port-o-lets at the back where there were very few people. I enjoyed the variety I sampled from everyone. Overall - a great event.

By: Stickie

Stickie — Tue, 22 May 2007 18:47:34 +0000

I could see it from where I was standing.

About the pours… I think about a half a mug is adequate for events like this. Have you ever been to the Rotary Club fest? Fun, but they patrol the brewers, acting as beer Nazis and yelling at people for pouring too much. They even print a little dotted line on the glass to encourage 2 oz pours. Lame.

The folks who run these fests NEVER want to be put into that position (I’ll speak on their behalf, as we’ve had this discussion in the past) as it makes the organizers look like pricks and, even worse, makes the good people who volunteer their time, energy and beer look like pricks. THEY don’t want to be put in that position, either.

So, IMO, the only way to regulate the pours is to hand out smaller mugs. Do they sell 4 oz mugs?

Let me know next time you’ll be in attendance at a beer fest, I’ll probably be there…

By: sac-eats

sac-eats — Tue, 22 May 2007 14:06:16 +0000

And Stickie, I’m a little disappointed that you didn’t stop around to say hi and check out my wife’s rack.

By: sac-eats

sac-eats — Tue, 22 May 2007 14:04:30 +0000

I think the moral of the story is: Show up early!
And smaller pours could keep the lines moving and the beer flowing until after 4pm.

By: Stickie

Stickie — Tue, 22 May 2007 08:19:18 +0000

Oh, if you attended the fest and want to supply feedback, click here for a brief survey of the WCBF:
http://www.surveyshare.com/survey/take/?sid=54899

By: Stickie

Stickie — Tue, 22 May 2007 08:13:59 +0000

Yeah, I’ll also have to disagree with the statement that half of the brewers were out of beer by 3:00. Totally not true. I ran around to every brewer at 3:00 to check their supplies, and less that 5 were out and packing up at that time and only a third were close to running out. By 4, only a third of the almost 50 breweries were dry and packing up.

I will agree with the statement that your wife has a nice rack.

Next year, try the 15 port-o-johns in the back of the fest.

By: Matsonian

Matsonian — Tue, 22 May 2007 05:26:01 +0000

Glad you could all attend and enjoy our event. Though, just to correct, beer didn’t actually start getting low until after 3 which started at the first tent (always the case since they get hit the most) and most of the brewers there were only pouring half mugs. Some others ran out because they only brought a small bit of their beer, and since it is all donated, we are gracious for any chance to taste their brew. By 4pm, about a third of the breweries were out, a third were almost bust and a third were still strong. But, overall, it was a great event. We had about 2700 drinkers and about 300 designated drivers. Most of which arrived at 1 and left at three. Since we are one of the last of the UNLIMITED microbrew tastings, we always recommend everyone to get there at one, because we cannot guarantee that beer will be there til 5. Hope to see you at our other events… Northern California Blues Festival, SUDS on the GREEN and the newly revamped FAIR OAKS’toberfest!

By: CoolDMZ

CoolDMZ — Mon, 21 May 2007 20:04:18 +0000

The Chadd: does the Hop Heads propaganda call for a full-scale invasion of the Pyramid Breweries facility in Berkeley? if so, i’m in…

By: The Chadd

The Chadd — Mon, 21 May 2007 18:38:00 +0000

I had a great time at the Beerfest. I got there early (to set up). But at the stroke of 1PM, I was off talking to the brewmasters of 4 different breweries and handing out my Hop Heads propaganda. I learned a lot from the brewers, and was very lucky to casually enjoy the beer without fighting the crowds and lines. I had to leave early to catch Zinfest, too. Busy day!

By: ibid

ibid — Mon, 21 May 2007 18:01:45 +0000

I agree!

By: cooldmz

cooldmz — Mon, 21 May 2007 17:59:30 +0000

Incidentally, regarding comments earlier about isn’t a beer fest a bunch of DUIs waiting to happen… driving with the family we accidentally found our way by Miller Park as the beer fest was letting out. A bunch of people walking from a beer fest to their cars does actually seem like a horrendously bad idea.

But our only run in was with those 3 “cruiser bike” dudes. I say this because I assume they made giant asses of themselves at the beer fest as they did weaving in and out of traffic when they left. They moved me to road rage, I’m sorry to say. I hope one of them rode into the river and got eaten by Delta.