Beer Festival Fatigue?

I recently re-read an October 2016 Beer Advocate article about breweries suffering from festival fatigue. There's so many festivals these days, which ones are worth and which ones aren't? Here's a quote from the article that sturck me:

"Meanwhile, Brewers of Pennsylvania’s LaBert says beer festivals must be more than, “just a transaction,” stressing that third-party-run festivals often have part-time personnel pouring beer with limited knowledge about the products. Leone agrees. (Note, that's Paul Leone, executive director of the New York State Brewers Association). He takes a two-fold approach to his New York festivals, finding they must simultaneously market beer through consumer education and strategic lobbying while building a connection to the breweries. In his opinion, festivals that rely on random volunteers to pour samples, in essence, dupe the consumer into faulty ties to the beer."

As it turns out, we had tickets to an upcoming beer festival in Syracuse. The timing of stumbling back on this article tickled me a bit. It was a third-party-run festival and this quote summed up my expectations for it. The brewery listing was pretty small. It was combined with a wine fest. There would be beer pong. Yes. Beer pong.

To me, I think a beer festival is at its best when it allows for interaction with a brewery. An engaged, social experience. An opportunity to build a relationship between a brewery and consumers. I think this aligns with what Leone and others in the article described as well. However, I was not expecting that from this festival. So, why the hell were we going?

While I didn't have great expectations of experiencing a lot of new breweries or engaging much with the actual brewery owners/reps, I had alternative motives and I think this festival met them or even exceeded them. This was our first festival since moving back to NY. Two and a half years and we hadn't been to a single one. This was a chance for us to go out (with my sister and brother-in-law) and enjoy some beer together. But more importantly, enjoy a social event together. While this festival may have missed the mark as an opportunity to socialize with different breweries, it allowed us to connect over a few good beers. Can't beat that right?

One of the few breweries that represented themselves versus volunteers with no knowledge of the beer they were pouring: K2 Brothers Brewing out of Penfield NY. They were very engaging, had lots of brewery give-aways, and could actually speak to the brewery and the beer. Added bonus: the beer was really good! From double-dry hopped IPAs to a Jalapeno Cream Ale, they left me nearly speechless. Nearly.

Now, they almost got themselves in a bit of trouble while we sampled. My wife and I were going through their beers together. For some reason, after I order the beer above and my wife says she'll have the same, one of the men asks, "would you like a half pour?" Say what?! If you're not asking me the same, don't ask my wife. We were left to assume your intentions and it ain't good. However, in the end she returned for more samples from them. And armed with some snark of course: "I'll take the Jalapeno cream Ale. A full pour of course."

In the end, it was fantastic experience connecting with each other--something we haven't been able to do much like this without kiddos.  We spent a bit more time focused on the people we were with versus what was in the glass. Was the beer festival itself great? I can't say that. And that was just fine by me.

Cheers!