The vast majority of beer booths were located along the west side of 200E, with their backs to the city county building. So the lines stretched across the street and people standing in the lines were completely exposed to the sun. There were just a couple booths set up on the east side of the street and they were the SCBS, a bloody mary mix company, and sound wearhouse. Then there were a few food trucks and a few more lined up on the sidewalk along the north side of the Leonardo building. Then they had two more groups of three beer booths each scattered in sort of random spots near the library. Almost everything was totally exposed to the sun. They didn't set up any sort of shade anywhere. If you wanted out of the sun you had to huddle under the shade of some small trees or in the shadow of a structure somewhere.
They had some water stations set up, but when we tried to get some they were out of water.
I would have expected maybe some tents or something to offer a little shade, or some misters or something. Naw, none of that. Just stand out in the hot August sun in long lines.
So if a beer was 4%abv it cost 1 ticket (1 ticket costs $1) for a pour into a 5oz cup. Anything at all over 4% and it cost at least 2 tickets. There wasn't much rhyme or reason to the ticket cost at that point. Everything at Epic was at least 3 tickets, so at least $3 for ~5oz of beer. Everything at Rouge was 3 tickets, which I found to be ridiculous, $3 for a sample of Dead Guy Ale. If a beer was in the 10% range it was 4 tickets.
So they start you off with 5 tickets. So, you can get two samples with that. Then you've got to go stand in the ticket line for more tickets.
The VIP experience...
Starting at 3pm people who had payed $50 for a VIP pass were allowed to go into the Leonardo. There really wasn't much going on in there and it was really dark. The lights were low, all the tables were covered in black table clothes and all the chairs were black. Not really sure what they were going for, but it was dark. Coming in from outside it was hard to see where you were going. Every 30min they released another beer sample. With the VIP pass you got eight VIP tickets to pay for these samples. The majority of the VIP samples were also available outside. Along with each sample they put out snacks as food pairings. Then someone from the brewery would do a Q&A, but the table I managed to get was behind the stage and a wall, so I never was able to hear any of that. And no offense to the Beer Professor, but who the hell is he? He was the host, but I don't understand why.
The best part of the VIP pass was getting inside and having some AC. Many people in there were saying the same thing.
So, to summarize, the vast majority of beer samples cost $2-$3, that's more than what you'd expect to pay per ounce at a bar. You had to stand in a long line fully exposed to the sun in order to get them. The selection was just okay. The atmosphere wasn't really very good. The activities like the karaoke and live band were in weird spots out of the way and didn't seem like many people were involved in any of that.
I just don't get it, honestly. I'm not sure how they came up with the ticket prices but it's crazy. I'm all for not worrying about that and having a good time, but you still end up looking at your sample and realizing you paid $3 for it. But more than the money it was the inconvenience of it. Running out of tickets so quickly and having to go back and stand in the ticket line. Ugh.
