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**chalkdust41485** · 04-10-2012, 09:44 PM

His review was for the Austin Beer Festival on March 30.
I was there too and have to say that it was pretty bad. But, I went with my brother-in-law and the girls went to get their nails done, so they dropped us off. Didn't have to pay for parking, but still thought that was a ripoff.
We also didn't show up until 4:30 and the crowd/lines got much better after that. Still, probably the worst run beer festival.
They had plenty of room to spread out the tents, it they were all squished together. Horrible...
They didn't even have a hand out with the locations of the breweries. I had wanted to try the Hop Rye Ale from Bear Republic... I couldn't even find them. With over 500 beers available, you'd think that they would give you a map or something.
I'm a fan of 10 Years, who played at 8:15. That was probably the best part of the day -- the rock band -- at a beer festival....

ReverseApacheMaster · 04-16-2012, 05:17 AM

Let's hear it people: how was the Dallas version?

After seeing these reviews of the Austin event and what happened with Dallas Beer Week last fall I don't have great expectations for the organization. (Is paid parking that big of a deal? In Dallas, you pay to park pretty much anywhere you go.) The Houston and Austin events have some rough yelp reviews. I hope they got their act together for the event last weekend.

**jww9618** · 04-16-2012, 11:44 AM

The Dallas beer fest was great overall. They had some small problems, but overall it was awesome.

**FunkytownBrewyard** · 04-17-2012, 08:54 PM

A few links to reviews of the fest by folks that can write much better than me, and well written/solid reviews:

dallas observer

examiner.com

I thought the fest was outstanding.

**Zuljin** · 04-22-2012, 01:54 AM

The Dallas Observer told it well.

We got there about 1pm and it took about 30 minutes to get in. The line was long. They had to check ID on everyone since it was a 21 and over event. Platinum Security did a great job moving people and one of their line handlers was hilarious. That helped.

Once inside, the lines to get extra beer cards, $2 for 12 more samples, moved really fast. Your first 12 samples and the sample cup were included in the price of admission. The sample cup was plastic, but not a chincy Jello shot cup.

Lines at the booths weren't too bad. Some much longer than others. They moved fairly well and each booth had 2 or more people pouring. I forget how many booths there were or how many beers we had. It was a lot.

The food truck situation was terrible. The potato truck ran out pretty quick, leaving only the hot dog and pizza truck to serve the crowd. The potato guys did say they baking more on the spot. According to the Dallas Observer, there was supposed to be more trucks, but they backed out at the last minute. Somebody was selling pretzels. After trying the trucks twice though, we opted to eat elsewhere after the fest.

The live bands were good. Kinda hard to hear over the crowd unless you were right there.

The crowd itself was awesome. No jerks. I wore sandals and didn't get my toes stepped on. We didn't get our beers knocked over. A down right civil bunch.

All in all, it was pretty good. A bit simple though. There could have been some guest speakers, some reps from the breweries talking about their beers on separate platforms around the event and displays. They probably learned a lot and we'll make plans to go again if they do it next year.

**HopToItHomebrew** · 04-23-2012, 02:13 PM

Sounds like the Dallas festival went MUCH better than the Austin one, but I'm pretty sure it's different folks running it anyhow. I'm looking forward to making next years in Dallas. Thanks for the update fellas

**FunkytownBrewyard** · 04-24-2012, 06:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HopToItHomebrew

...but I'm pretty sure it's different folks running it anyhow.

Absolutely different folks running the BTBF. Not that they need it, but Chad and Nellie (the couple that ran BTBF) are 1) good people with solid business minds, 2) superb beergeeks, and 3) very keen on nailing all of the details that are needed to run one of these. Basically, they tried to emulate GABF in setup and function as much as reasonable, though obviously on a *much* smaller scale. I'd say for their first shot at it, they win. Sharp folks, and thankfully, can throw a hell of a beerfest.

freddyj · 03-22-2013, 11:03 PM

Anyone going to the Big Texas Brewfest next month?