Craft beer festivals : know them or hate them , these sudsy money - makers have been not - so - quietly train over the beer industriousness ’s eventscape at a mind - flabbergast pace . In 2015 alone , Beer Festival Calendarpublisher Paul Ruschmann document a record 1,478 dissimilar festival worldwide , more than five time the number of issue featured in the internet site ’s very first round - up back in 2001 .
To him , this explosive gain makes total sense . " The proliferation of festival go helping hand in hand with the craftsmanship beer industry ’s growth , " explains the accomplished beer writer . " The telephone number of American brewery has double up in just the past five years – there are now well over 4,000 – and with so many beers on the market , a festival is an cheap , low - risk mode to try out out raw one . "
As a professional beer aficionado ( aka massive nerd ) , I ’ve find out my mediocre portion of beer festivals . I ’ve reported on them , judged them , volunteer for them , and Lord knows I ’ve drank at them . Some are downright amazing – where newbies fray elbows with industry legend and the next breakout brew is just a sample distribution away – but the ones that drop the mark , however , can be majorly fearful fails . characterization hordes of pretzel necklace - clad mouth breathers and tank - topped leaping breaker ram down recess entrepot - quality imperial IPAs like vodka shooting . These cat are all about drink hard and fast – which is ok , of course , but probably not worth that triple - digit ticket Mary Leontyne Price . So how do you tell a legit fest from a bullshit one ? Keep your eyes peeled for these seven red flags and give thanks us later .
Dan Gentle/Thrillist
There aren’t many local breweries
This might be the most easily identifiable BBF red pin . If a fest ’s lineup is dominate by recognizably out - of - res publica breweries , it ’s credibly a bust ( unless it ’s an internationally focused festival , of course ) . With that form of setup , odds are the actual brewers – i.e. , the bozo that know the most about their beer – wo n’t show , and your brew will be pullulate by a crowd of broken volunteers and overtasked distribution reps whose primary fear is moving the line along .
Snacks cost extra
Depending on the ticket price , you should definitely expect to occur across some sort of free intellectual nourishment throughout the day . advert pay - as - you - go food hand truck or restaurant booths is a unmortgaged sign that your fest is more concerned in your hard - earned cash than spreading the in effect beer religious doctrine . If a festival takes salutary care of you , it ’s likely taking good care of its beer .
Bottles outnumber jockey boxes
Though not always unfailing , paying attention to each booth ’s rain buckets system is a simple and subtle way to suss out a fete ’s legitimacy . Jockey boxes ( or any other portable draught setup ) ensure that the beer you ’re taste is unfermented and increase your chances of encountering a rare or experimental novel batch . If everyday bottles way outnumber these little rig , you could be bear $ 80 to soak up a distributor ’s backlog .
It’s only pouring beers you can find at the grocery store
" Festival - goers look to see beer they ca n’t get at their local legal profession or the grocery store , " Ruschmann say , pointing out one of the most prevalent BBF indicant . " It ’s immensely frustrating to pay $ 50 to go to a festival and find nothing but the usual suspects on the beer lean . " Before forking over the lucre , ensure the brewery leaning is as diverse as it is retentive .
There’s no water in sight
" No matter how practiced the beer is , logistical snafus can break the day , " note Ruschmann . " The better festival reckon after the small thing , which in reality are n’t so petty , such as plenty of opportunities to stay hydrous . " If a fete is dry than Los Angeles in August or only stocks bottled weewee for purchase , it ’s likely it ’s just trying to get you in , get you tanked , and get you out without much concern for your overall experience . Also keep your optic out for waterless brewery booths , since any brewer deserving their salt prefer a rinsed crank .
Bloggers aren’t repping it
Next fourth dimension you spot a questionable fest , first research the local beer blogs to see if they ’ve post anything about the festival to their web site or societal media . If prominent appendage of the craft beer community have publicly endorse an upcoming festival , it ’s most probably worth your meter and money . And if they do n’t know about it , you in all probability should n’t either .
The tasting window is less than three hours
This is another logistic no - no . If you ’re drop a bill on a beer fest , you well be guaranteed at least three 60 minutes of hang meter . Craft beer has never been about pelt along through life so wiliness beer festival should n’t be either – and the ones that speed you along are clearly just endeavor to maximise earnings . A quality beer fest knows these things take metre to do right , especially when shell out with inescapably long lines and a vast array of bitch - ass beer .
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Meredith Heilis a staff writer for Thrillist . She ’s catch a potable on her mind and her mind on her money , yeah . See more badly appropriated rose hip - hop lyric at@mereditto .
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