TOPIC:

Hey folks, just wondering what people think of the prospects of a US-style beer festival being held in central Dublin this year.

When I say US-style it'd be something like this:
€40 admission fee, which gets you in and gets you unlimited* 125ml samples.
(* still done by vouchers but you would get more than you could use)

Up to 300 beers on offer.

The entry times would be divided into sessions of, for example:
Friday 5pm-10pm
Sat 11am-4pm** 5pm-10pm (**possible concession price for early bird)
Sun 12pm-5pm

There would probably be food, meet-the-brewer, tutored tasting sessions, competition (pro and non-pro)

The vast majority of the beers would be Irish, but with lots of one-off festival specials where brewers are encouraged to push the boundaries. There would be some quality imported beer too.

The main idea of a festival of this style is to introduce people to as many new beers as possible.

Your thoughts and feedback would be most welcome.

I'd love it if I was able to make it down, would also be happy to lend a hand staffing and approaching NI breweries if necessary.

Would need to check there's no rules against unlimited amounts for fixed price as know that's scuppered similar ideas in UK before

Nice idea but to be honest, I don't like that type of beer festival. It just degenerates in to one big queuing system. A bit like going to Disneyworld really. I think that's why they work actually. The other thing is that I think they tend to have a very small window, 6 hours perhaps. You have 6 hours to get your €40 worth of beer and beleive it or not, you will usually fail because most of that 6 hours is spent queuing.
You get to bar, there might be 6 taps but you can only pick one and then leave the queue and join again if you want another one.

Here's my experience.[/url:18kjvq3c]

Sounds like a great idea Shane and I'd say you would have no shortage of helpers from this site if it comes to fruition.

Two things:

"Stephanos":265g6xd8 wrote: Would need to check there's no rules against unlimited amounts for fixed price as know that's scuppered similar ideas in UK before[/quote:265g6xd8]

That would need to be clarified.

Also,

"Tube":265g6xd8 wrote: The entry times would be divided into sessions of, for example:
Friday 5pm-10pm
Sat 11am-4pm** 5pm-10pm (**possible concession price for early bird)
Sun 12pm-5pm[/quote:265g6xd8]

That seems like a great idea, but you're going to have to get some "hired goons" to do chucking out on the Saturday shift, which would add to cost and also change the dynamic of the day from a casual sampling to "sup up and get out". Might be just as handy to have day & weekend passes- I'd say like the ICBCF most people come for a set amount of time anyways & then leave.

Thanks for the feedback so far lads. Reuben, assuming there were little or no queues, what then?

Then the problem gets pushed to the vendors. The queues are necessary to reduce the amount of beer that's consumed. If there are no queues to speak of, a lot more beer will be consumed.

I suppose it would really come down to how much they make on the entry price.

Presumably, they would pay a fee for a stand.
The €40 would go in to a kitty. Some going to pay costs and the rest going back to the vendors.
Is that to work out how much to pay the brewers? Would that add unnecessary admin?

Are we talking about a very small event out the back of a pub here? If not, where does the money come from to set it up?