Report: Austin Beer Fest an unmitigated disaster
How not to run a beer fest…masterfully deconstructed by CultureMap’s Marshall Jones. A snippet…
“We’re embarrassed we even brought our beer to it,” said Jeff Stuffings, owner/brewer of Jester King Craft Brewery. “We’ll be more selective going forward.” “I should have known better when I heard a radio spot beforehand mentioning ‘beer pong,” he added. Live Oak Brewing Company issued an apology on its Facebook page Monday that seem to reflect the same sentiment.
Worth noting/disclosing: Texas Beer Fest and Big Texas Beer Fest, both taking place in April, are proud sponsors of BeerPulse.
via CultureMap Austin.
It seems like there are a lot of these green-behind-the-ears new “beer geek” types who are trying to make a name for themselves in the beer community by putting together brewfests, beer weeks, etc. But how much experience do these guys and gals have organizing these events? Probably none. And just how much do they have to lose in organizing these events? Probably nothing. More importantly, who suffers exactly from these piss-poor unorganized events? … brewers, wholesalers, retailers (you know, the ones who promote these events to their valued customers), and consumers. It is pathetic what these two clowns have done, and at the expense of everybody else but themselves.
I’m totally fine with people wanting to make a quick buck, just so long as it is done properly. If this event were successful and all parties (including consumers) were satisfied with the result of the event, then they are deserving of their buck. I have been in the industry for many years, and lately guys like this have been surfacing and abusing the resources (time and operating costs) provided by wholesalers, brewers, retailers, and even volunteers by not delivering on their promises of their events.
So, what exactly happened…?
I was there. Worst beer event ever! Poorly organized to deal with the number of people expected that left people waiting in line for parking 30-45 minutes, then waiting in line for entry to the fest another 45 minutes even when they had pre-paid tickets, significantly fewer beers available than advertised, less entertainment than advertised, inability to purchase more tasting tickets focing people to buy whole glasses of beer if they wanted to try something new (which is kind of the point of craft beer fest), all the tasting booths packed on top of each other so people were stumbling all over each other not even knowing what line they were in, the list could go on forever.
1 once of beer in a 1 ounce sample cup = half spilled on the floor
$7 for a bottle of craft beer! Please, I could have bought the whole six pack for $9.99