Sponsored Guest Post:
The Southern NH Brewers Festival craft brew event has three goals:
1. Create an intimate event where craft beer enthusiasts can enjoy some great beer as well as get a chance to speak with the breweries responsible for making the beer.
2. Buck the trend of festivals as a business only. With one session, everything included and a limit on ticket sales, the goal is to focus on the event experience, not to make the most money possible.
3. Give everyone participating in the festival the chance to tell their story by pouring beer, talking to fest-goers and providing information about their products for no fees on our website, a collector’s quality brochure and a free iphone app.
Where will the festival be held?
Under the big top at White Birch Brewing in Hooksett, New Hampshire, rain or shine.
When is the fest?
Saturday, July 14, 2012 with a VIP session beginning at 5 p.m. and general admission starting at 6 p.m. The entire event will end at 9 p.m.
How much are tickets?
Cost is $35 for designated driver tickets, $45 for general admission and $60 for VIP. There are 50 designated driver tickets, 450 general admission and 250 VIP tickets available.
What does a VIP ticket get me?
VIP tickets allow you in to the festival an hour earlier than the rest of the crowd. It will give you a chance to sample beers with shorter lines and speak with the brewers in a more quiet setting. Outside of that, both tickets are identical.
What is included with the ticket price?
- Beer poured by the breweries
- Tasting glass
- Festival program
- Food from two great restaurants
- Plenty of drinking and rinse water
- Free parking
For festival information please visit www.snhbf.com
How many other festivals will White Birch Brewing attend?
I get this question a lot in the summer and a fair amount all year. It’s a good question and one I try to answer honestly. The answer is not many.
Why doesn’t White Birch Brewing do more festivals?
As we enter our third year of business, I thought I’d pass along what I’ve learned since I joined the industry when it comes to festivals.
There are a lot of festivals out there. I never had any idea there were so many. From huge festivals organized around a theme at major destinations on down to small town fests. Most have a charity behind the event. Many are just run as an entertainment event. Regardless of whether it is for a charity or a for profit event, it seems there are more festivals in 2012 than when I opened in 2009. The increase in the number of festivals is also mirroring another poor trend – most festivals don’t pay for the beer they are serving. That is a large reason for why I don’t attend more festivals.
How do you know if a festival pays for its beer?
Ask the organizers. I am advocating for festivals to buy the beer they serve. I am asking you to ask the question of a festival and only go where the festival buys its beer. I buy all the beer served at the Southern NH Brewers Festival as well as the food and water. It’s all included in your ticket price so you can just come and enjoy. The next time you wonder why I’m not at a festival it’s most likely because they won’t buy beer, not just my beer, but any beer. They just want you to buy it from them.
Aren’t festivals expensive to run?
Sure, it costs a good amount of money to run a festival. I organized our Southern NH Brewers Festival in July 2011 so I’m intimately aware of the costs to run a festival. Venue, insurance, state fees, security, off duty police, food, water, volunteer T–shirts, drinking glasses for fest-goers, marketing, website programming, coffee, etc. This doesn’t even count towards the hours planning, filling out paperwork and running around getting things done.
You may have noticed that I did not put the cost of buying beer in the previous paragraph. That’s intentional. You see, for the Southern NH Brewers Festival and any other festival White Birch Brewing has participated in, those festivals pay for the beer they serve.
Why don’t all festivals buy the beer they’re serving?
Unfortunately, due to a long history of festivals as a “marketing” promotion for larger breweries, many festivals continue to expect beer for free. With the growth of so many smaller festivals, I’ve often wondered why this practice of expecting free beer by festivals persists.
Beer fests say they can’t afford to buy the beer?
I’ve offered to participate in many festivals if they buy my beer at wholesale. The answer always comes back that they can’t afford to buy my beer or any beer for that matter. Why is that? Consumers think the tickets are worth buying, stores seem to think the same beers are worth selling to their customers and where draft exists many bars seem to think it’s worth selling craft beer as draft product to their customers.
But I like the festival’s cause.
If you go to a festival because it favors a charity, do real good and give money to the charity directly. If you still want to buy tickets, ask if they are a 501c3 organization and for a copy of their financials. How much of that “charity” money is actually going to the charity and not the organizer’s payroll? A favorite example of mine is a charity festival that touted it donated $8500 to the cause it supports. Sounds good right? Wonder why it wasn’t more since they did not buy the beer and they sold $105,000 worth of tickets, charged for food, charged for water and hosted the fest on their own grounds.
I just want to go have a good time.
Nothing wrong with wanting to have a good time. If the festival is not a charity festival, ask if they buy the beer being offered. If the answer is no, ask them why not? If they say it’s to keep the ticket price lower, consider that you and your friend(s) could spend the same amount at a local store on beers you haven’t tried and enjoy more beer in a friendly environment or you could just have a fun night out. If you decide you still want to go, just don’t wonder why you see a lot of the same big brands and rarely any small ones.
I offer my take.
While I’d love to sell items of value that I am given for free, that is not happening any time soon. As a small business I make decisions each day to stay in business, pay my bills and ensure that we make payroll. Spending good money on festivals to give away large amounts of beer for free is a great way to lose money and, worst case, go out of business.
Yes, I am advocating for festivals to buy the beer they serve. Yes I am asking you to ask the question to a festival and only go where the festival buys its beer. I buy all the beer served at the Southern NH Brewers Festival, the food and water too. It’s all included in your ticket price so you can just come and enjoy. The next time you wonder why I’m not at a festival it’s most likely because they won’t buy beer, not just my beer, but any beer. They just want you to buy it from them.
I hope to see you at our festival.
Cheers,
Bill Herlicka
Founder
White Birch Brewing, llc
Hooksett, NH
