BRINGING GOOD BEER TO GREAT PEOPLE!

[UXO]

Filtering out ones I've tried and sorting by RateBeer's rating gives me, in order of priority:

Straffe Hendrik Quadrupel
Dominus Vobiscum Double
Oude Kriek Mort Subite
Ol’ Fog Burner
Straffe Hendrik Tripel
Flacatoune
Crafty Dan 13 Guns
Brakspear Triple
Cereal Killer Oatmeal Stout
Sneck Lifter

But probably Tim's Dirty American and the YellowBelly seasonal would figure in there, too.

[danhyde]

So this starts tonight! My main night is tomorrow night but I should also be there tonight. Hope to see most of you there this weekend!

[UXO]

So, I attended on Friday night. My general observations: too crowded (I was hoping the whole point was to allow semi-serious tastings, but that went by the wayside fairly quickly) and samples were too small (50ml makes it tough to evaluate properly - 100ml would have been better). On the other hand, I got to try 23 out of a total possible 34 that I hadn't had before, so I'm not unhappy with it.

In case anybody cares, here are my checkins:

Appearance – Aroma – Taste – Palate – Overall / 10 Point@0.5
BIG SPRUCE BREWING
Cereal Killer Oatmeal Stout - 3 - 5 - 5 - 3 - 10 / 5
Tim's Dirty American IPA - 4 - 8 - 7 - 4 - 15 / 7.5

BRAKSPEAR BEERS
Brakspear Oxford Gold - 3 - 6 - 6 - 3 - 12 / 6

BRASSERIE DUPONT
Monk’s Stout - 3 - 7 - 6 - 3 - 13 / 6.5

BROUWERIJ HUYGHE
☆Averbode Abbaye - 4 - 8 - 7 - 4 - 14 / 7.5
☆St. Idesbald Tripel - 4 - 6 - 7 - 3 - 12 / 6.5

GARRISON BREWING
Hoppy Buoy IPA - 4 - 8 - 7 - 4 - 14 / 7.5

HUISBROUWERIJ DE HALVE MAAN
☆Straffe Hendrik Quadrupel 4 - 8 - 8 - 3 - 13 / 7
☆Straffe Hendrik Tripel - 4 - 7 - 7 - 4 - 15 / 7.5

JENNINGS BREWERY
Sneck Lifter - 4 - 8 - 8 - 4 - 16 / 8

LAKE OF BAYS BREWING
Summer Sunset Session Ale 3 - 6 - 6 - 3 - 12 / 6

MARSTON’S BREWERY
Owd Rodger Country Ale - 3 - 6 - 6 - 3 - 12 / 6

MICROBRASSERIE CHARLEVOIX
Charlevoix Double IPA - 3 - 5 - 5 - 3 - 11 / 5.5
Dominus Vobiscum Double - 4 - 7 - 6 - 3 - 12 / 6.5
Flacatoune - 4 - 8 - 8 - 4 - 16 - 8

MORT SUBITE
☆Oude Kriek Mort Subite - 3 - 7 - 7 - 3 - 13 / 6.5

MUSKOKA BREWERY
Cool as a Cuke - 3 - 8 - 8 - 3 - 14 / 7

PUMP HOUSE BREWERY
Pump House IPA - 3 - 5 - 5 - 3 - 10 / 5

RINGWOOD BREWERY
Old Thumper - 3 - 7 - 6 - 3 - 12 / 6
Ringwood Circadian - 3 - 6 - 5 - 3 - 12 / 6

THWAITES BREWERY
Crafty Dan 13 Guns - 3 - 7 - 6 - 3 - 13 / 6.5

WYCHWOOD BREWERY
Arrowaine - 4 - 5 - 5 - 3 - 12 / 6

YELLOWBELLY BREWERY
Seasonal ("Cream Ale") - 3 - 7 - 8 - 4 - 14 / 7

[shorlin]

I was pretty impressed by the whole event, having poured on Friday night and tasted on Saturday afternoon. Yes it was too crowded. Next year's venue change should rectify that a bit. And it was too bad about the tutored tastings, but again, a venue change should help.

I think the sample size was reasonable. If you wanted a 100 ml pour, you just had to ask. I don't think the price point could have been moved very easily - I imagine that if BrewFest went with 100 ml pours only, then it just would have doubled the price per pour, and no gain really for anyone.

The one big change that I would recommend would be a push on knowledgeable (e.g. Beer Club member) volunteers. I would love to see every pour station with an active informed Beer Club member behind the counter, so that when someone asks "Do you know what hops are in this?" there might be a sensible answer. Although the volunteers that did help out were a great asset, they weren't necessarily beer guys or gals.

So I would recommend an early call for volunteers, and if you help out at a session, maybe you get a code or something for a discount to another session's ticket. Or you get an early-early bird shot at a VIP ticket. Or a free pint glass, or 10 tokens or I don't know, something. Personally, I was happy to pour just to help make it a success, but we could probably get more knowledgeable volunteers with an incentive. And that way it does become a bit more of a "stop to discuss the beer" event. The VIP session I poured at was a bit more laid back, with people chatting and discussing, especially since I knew what I was talking about (for the most part).

Overall, I think people had a good time and I do believe we made a difference in beer culture. I served a LOT of people Duchesse de Bourgogne for the first time and nearly all of them were amazed, wondering if they could buy it at NLC. The number of people expressly looking for sours was very cool.

It was also fun to meet some forum members who I didn't know, plus old friends, coworkers, former students, everybody. Next time I'm wearing a button with my forum name and Untappd handle so I can shake a few more hands.

[UXO]

I think the sample size was reasonable. If you wanted a 100 ml pour, you just had to ask.

This literally never even occurred to me.

Next time I'm wearing a button with my forum name and Untappd handle so I can shake a few more hands.

Great idea!

[mcrocker]

The one big change that I would recommend would be a push on knowledgeable (e.g. Beer Club member) volunteers. I would love to see every pour station with an active informed Beer Club member behind the counter, so that when someone asks "Do you know what hops are in this?" there might be a sensible answer. Although the volunteers that did help out were a great asset, they weren't necessarily beer guys or gals.

So I would recommend an early call for volunteers, and if you help out at a session, maybe you get a code or something for a discount to another session's ticket. Or you get an early-early bird shot at a VIP ticket. Or a free pint glass, or 10 tokens or I don't know, something. Personally, I was happy to pour just to help make it a success, but we could probably get more knowledgeable volunteers with an incentive. And that way it does become a bit more of a "stop to discuss the beer" event. The VIP session I poured at was a bit more laid back, with people chatting and discussing, especially since I knew what I was talking about (for the most part).

I was thinking exactly this. I went in and saw you pouring (recognized you since I am a former student) and was immediately thinking I should have volunteered but I don't really remember seeing any emails looking for volunteers, maybe I just missed it. But I would definitely be up for it next year.

Overall I enjoyed the night, I was disappointed to find out that Ol Fog Burner and Cool as a Cuke sold out while I was doing a tutored tasting though. But with the selection that was there it would have been tough to get everything I wanted to try anyway.

[beerthief]

Thanks to all the forum members who made it, I apologize to any I didn't get a chance to talk to, I was busy running around from Thursday am to Monday aft dealing with stuff and I wasn't even part of the organizing. Having been to a number of fests it is very common that pourers are just volunteers and not beer people. this time around it was mostly a search and rescue team the organizers knows. That being said I will have much more involvement with the organizing for next year and I will throw out asking the club for volunteers. I know my girlfriend did a lot of educating about lambics where she was pouring. In my humble opinion I don't think we could have done much better for a first time event. Plenty of notes were taken so I'm thinking next year will be better again by a good margin.

[nlacbc-admin]

On behalf of Tom:

Please note that the NLACBC is no longer associated with NL Promotions and the St. John's BrewFest and none of the beer at the NL Promotions or St. John's BrewFest events will have been selected by the NLACBC or their organizers Mike Buhler, Tom Beckett, or Matt Power.

[UXO]

Should we ask?