We purchased VIP tickets (we know...we're spoiled!) as we have friends who own breweries and wanted to get in early to catch up with them ahead of the crowds. We also wanted to catch a few of the newbie breweries before the crowds set in. Little did we know that the only enjoyable time would be during the VIP hour.
The organizers completely oversold the event. Once general admin opened, the lines were 20 - 40 minutes to get a 2 oz sample. I won't go in to details, but shoving 4000+ people into Constitution Square is a joke. All I can do is give a huge thanks to the folks from the various breweries in attendance who shared their beers and maintained much more patience than I could in a situation like this. Many of the brewers we spoke with were overwhelmed...pouring as fast as they could to keep attendees from getting pissed off.
The VIP time was awesome but the general admin portion of the event was poorly executed and (I say again) completely oversold. Social media was blowing up with attendees who couldn't get samples and were trying to figure out how to get their money back. I know it's easy to criticize but it just seems like the organizers were greedy...choosing to oversell the event rather than limit the number of attendees and host a bigger event next year. Our craft brew scene in Connecticut is becoming awesome! Poorly executed events like this will keep some people from participating in future festivals.
The night wasn't a total loss! We bailed (with a boatload of other folks) around 7:15 PM and headed home where we enjoyed some great local beers with friends.Cheers,
Christopher
No comments:
Post a Comment