Bay Area Thread

[benbikes4beer]

Sounds like SF is just plain unreasonable

Mikkeller SD is so weird, but in a good way. Aside from Beer Geek whatevers that are on tap, I'd say those beers are more of a testament to Bill Batten than they are of any Mikkeller concoction. You could remove the Mikkeller name and call it something else. Wouldn't really change much.



JK though, I love SF and your unreasonably good Cellarmaker beers.

 

[Arbitrator]

Sounds like SF is just plain unreasonable

Mikkeller SD is so weird, but in a good way. Aside from Beer Geek whatevers that are on tap, I'd say those beers are more of a testament to Bill Batten than they are of any Mikkeller concoction. You could remove the Mikkeller name and call it something else. Wouldn't really change much.



JK though, I love SF and your unreasonably good Cellarmaker beers.

SF is an awesome city, but then again we do have the flagship Mikkeller Bar (of the US?) so it rightly deserves a lot of ****. Anything that makes the Tenderloin worse...

 

[rrryanc]

SF is an awesome city, but then again we do have the flagship Mikkeller Bar (of the US?) so it rightly deserves a lot of ****. Anything that makes the Tenderloin worse...

Mikkeller's grand opening and the 50 bottles of ridiculous gueze we opened that day would disagree with you. I know not your favorite style, but that was an amazing time. Plus, it gave you HaveYouSeenMyCellar trying to find you while wearing throwing knives, so umm that memory is pretty special too.

 

[BrandoSF]

This bottle is on point. Much better than the draft I had on Saturday.

 

[jtmartino1]

****!

Need to check out this East Bay people keep talking about.

 

[BrandoSF]

Who grabbed ratebeer fest tix today?

 

[preacher1]

Who grabbed ratebeer fest tix today?

By the time I logged in, VIP was sold out. I'm holding off in hopes that more will be released in the next 197 days.

 

[CommanderofAwesome]

Event page says that they go on sale tomorrow? I remember hearing that last year was a lot of fun, is there a day that is better to go?

 

[stupac2]

Event page says that they go on sale tomorrow? I remember hearing that last year was a lot of fun, is there a day that is better to go?

If you went last year they sent an e-mail with a promo code for the pre-sale. I got VIP tickets this morning, they were significantly more expensive than I expected but the event was a ton of fun last year so I'm looking forward to it. Though I hope this time they give a smaller glass, there's some amusement value in having 8 ounces pours of Mornin' Delight, but at a festival that big it mostly caused people to get shitfaced.

 

[AndresR]

If you went last year they sent an e-mail with a promo code for the pre-sale. I got VIP tickets this morning, they were significantly more expensive than I expected but the event was a ton of fun last year so I'm looking forward to it. Though I hope this time they give a smaller glass, there's some amusement value in having 8 ounces pours of Mornin' Delight, but at a festival that big it mostly caused people to get shitfaced.

How much are VIP tix?

 

[BrandoSF]

How much are VIP tix?

150

 

[Tlo4sho]

Who grabbed ratebeer fest tix today?

Hells ya, VIP!

By the time I logged in, VIP was sold out. I'm holding off in hopes that more will be released in the next 197 days.

Damn, that was quick. I'm glad I bought mine this morning. Last year they let us upgrade from regular to VIP day of. Well worth it. I doubt with the exploding popularity they will do that this year.

Event page says that they go on sale tomorrow? I remember hearing that last year was a lot of fun, is there a day that is better to go?

The beer fest is Saturday this year, instead of Sunday, as it was last year. Mo betta for me.

 

[coldstorage]

Sprung for VIP. Last year was miles beyond my expectations and I just had regular tix. Since I paid the 70 extra I'm assuming this year will be terrible....

 

[coldstorage]

stupac2 I actually thought the large (prob 4-6 oz let's be real here) pours were a nice thing about this fest... Enough volume to actually TASTE the beer, what a novel idea.

What they don't need is people with 2,3 and even 4 glasses. Saw a few guys getting 4 pours each of vanilla darklord and that was when things really started tipping to frat party style, IMO

Edit: also what really made this thing great last year is that besides tg (early), 3f (later) and HF (the whole time) there was never any lines anywhere. The fact VIP sold out in a day makes me think people are on to this fest. All fingers crossed for a spacious event again!

 

[stupac2]

@stupac I actually thought the large (prob 4-6 oz let's be real here) pours were a nice thing about this fest... Enough volume to actually TASTE the beer, what a novel idea.

What they don't need is people with 2,3 and even 4 glasses. Saw a few guys getting 4 pours each of vanilla darklord and that was when things really started tipping to frat party style, IMO

Edit: also what really made this thing great last year is that besides tg (early), 3f (later) and HF (the whole time) there was never any lines anywhere. The fact VIP sold out in a day makes me think people are on to this fest. All fingers crossed for a spacious event again!

I can see that, but at the same time the more you get per pour the fewer things you can try. Also, that glass was really huge. I just measured it and it's over a cup (8 oz). Some of the pours were nearly filling the whole thing, it was just overkill. I mean, for as much as people make fun of Chicago pours, for a beer like Mournin Delight or BA DL you really don't need more than a couple ounces to get it. Is more nice during a chill drinking session? Sure! But you don't really glean anything about it past the first little bit. It's not something that opens up in the glass or anything.

Also, bringing two glasses to a fest is an absolute must. It's so much easier to get something and then go to another line knowing you won't need to chug your glass, or let something warm while you drink something else (since even stouts are invariably served at 34* during these fests...).

 

[coldstorage]

Also, bringing two glasses to a fest is an absolute must. It's so much easier to get something and then go to another line knowing you won't need to chug your glass, or let something warm while you drink something else (since even stouts are invariably served at 34* during these fests...).

No argument there. I eventually employed the two glass method myself so I could holster a stout to warm it while whipping through deGarde... This is one of those myopic grey zone complaints....like "I had a reason for my two drinks but the dudes with 4 pours of VBDL went too far."

Maybe they can make it so that you and I can have two glasses but everyone else gets one? Worth shooting off an email at least....

 

[stupac2]

No argument there. I eventually employed the two glass method myself so I could holster a stout to warm it while whipping through deGarde... This is one of those myopic grey zone complaints....like "I had a reason for my two drinks but the dudes with 4 pours of VBDL wen't too far."

Maybe they can make it so that you and I can have two glasses but everyone else gets one? Worth shooting off an email at least....

I definitely want to tell them to use a ******* small glass this year. My second was the old SPUR Ratebeer event glass that is seriously 1/3 the size and I ended up just filling that and pouring it into the other one so I wouldn't get those enormous pours...

 

[Oaklandtraders]

Party bus from the Bay if enough of us go? Or did you guys get rooms last year?

 

[CommanderofAwesome]

Tickets to this thing will sell out prior to day of event, correct?

Trying to organize a squad to go, and ppl are dragging feet. Trying to gauge how hard I have to push to get ppl to commit now.

 

[stupac2]

Tickets to this thing will sell out prior to day of event, correct?

Trying to organize a squad to go, and ppl are dragging feet. Trying to gauge how hard I have to push to get ppl to commit now.

Who knows? They didn't last year.

 

[CommanderofAwesome]

Who knows? They didn't last year.

Good point. I just went ahead and bought tickets.

 

[AptosBeerDrinker]

Fieldwork opening up a "Beer Garden" in Monterey...

 

[Oaklandtraders]

Fieldwork opening up a "Beer Garden" in Monterey...

Holy ****. Berkeley, Sac, Napa, and now Monterey. Who knew vegetarian pasties could be such a big money maker?

 

[matedog]

Party bus from the Bay if enough of us go? Or did you guys get rooms last year?

Party bus isn't a terrible idea, actually. Might be hard to coordinate locations though.

 

[Oaklandtraders]

Party bus isn't a terrible idea, actually. Might be hard to coordinate locations though.

MacArthur Bart or near, (Temescal Brewing?), so easy access for both SF and east bay peeps?

 

[CommanderofAwesome]

MacArthur Bart or near, (Temescal Brewing?), so easy access for both SF and east bay peeps?

 

[jtmartino1]

From the Fieldwork thread:

It will be interesting to see what becomes of Fieldwork in a few years. Their aspirations seem...high.

 

[AndresR]

From the Fieldwork thread:

They might want to pump their brakes a bit. It's like 3.5 hours/190 miles between Monterey and Sac. That's quite a trek, granted homebase is in the middle, it still seems $$$$ to spread themselves out like that, all at the same time.

 

[CommanderofAwesome]

They might want to pump their brakes a bit. It's like 3.5 hours/190 miles between Monterey and Sac. That's quite a trek, granted homebase is in the middle, it still seems $$$$ to spread themselves out like that, all at the same time.

What about SN, ~3k miles apart. Same with Stone, and prob least 1500 for Lagunitas.

 

[AndresR]

It's also very possible they are trying to prop themselves up fast and create a much larger footprint for a sale in the near future. All the cool kids are doing it.