We Need More Beer Festivals!

After travelling Europe a bit this summer I began to notice that we hardly ever have beer festivals here in the states. I went to Cambridge Beer Festival in Cambridge, England while in Europe and I must say it was one of the most amazing festivals I've ever been to.

WE NEED MORE BEER FESTIVALS HERE IN THE STATES!

I couldn't agree more. Being a dedicated homebrewer, every day is a beer festival around here. Why don't you start one where you live?

+1, I have been to one in Austin that was very fun, I think it was called Austin Beer fest. Don't know if it still goes on.

I would just settle for more beer in my town and not "beer" (air quote marks), codeword for BMC

I would love to start one in Houston, but I wouldn't even know where to begin. I guess I could start at my LHBS, but I doubt they would sponser anything. Maybe I should just put up a flyer at the LHBS and have a few kegs/bbq at the park or at my house.

The difference is you can't find one church that would sponsor a beerfest.

In Germany, the church fests are called Kerwa's.

Around here in IL EVERY damn thing they conduct/hold has an entrance fee. I REFUSE to attend any of them...charge you to get in then overcharge you for their wares...who wants to pay to get screwed like that twice? Not me.

homebrewer_99 said:

The difference is you can't find one church that would sponsor a beerfest.

In Germany, the church fests are called Kerwa's.

Around here in IL EVERY damn thing they conduct/hold has an entrance fee. I REFUSE to attend any of them...charge you to get in then overcharge you for their wares...who wants to pay to get screwed like that twice? Not me.

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I understand what you mean.

Another thing that I find unfortunate is that most Americans probably wouldn't even want to attend a beer festival that featured mostly ales. I think the ale style is becoming more and more popular in the U.S., but most people still prefer the BMC style. It's a damn shame if you ask me. I think it's pathedic that the wine industry in America has boomed, but the beer industry is still dominated by mostly crap IMHO. I'm pretty sure that until the days when most Americans realize that there is good beer other than BMC, I don't believe we will be seeing many beer festivals that are true to our style.

On the flip side, I even think I'd go to a BMC festival if there was one, but there's not even one of those!

There seems to be plenty of beer festivals in the Pac NW. We had 3 in our town (Lewiston, ID) this year alone. This in a town that the Coors/Keystone ditributor win vacations every year cause thats all people drink around here.

First one just started this year and was put together by a local radio DJ.
2nd was put on by local catholic school.
3rd was our annual Homebrew club Oktoberfest.
All 3 came with food and 6 tastes included in the price. Then you could buy more tokens for full beers.
All had excellent Ales to try.

Now if you want the Grand Daddy of them all go to Portland the last full weekend in July. Oregon Brewers Festival. 80 different Breweries, 73,000 people over 4 days. My wife and I went for the first time this year and had a great time. Portland alone in the summer must have a small one (festival) here or there every weekend.

Michigan Brewers Guild has 4 annually. Summer Beer Fest, Winter Beer Fest, Harvest Beer Fest and Yooper Beer Fest. The later two are new as of 2009.

Yeah, here in Texas we have a couple ones in west Texas (a lot of Germans live in west Tx,) but they're not like what I experienced in England. England was just tons of micro breweries in a tent you gave them a couple of pounds and they filled up your pint glass with delicious cellar temp ales, perries, meads, and ciders. The event was put together by CAMRA.

You just need to move to a different state. : ) Here in Seattle I go to 12+ beer festivals per year (average 1 per month!). There are some months during busy beer seasons (May comes to mind) where I literally had my calendar booked with beer events for every weekend of the next month - a little overwhelming actually.

Note I'm counting small ones - like the Elysian pumpkin beer festival and WABL annual members-only tasting. But there are also at least 6 big ones I can think of - SIBF (Seattle Intl Beer Fest), Fremont Oktoberfest, Winter Beer Festival (Hale's), cask beer festival, St Edwards state park festival (forget what it's called), WABL Oktoberfest (in Enumclaw now ). And if you extend to a 2-3 hour driving radius, there are things like Yakima Fresh Hop Festival, Great Canadian Beer Festival (Victoria), and Leavenworth Oktoberfest.

I know that it probably goes without saying, but we have a ton of beer festivals here in Portland. It's taken me 6 states to realize it, but Oregon is THE place for beer enthusiasts to live!

I know there is a Flying Saucer in Houston, the one here in Fort Worth is having a beer festival this weekend. You may want to check with the one in Houston to see if they are having anything like that.

+100 If you want beer festivals, you need to load up the truck and move to the Pacific Northwest. It's beer Nirvana in the US.

Every beerfest in NJ is packed. Even the little rinky dink CNJ beerfest with 7 local breweries sold like 700 tickets and subsequently made it impossible to get samples. There are good ones all over the country I'm sure, but you have to be willing to travel a bit. Hey, at least it will be cheaper than a trip to Munich and you'll actually taste more than German beer.

The Philly area has a bunch of beer festivals, with more and more every year. Heck, we have a whole week dedicated to beer, that week alone has a bunch of festivals large and small.

Man, I'm jealous of you guys! Houston has a lot of ethnic festivals and hot sauce/spicy food festivals, but none for beer.

HalfPint said:

Man, I'm jealous of you guys! Houston has a lot of ethnic festivals and hot sauce/spicy food festivals, but none for beer.

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The perfect thing would be a mega festival that had everything you had and beer.

McKBrew said:

The perfect thing would be a mega festival that had everything you had and beer.

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Well, almost every event in Texas involves some sort of beer, but it's not quite the beer we're speaking of. The only good beer that you'll typically find almost everywhere here in Houston is Shiner or Negra Modelo. If those arent there, I hit the rum!

HalfPint said:

Man, I'm jealous of you guys! Houston has a lot of ethnic festivals and hot sauce/spicy food festivals, but none for beer.

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You know the more I hear from Texans in this thread, the more I think there is a festival organizing waiting to happen. A bunch of you guys should put your heads together and make it happen. Maybe in the DFW, Houston, or Austin area. Heck AHS would step up and sponsor in a heartbeat I bet in the Austin area.

If you brew it, they will come.

That's right - all of you go to the NW so the lines for the festivals here in CO stay short.

HalfPint said:

Man, I'm jealous of you guys! Houston has a lot of ethnic festivals and hot sauce/spicy food festivals, but none for beer.

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Halfpint, What are you doing next weekend ?? Havent you heard about the Foam on the Range event ?

“Foam on the Range” craft beer festival on Oct. 23 at CityCentre Houston near Interstate 10 and the West Sam Houston Parkway.

More than 25 handcrafted beers will be available for sampling and local restaurants will also be on hand to offer optional food items.

Entrance to the craft beer festival costs $15 which includes beer, brew knowledge, high rise living model tours and live music.

Its too late but I was just reminded that this is the weekend of "The Dixie Cup" a well known and well respected beer judging / pub crawl event. Google it and you will find out.

See, there are good things going on in Houston.

Michigan has plenty. The Michigan Brewers Guild now has 4.

I went to one in Big Rapids this spring, and there is another this fall (more like a beer tasting, but you are drinking beer, and that's what counts).

Went to one in Ludington in August.

Frankenmuth has a very large one with World beers.

Traverse City had one.

I'm positive there were more, and probably quite a few in southeast metro area. Those are just the ones I can remember off the top of my head.

homebrewer_99 said:

The difference is you can't find one church that would sponsor a beerfest.

In Germany, the church fests are called Kerwa's.

Around here in IL EVERY damn thing they conduct/hold has an entrance fee. I REFUSE to attend any of them...charge you to get in then overcharge you for their wares...who wants to pay to get screwed like that twice? Not me.

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I think a fair exception to this very reasonable rule is the festivals that charge an entrance fee, but then do not charge per beer. These are usually the "tastings", and they may fall in a different category, but I love 'em.

I went to the Ale Fest at Soldier Field this summer, and Fall Beer Fest in River North last week, and had such a great time, and very affordable evenings.

+1 on Philly Beer Week. My favorite time of year \m/

DRoyLenz said:

I think a fair exception to this very reasonable rule is the festivals that charge an entrance fee, but then do not charge per beer. These are usually the "tastings", and they may fall in a different category, but I love 'em.

I went to the Ale Fest at Soldier Field this summer, and Fall Beer Fest in River North last week, and had such a great time, and very affordable evenings.

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I've never been to a festival where there was no entrance fee. Some were called festivals and some were called tastings. But they were the same thing.

Generally you were supplied a certain number of tickets or tokens with which to exchange for beer. After your tokens ran out, you could purchase more.

In Michigan it would be illegal to offer beer for free. Hence the tokens and such. It's also another way of recouping some of the cost of putting on the event. It's not so much the cost of the beer, but the cost of the time and personnel needed to make it happen.

Perhaps in Germany they don't have such laws regarding the serving of beer and they can gather people with offer of free beer (but buy your own food, and tip well??) That could be cool.