The lines to use the restroom took about 30 minutes. I actually paid dearly for a spot after waiting nearly 2 hrs in the tap line. I paid a guy 2 tokens to take his front spot in the bathroom line as my eyes were floating and I was in serious pain. Thankfully nobody complained. I almost feel like they should have had some sort of trough set up for the guys to use as it would have greatly reduced the lines to the port-o-jon's and it would have probably kept it much cleaner. Those things were trashed after the first hour we were there.
Yeah, the bathroom lines were insane in the back. I hit them four times and each time, the wait got longer. I knew that if I was just starting to feel the call of nature, to go ahead and get in line. I bet I spent an hour and a half in line just to pee. I saw people leaving the grounds out the back woods, over the ditch, to go find pee lane and come back rather than wait in line. I saw a few women just pee themselves and carry on drinking like it was nobody's business. Emdubb brought his whole family and I felt so bad for them because of what a zoo it was. The mob size made it no environment for kids, but it could've been if it was just a smaller crowd. I saw him get his bottles right away at noon and they got the heck out of dodge, and I don't blame them for leaving.
The amount of taps they had at each station was crazy and then they allowed people to get as many as they wanted which resulted in terribly long lines. This setup needed a lot of help. They should have had more people working each station as it took us nearly 2 hrs to get our beers due to how slow they moved and also people cutting in line. I was surprised things did not get uglier than they were as I did see a few choice words exchanged to people that were cutting in line. I know the tall guy at the JJ tap tent was hammered as he could barely stand up when we ordered our brews. One of the guys near me said he looked drunk as hell and the tall guy overheard him and replied that he was only getting paid $7 and hr and that he was gonna make up for that by drinking. We did meet some great people in line and ended up having a small bottle share while in line. They really needed to have more than 3 spots with taps and maybe only have 10 taps at each spot with more people working them so they could move people along quicker.
They actually had more tap stations than you think. They had the tap van hidden away inside the front brewery, the main tap room with both bars going, the middle taps with two tables on either side of the truck and three tents near the stage in the back. That's a total of eight separate tap zones, and they were still mobbed. I think if they'd moved the home brewers to where the back porta potties were and put the porta johns along the back fence, it would've helped divert some of the line crowds who just wanted a beer and introduced more people to Tampa homebrew.
The homebrewers did a great job in the back. I really wish they would have been more visable, but o well. The basketball thing in the back was a huge waste of space.
Yep, they did great. Agreed that the basketball hoops were a total waste. They could've added more porta-johns or another tap tent or something right there.
The food left something to be desired. We had a breakfast sandwich that was tiny and flavorless in the back by the silo that cost us $10. The food trucks did seem a little pricey, but they can charge what they want. It would have been nice to do something like a catered bbq that they pre-sold tickets for.
We were occupying the two tent tables just on the other side of the breakfast vendor. All told, we had about 30 friends from the Jacksonville & Tampa areas squeezed into two tables. I did eat one of the chorizo egg sandwiches which was a little cold on the edges but I was so hungry by that point, I didn't care. We'd already been in line since 2:30 am and i'd have eaten anything and asked for seconds at that point. The cuban coffee they had was awesome. A BBQ truck would've been a good idea. Pre-smoke a ton of pork shoulder, shred it up into pulled pork and slap it on a plate with baked beans and slaw.
I really think that this event has outgrown the brewery size. It would be nice if they did it somewhere else that has more room. It seems they are just trying to squeeze too many people in not enough space. I would be surprised if it is there next year. Maybe the could do a twice a year release of the brew so that it isn't so crazy?
I think they should stretch it into a full three day weekend. They could sell the bands in line on the first day for the guaranteed 2-3 beers on a Friday starting early, at like 5 am. Get them in, get them out.
Sell the wrist bands early before they get through the gate, then have people walk through cattle rope to distribution spots and have crew members pull bottles and hand them directly to people immediately. Then they can go off and do whatever they want. Stay, go, wouldn't matter as they'd have their guaranteed beers.
If they sell out of wrist bands on the first day, great. Open sales up to individual bottles on day #2 & #3. If wristbands didn't sell out, continue as on day #1 until they do, get the people through the lines so they're kinda forced to get their guaranteed beers as soon as they get through the gate. When the last wristband sells, close the lines off until the very last person gets their guaranteed 2-3. Then open it up to general sales. Limit people to a case so they don't abuse too bad.
I agree, I think the best part about it was all of the bottle sharing, meeting new beer nerds from all over the country, talking to everyone under the sun and having a good time.
I also didn't see a single fight anywhere, nor did I see anyone drop their bottles. Both cool things. If it were a sporting event with those kinds of lines, there'd have been fights galore.
