Buffalo Rising Online

What a continuing success....

Hold it next year at the nice new convention center or at the new downtown "ralph." Woooohhhh.... Sorry, dreaming - just woke up.

Looked like a packed house - though I love craft beers, I did not go. Decided to do things outdoors. Maybe incorporate the outdoors and the Central Wharf next year, or year after. Just thoughts....

Beer and hot men- my kind of event! :)

Any idea where to send suggestions/complaints? The only contact address on the website is for someone from the Buffalo Speech and Hearing Center. And I'm sure she's not responsible for the debacle.

Let me preface this by saying I did have a good time, but so much of what happened at the Brewfest this year was truly frustrating.

The most pertinent and problematic is that you could no longer use your tokens on food. This means that if you didn't want to drink 20 samples of beer, you were out of luck. The only food offered was the overpriced selections from the HSBC Snack Bars, for which you had to pay cash. I think that this forces people into making the decision of either overindulging in beer, or feeling that their admission money went to waste. Being able to use tokens for something besides beer is essential.

Beyond that, they obviously needed to spread out the beer more. If half the brewers were set up on the concourse upstairs there would have been no overcrowding problem. Sticking them all so close to one another on the same level created that absurd traffic jam. The reasons for moving to the Arena were to give the festival "more room" to grow. Yet it was far more crowded and difficult to navigate than the Terminal was. Even though bathroom lines moved quickly, we all questioned why they couldn't have opened the gates and allowed access to one additional bathroom. The arena has the facilities to accommodate more, but didn't make use of them.

An issue they still haven't resolved is that people who buy their tickets ahead of time have a longer wait than those that show up to buy tickets at the door. This was the same last year. The lines of ticket holders stretch well across the plaza, while people showing up to buy tickets waltz in past the huge crowds.

Lastly, I am disappointed in some of the brewers. I think that these festivals are a great opportunity to bring people new and different beers. Other than a few notable exceptions, many brewers were pouring their most common, uninteresting beers (Ithaca and Southern Tier I'm looking at you).

I think that the Arena can be a good venue for the event, if they learn from the mistakes of this year. They had tons of space that wasn't being utilized, and a concentration of activities that ensured traffic jams and discomfort. Heck, they have draft beer set ups all over the second floor, different breweries could set up at different snack bars across the Arena and connect their kegs to the draft systems that already exist there.

The event was overly crowded and difficult to navigate. If they had made better use of the space and spread the tables out it would have been much easier to find a line and get away from the table after you got your sample. The organizers have not done a very good job, IMO, for the past several years.

Last year the information packet they gave you also included a map to where each brewery was set up as well as information on what each brewery was offering. It wasn't always 100% accurate, but it was far more useful than the packet of advertisements that they handed out yesterday.

It was not worse of a crowd as at Central Terminal but the lack of good food was annoying. I always look forward to a good sausage or something but Arena food that you can't use the tokens for was annoying.

If they distributed the beer upstairs and gave people more room down it would have distributed the flow better. They need to bring in the good beer food though. The arena food was LAME.

The good thing about this event was the access to public transit.. beside that I utterly miss the Central Terminal. I would give is a C compared to the past few years which I think were A's.

I also agree that the lack of a list of beers was really annoying. Half the fun is to try one, rate it, write it down and try another. There wasn't an easy way to do it this time.

I had a blast...i paid 20 bucks...sampled a ton of beer and hung out w/ my friends. The lines were not as long people are making it sound...people are just being dramatic...yes it would be nice to see it more spread out or in a larger venue next year but stop making a big deal about the lines. If you stood in the back and expected to be ushered to the front of the line it wasnt going to happen. But if you moved your feet toward the front...i never waited more than 5-7 mins for a beer

i didn't go cause i thought it is completely idiotic to have it in hsbc during the day, i didn't understand that decision from the get go

I didn't go to this, but a lot of people I know did, and they all basically thought it was a waste of time and money. It's freaking August, cant' they set this up outside? Maybe have it at Dunn Tire Park like the Wing Fest.

I am sad to read the complaints about this worthwhile event. The event is not about the quality of the beer but the service to the Speech and Hearing Center. I wish the white majority in the crowd would take a moment to think about where their money is going. This type of event should not be a cheap substitute for happy hour, but a charitable event for a worthwhile organization.

I hope that the drunks and punks in the photo above take a moment to think about the people who are truly in need, instead of just thinking about their 'need' for a cheap high.

Quijibo, you're saying that it doesn't matter that this event was poorly executed in comparison to past years because the proceeds went to charity? A well-executed event makes people want to return and spend money to go towards the cause. Were the upstairs snack bar proceeds given to BSHC as well? If not, that's a change this year that hurts the potential fund-raising opportunity.

And a Brewfest like this is NOT all about getting drunk, it's about sampling unique beers.

If the BSHC was throwing an ice cream social that was this poorly thought-out, people would be doing the same type of complaining.

for those who only went to this years event let me say that the past events were much better. In years past the brewers... or at least their own reps were there to pour the beers and had tons to say about it. You could ask questions try one and get another sample of a different type from them. This year it looked like BHSC staff did the pouring which really dropped the ball on a big part of the event. Don't get me wrong I still had a lot of fun.. just more fun in years past. Indoors wasn't the problem and getting into the event wasn't so bad either. Just a really poor layout and horrid food options for a beer tasting. No one wants bad pizza and nachos while trying to sample beer.

I had a better time at Consumer's Beverages store than I did at this so called "Brewfest." My forth grader's ice cream social was run better than this event.

I thought the move to HSBC would be good... a great location, fun building, and A/C (unlike last year). But the setup truly disappointed me. I arrived at 3:00 p.m. and still had tokens left at the end... and unfortunately had to go to the same crappy vendors because the good ones were gone by 5:00 p.m.

Don't get me wrong--I love the event and would go again. But next year, if they plan to have this again at the arena, the "other" vendors (like raffle people, etc.) need to go upstairs. There should be a sectioned-off area outside for food... preferably GRILLED food! I also think the dividers like you see at airport security check-ins could keep the lines in order. People really got pushy, and others cut in lines.

I will say this, though... even though for the second year in a row I had leftover tokens, I felt like I drank my 60 ounces. Many vendors give you a lot more than 3 ounces. And while I didn't stop at Saranac, they were filling the mugs COMPLETELY!

they should move it outside. chippewa from main to delaware. they even could set up the vendors in bars or just have them on the street, or the inner harbor, or lasalle park or erie basin marina, or close down lincoln behind the albright knox, or anywhere. just not inside. (and use the tokens for food!)