Got my VIP tickets for the afternoon session! Who else is going? Also, PM me with your best offer for presale password

2/29/2012 1:07:28 PM

I've heard the past few years they've had issues with crowd control and adequate bathrooms. Is that true or just haters hating? I like how at the Durham one they have craploads of available bathrooms for my tiny bladder to use.

2/29/2012 1:14:52 PM

I've been every year since I've been 21. I feel like they haven't really added many new vendors, and each year it feels like more tickets are sold and less vendors. I don't really piss a lot when I drink so the bathroom issue doesn't bother me. I don't like how they started giving out plastic tasting classes, used to be nice etched-glass ones that were nice souvenirs and the beer taste better imo.

I'm still gonna go, but just saying'

I think the better one is the Lighthouse Festival in Wilmington. The age group is wayyy younger, glass tasters, and the same number of vendors or at least close and less people. so many hot girls

2/29/2012 7:09:27 PM

Every year I have had plans on this or the Durham weekend, and I have been very bummed to have missed. NOT THIS YEAR! And it's my birthday weekend. Definitely doing this

2/29/2012 8:04:03 PM

These things have a tendency to be a lesson in How to lose friends and alienate people.

I've made lots of bad decisions after hitting it super hard. Though almost all of them have been some of the best times ever.

2/29/2012 8:28:49 PM

I've gone every year since I was 21 as well and also miss the nice glasses.

3/1/2012 12:16:30 AM

I try to go to this every year, and as much as i love good beer, the tent selling the tamales is the best part Perhaps its the tamale/beer combo i love?

3/1/2012 12:49:47 AM

Hey!

That's my birthday!

3/1/2012 1:40:17 AM

Has anyone volunteered? I can't go and drink this year but have thought about volunteering.

3/1/2012 7:56:36 AM

I haven't been in a while. Can you bring the old glass they used to have or are you forced to use plastic cups?

3/1/2012 9:26:40 AM

i'm sure you could bring the glass one. They will still give you a plastic one.

3/1/2012 10:10:30 AM

Last year I think I got a 2010 glass handed to me iirc.

3/1/2012 2:39:02 PM

Got my tix! w00t!

3/5/2012 9:28:17 AM

Got my tix! w00t!

3/5/2012 10:02:51 AM

Went to the Raleigh one a few years ago, the first year they started using those little plastic cups. If I want to drink out of a plastic cup, I'll play beer pong, not spend a bunch of money to wait forever in line for 4 oz. of (more-than-likely) shit beer in a massive, sweaty crowd of drunks. I'm glad I did it once to try, but never again.

3/5/2012 10:06:44 AM

I've always had a fantastic time whenever I went... Great beer and I never felt like I was waiting in line too long.

3/5/2012 10:20:38 AM

Yeah, it's usually a minute wait tops and usually I'll drink my sample while waiting in line.
The beer is far from shitty.

3/5/2012 10:22:07 AM

Quote :

"(more-than-likely) shit beer"

haha whatever dude. there are a lot of things to complain about when it comes to the raleigh beerfest, but shitty beer is not one of them.

that said, i always go to durham and probably won't hit raleigh this year.

3/5/2012 10:25:14 AM

To each his own, but I actually enjoyed less than a quarter of the beers I tasted, I guess I'm picky about beer. After a couple of hours it seemed like everyone knew where the good beer vendors were, and for those it was a 5-10 minute wait for a swig of beer.

3/5/2012 10:29:21 AM

I suppose, but it's one thing for me to hate IPAs, it's another for me to say all IPAs are shit beers.

3/5/2012 10:39:00 AM

Quote :

"After a couple of hours it seemed like everyone knew where the good beer vendors were, and for those it was a 5-10 minute wait for a swig of beer."

that is simply not true. I have never waited more that a minute at MOST... even when the place is the most crowded.

3/5/2012 11:19:06 AM

obviously we didn't go the same year

3/5/2012 3:43:43 PM

^sorry that this isn't bud light fest

3/5/2012 3:52:22 PM

I've been to Raleigh Beerfest 3 times, including last year, and never experienced that. There were plenty of vendors serving up delicious beer. If you can'd find something you like from at least 1 out of every 4-5 stands you're doing something wrong.

3/5/2012 4:19:46 PM

It's ok, we all started somewhere. I didn't like many beers I tried... and now, I drink all of it.

There's only one style that I don't like and that's smoked lagers. I drink IPAs, Sours, Smoked Porters, Lambics, pretty much all the weird stuff now. My favorites are barrel-aged anything. (particularly BA Barleywines).

The only way to do it though in my opinion is start with the best beer of that beer style so you know what's good. Then you have a benchmark.

My problem starting out was I didn't know what good sours "could" taste like because all I knew were bad sours. Same thing with IPAs, some are really soapy, others are extremely well-balanced.

The more you try the more you learn.

Although I have to say after perusing the beer list, it's lackluster offering of beers. Pretty much all of those are off-the-shelf beers. No stand-outs.

[Edited on March 5, 2012 at 4:46 PM. Reason : .]

3/5/2012 4:40:54 PM

There's a dub, trip, and quad I'm looking forward to trying. Some of the ones listed are off-the-shelf-beers but doubt you could get most of these beers at the local grocery store. I haven't been to any beerfests outside of NC but showed my friend from Boston the list and he was pretty jealous.

3/5/2012 5:04:40 PM

are the VIP tickets worth it? a few more beers and some food? thinking I'll just pick up some second hand tickets sometime

3/8/2012 9:15:29 AM

Quote :

"Pretty much all of those are off-the-shelf beers. No stand-outs."

that's my issue with the larger festivals these days. If you really want to try some great rare beer you have to check out the local and regional events.

3/8/2012 10:44:31 AM

I remember back 5 years ago when I went to the Raleigh Beer Fest and was blown away by Sweetwater. I still like it and all. It's been fun to watch the beer shelves grow so quickly at the local stores the past few years.

3/8/2012 11:44:36 AM

Quote :

"These things have a tendency to be a lesson in How to lose friends and alienate people. I've made lots of bad decisions after hitting it super hard. Though almost all of them have been some of the best times ever."

I went on a brewery tour a few weeks ago. Right at the end of the tour, while we were eating, my wife and I got in a fight.

I got so upset that I ran out of the restaurant and started running (not walking) around downtown like a mad man. I walked about 5 miles, bought some coffee and booze and food, and was literally planning on hitting the blue ridge parkway and just living on the mountain to sea trail for the rest of my life.

Funny thing getting drunk.

[Edited on March 8, 2012 at 6:54 PM. Reason : I have about half a dozen stories like that. Pattern?]

3/8/2012 6:44:10 PM

Is this one of those things where i pay $300 to pretend i'm some kind of beer connoisseur for 2 hours?

I'm Krallum and I approved this message.

3/9/2012 5:14:03 AM

I don't know if the VIP tickets will be worth it or not. I got them for the private entrance and bathrooms, I'll tell you afterwards if it was worth it or not

3/9/2012 3:51:07 PM

When I did VIP, the only reason it was worth it was for the nice bathroom facilities... That is the only benefit, but it can be worth it if you appreciated clean restroom facilities vs porta-johns

3/9/2012 3:54:11 PM

I might go to this.

3/19/2012 11:32:37 PM

Bump for one week away

4/6/2012 7:26:27 PM

I think I'm going to the afternoon session.

4/6/2012 7:45:37 PM

i have a damn lacrosse game that day

4/6/2012 8:04:38 PM

I hope they have Miller lite on tap.

4/9/2012 7:53:29 PM

^^ Don't worry, if you miss this one there's another one downtown two weeks later:

http://shoplocalraleigh.org/care/Brewgaloo

Local breweries and food trucks and probably less people.

4/10/2012 8:42:47 AM

things actually have worked out in my favor... our lacrosse game is at 11am, which will give me enough time to do that, and then come to the evening session. I'm actually volunteering to pour beer at the festival instead of attending, so it should be an interesting experience!

4/10/2012 8:52:53 AM

I might have an extra afternoon VIP ticket, I won't know for another day though. PM me if your interested though

4/10/2012 7:33:08 PM

^^^I didn't know about Brewgaloo. Totally going now.

4/10/2012 8:02:15 PM

They've done a shitty job promoting it to be honest. It was by chance I even heard about it. But hopefully that means it won't be packed.

4/10/2012 8:40:59 PM

honestly it looks terrible... $20.00 for 5 beers. oh joy.

4/10/2012 9:19:17 PM

SOme of my funnest memories of my 20s was going to the world beer festivals in durham and raleigh.

4/10/2012 9:32:45 PM

just got tickets for the night session

4/11/2012 8:00:06 PM

^^^ $4/beer is what you pay at most bars for local brews. This gives you a chance to try beers that aren't regularly on tap at bars. If you want to be miserly you can just do the $1 samples and try 20 different beers.

4/11/2012 8:09:21 PM

someone pls tell me about VIP tix, what you get that us common folk don't

/too lazy to look it up

4/11/2012 8:13:07 PM

^^might as well just go to a bar.



[Edited on April 11, 2012 at 8:22 PM. Reason : ]

4/11/2012 8:21:46 PM

You're right unless you want to try beers that aren't regularly on tap at bars. Then you can go to this thing, try something different, and get some yummy food truck food and some live music while you're at it.

4/11/2012 8:29:48 PM