Beerfest 2011

[Dunc]

I can’t help but feel a little short changed.

 

A no show from Emerson's, Yeastie Boys, Sunshine and Renaissance. (I don’t blame them)

No Baltika...

No lovely little sneaky samples of delicious limited edition seasonals.

No beery talks.

Very few offerings of half glasses.

And what the hell was that VIP zone rubbish?

 

Has Beerfest just become swillfest? There were queues for Carlsberg, Corona and Cobra! If you want to get mothered on insipid mainstream beer, why pay $35 to do so?

 

No wonder the Australian Craft breweries won’t come near us.

 

Am I expecting too much? Anyone? Anyone?

 

However, thank you Epic, Wigram, Harrington’s, Croucher, Bennett’s and Tuatara - for being the small beacons of hope in the embarrassing, slippery, urine covered floor that is NZ beer culture.

 

 

[Dunc]

Look like I missed out.

[Ian Marriott]

Silke and I went along and caught up with a few Faces that we have been dealing with for over three years and have never metand that was awesome but we too were disappointed at the mysterious non appearance of several brewers. Maybe Stu wasn't the only one who was never asked. Can anyone on here confirm this? Favourite Beer... Double IPA from Mikes.

[Dunc]

So, did I really miss a whole room? Emerson's, Three Boys, Hallertau and others.

 

Beer of the day: Croucher APA.

[Hugh Grierson]

Yeah, you did but you had to push out past the crowd of idiots blocking the door. Then walk in the rain past the pathetic food selection. There was no signs or maps. Shortchanged? How about all the money they have from the left overs on peoples swipe card from last year?The ones we were all assured would be used this year, but no. Must be thousands.

[Chris Banks]

Jeez im glad it aint coming to welly this year by the sound of things!

Sounds heaps better than Brews Blues & BBQ's in Napier this year though!!

[Matt]

What he said ^!!! I spent a large chunk of my time looking for something to drink that I hadnt already tried before. Sent a party of apprentice beer hounds out looking for the yeastie boys tent since had also seen advertised on website. In the end I gave up and just drank glass after glass of tuatara apa (damn good beer). Given that I can walk to this beerfest from my house I really wanted it to be awesome, but for the ticket price I have to be realistic and admit that it was pretty much crap

[Stu H]

I saw the bands which were playing (they give me the shits), the presence of the "big brands", and the photos on Facebook from last year, and decided "I think I'll give that one a miss".

 

You'd have a better solo beerfest hanging out at Galbraiths!

[denimglen]

You'd have a better solo beerfest hanging out at Galbraiths!

 

That's what I said when my mother mentioned she'd like to go, better off spending the money at Gal's.  Better food, better beer, less retards.

[Tim Westbrook]

that's funny we left cuz we we're sick of sittin in the rain with a bunch whose aim was surely not beer appreciation.

 

So we stopped at our local grocer and I picked up a duncans long black and a couple other stouts and we had our own beer fest at home :)

[Tim Westbrook]

Yeah, no.

 

I was expecting a slightly more family friendly festival event, rather than a piss fest, I was pretty disappointed.

 

But Somehow we missed Emerson and Three boys and Hallertau? Lame. Maybe cus of the rain, and we had a toddler, made it hard to explore the "casino" area, I assume they moved inside due to the rain.

 

Won't be doing this again, but sounds like there are some other more RealBeer friendly events although might be a bit of a hike. 

 

But I doubt my decision is going to affect the organisers much as Carlsberg or Cobra are not high on my normal selection of beers.

 

 

[Martin Bridges]

In the end the Ellerslie fest turned out better than I expected. That being said, my expectations were pretty low. I was amazed the thing actually went ahead - the organisation was a bit haphazard. I tried to clarify the brewers who were attending with the organisers but the website never really got updated. At least the email list of breweries that went out a day or two beforehand was vaguely accurate.

 

The main part of the venue was better than previous years, but the fact that it was almost impossible to find the bar serving Three Boys, Hallertau & Emersons was very disappointing.

 

Over the previous 2 or 3 years the Ellerslie festival has been on a generally upward curve. This year it levelled off a bit, but I don't think it has sunk back to the pits of a couple of years ago, when the Jaegermeister fox was roaming the halls. As it stands, I think it stands a good chance of converting some of the mainstream drinkers onto craft. It's certainly not Beervana or Marchfest, but to expect Auckland to suddenyl jump to that level when we don't have a solid craft beer presence in town is a bit naive, IMHO.

 

I would love to see a much smaller scale craft-only festival in Auckland, and I think that is achievable within the next couple of years. Once that gets up and running the pressure would be on the big boys. In the meantime I think it's important that we continue to support the craft breweries who fight their corner alongside the big guys at festivals like Ellerslie. 

[Dunc]

You clearly have a much better perspective on the craft beer presence in Auckland than I do. But surely if we keep expecting a better craft beer presence, then the people who do have the ability to organise such events will see that there is a demand. Then we will see the smaller scale craft-only festivals that you, many other realbeer.co.nz subscribers and myself a dying to see.