Session 99 Craft Beer Festival - June 23

[JeffPorter]

King didn't have anything new and I really don't understand why Steamwhistle would be there. With what I would presume as a mostly craft beer drinking crowd who would be familiar with the beer and brand, why be there?

I also found this with Muskoka, which was a bit surprising. They only had the dark and Mad Tom - I like both those beers, but why not have some of the Summer or Kristalweiss there at the very least?

[JerCraigs]

We went to the evening session as well. Overall I had a great time, here’s why:
- Had a great time with friends and chatting with some of the brewers
- Some kick-ass one offs and new releases (Great Lakes BA RIS, and Flying Monkey’s Sour IPA being amongst the best. In hindsight I regret telling so many people about the sour IPA… More please!)
- Fairly short beer line ups. Other than Flying Monkeys I never had to wait more than 2-3 people.
- I felt like we got in fairly quickly when they opened the doors, but I was near the front of the line (How was it farther back?)
- Turns out one of the few advantages of sweating so much is not having to pee as often.

The fact that after about 20 Minutes I decided not to care about the following:
o The massive lines for food. I decided early on that I wasn’t getting anything and focused on beer. Fortunately I wasn’t starving despite having come hungry like others. The lines eventually died down and I managed to get a couple samples (the corn dog and grill cheese were great, and the cupcakes were lovely despite being crazy expensive.)
o The music. They were close to blowing the speakers, and a band I actually wanted to listen to became nearly unlistenable. Turn it down ! (also, you kids get off my lawn!)
o That anyone in the world thinks that a tortilla chip with a dribbling of lobster on it counts as anything beyond an hoers derve.
o The massive lineups for a bathroom. Me and about a dozen other people were looking for a bush at one point. I decided I could make it until the end but luckily didn’t have to when they finally opened the other bathroom.


Frankly the bathroom thing is unacceptable. To put this in perspective, they had three toilets in the mens room. Most bars in Toronto have at least two with maximum capacities that are a fraction of that venue. I can only assume that it was done for cost or licensing reasons. Otherwise why close up a bathroom with more capacity than the other one, AND the nicest section of the event space? The food I could live with, despite not being what was advertised. If I had known I would have stopped at Poutini’s.

So all in all I had a pretty good day out, and the two biggest complaints can be fixed by opening a door and making the marketing more accurate. All of them are fixable problems.

[lister]

I also found this with Muskoka, which was a bit surprising. They only had the dark and Mad Tom - I like both those beers, but why not have some of the Summer or Kristalweiss there at the very least?

At the Night Market Muskoka had the tap for the Summerweiss but there was some issue and it was going to be replaced by the cream ale.

[jrenihan]

I went to the afternoon session. It's clear from some of the posts that there were some different beers at the two sessions- certainly no sour IPA from Flying Monkeys in the afternoon. Would be nice if there were a list somewhere of the beers that showed up during each session.

Amsterdam had the Stout with Cherries brewed with Flat Rock, which I thought was great. Definitely one of the best I had during the event.

I get the sense that the food lineups were not quite as bad in the afternoon, although the lobster line was always long enough that I never bothered.
Ren

[GregClow]

The organizers of Session are looking for help identifying an individual who entered and stole from the festival office during the after-party.

Here are a couple of photos - he's the guy on the left in the bottom one:





There's also a short security video posted on Facebook.

Anyone with any information can contact the organizers at craftbeerevents@gmail.com

[JerCraigs]

I went to the afternoon session. It's clear from some of the posts that there were some different beers at the two sessions- certainly no sour IPA from Flying Monkeys in the afternoon. Would be nice if there were a list somewhere of the beers that showed up during each session.

I think FM was rotating through their taps, as were Amsterdam and Great Lakes (I think).

[cratez]

Well, I must be less picky than others as I had a great time with the London and KW folks. Met some new faces and sampled a bunch of awesome beers so I was a happy camper. For me the more memorable ones were:

Flying Monkeys Simcoe Smash Bomb IPA (RIDICULOUS aroma on this one)
Great Lakes Brewing Armadildo IPA
Black Oak Black Abbey Belgian IPA
Sawdust City Cock Puncher DIPA
Nickel Brook Naughty Neighbour APA
Flying Monkeys Scotch Ale
Hogs Back Vintage Lager

Also wanted to try the new Spearhead beers, the Augusta Watermelon Wheat, and the Amsterdam one-off that everyone was talking about but I was so busy yapping that I ran out of time. Oh well.

This was the only OCB event that I was able to attend and just like last year it didn't disappoint. For $45 you get to drink a ton of quality, quirky beers that you can't buy in stores, chat with beer geeks from all over Ontario, and eat some snacks that pair well with beer. I'd say that's worth the price of entry. Hopefully they can sort out the issues that people have raised, but even if they don't I'll be back for round three next year.

I also found this with Muskoka, which was a bit surprising. They only had the dark and Mad Tom - I like both those beers, but why not have some of the Summer or Kristalweiss there at the very least?

Agreed. Considering they're now one of the leading crafters for interesting seasonals, I was shocked that they didn't bring the Kristalweiss.

[JeffPorter]

I have to say after a day's reflection (and no hangover) I had a pretty great time too, on balance...the kick-ass beer balanced all the crappy stuff out.

Even the wash room lineups by the end, built in a bit of a bonding moment for complete strangers.

Sessions: Throw in a couple portapotties, some water stations (with rinse/dump buckets) and I'll eat before hand, and I'm there.

[A]

I personally find this attitude to be rather sad... if we don't hold organizers of piss-poor events to account they will never improve.

The one thing we (thankfully!) have a surplus of these days is a ton of great one-off brews being made - there is certainly no reason to suffer a lack of basic human dignity to get them.

I sometimes lament I have yet to experience a beer festival in Toronto as well run as *any* I have attended in Buffalo.... (again not referring to the quality of the beers but the organization)

[Lubiere]

I really enjoyed the PM session...it was hot outside, but damn was it a nice day for such an event. Line ups were short for beer, only missed on the burger (were the line was relentless). The beers were mostly top notch showing how ON brewers have progressed in the last few years. I was a bit frazled by the coupons, but learned soon that coupons for beer were replenished when needed. Was glad I made the trip to the Big TO.

If the toilet situation can be addressed, this will be an even better event. Congrats to all who organized this.

Went to C'est What in the evening, for the 1812 event. Made me realize how good we have it now...a lot of the beers there where inferior to what was tasted in the afternoon (sweet, cloying, underfermented)...samples were cheap though.

Overall, a nice weekend!

[JeffPorter]

I personally find this attitude to be rather sad... if we don't hold organizers of piss-poor events to account they will never improve.

I've already sent my email to the organizers. I wasn't a dick about, but tried to be constructive and saying "this is what I think could improve the event", no response yet, but I assume they're dealing with about 800 of those emails.

Not sure what else I could do to hold them to account.

But I tried hard on Saturday not to let the crappy points spoil the sampling of awesome beers that I might not get to sample again. Plus I was with people I liked, plus meeting new people, plus our wives (and my baby) came to pick us up for dinner and I ended up "flying" the baby in her sleeper past restaurant windows on Queen West at 10:30 at night, so yeah - good times...

I've been to some horrible concerts (one organization, let's just say they rhyme with "elective concerts") where they clearly don't give a crap about people, and the organizers of this event don't really strike me as people who just don't care. There's just A LOT of logistical stuff they need to work out (especially when they keep changing their formats that don't seem to work.)

Time will tell. If we hear next year that things are the same, we'll know that they didn't listen, but hopefully that won't be the case.

But definitely, before I get tickets, I'd like some assurances that they're trying to work out logistics.

[Griffin Gastropub]

Posters,

Thanks to everyone for coming out, and supporting craft beer, and our little festival.

We definitely had some issues at the event, as we have had in the past. Our goal is to improve every year, and not make the same mistakes twice. There is always feedback, positive and negative, and we make adjustments based on recurring themes.

Our biggest issues were food, washrooms, and rinse stations.

We decided to try the food passport idea, to ensure that if you were looking to eat a meal's worth of food, that you'd have to hit multiple vendors. The theme of the day is sampling, after all. This back-fired slightly, as we had a near-sellout turnout, coupled with immense popularity of The Burger Bar. By the time the burger shortage was brought to our attention, early in session 2, it was too late to remedy.

A big part of what we believe in is eliminating waste. Some food vendors do not have the means to store/re-use product that is unsold. Our ability to order the proper amounts of food for our anticipated attendance is an inexact science.

That said, popular vendors/products are EXPECTED to sell out before the end of a session. Our most popular beers sold out, as well as the burgers. There was still plenty of food and beer on-site as a whole.

A big reason we changed the ticket pricing scheme was feedback from previous years; many people didn't like the double dip...pay for admission at the door, walk 50 feet to pay for drink tickets. We think 'all inclusive' really does work for the beer. We'll have a better solution for food next year.

WASHROOMS : We offered the Lounge space to Central City Brewery to conduct some market research, which lasted far longer than anticipated, as they had trouble getting participants. Even once the large washrooms were open, it was difficult to get the word out. We will have them open next year, and have a venue map available to everyone.

The music and rinse stations are an easy fix.

Any other comments or improvements, please get back to me:
curt@thegriffinpub.ca

I'll try to get onto Bar Towel a little more regularly for updates and answers.

Upcoming Griffin Pub Parking Lot Parties:
SAT JUN 30 - Dress like your fave Canadian, Poutine Bar, Great Lakes Brewery, Blue Moon (band)
SUN JUL 1 - Battle of Wits, hosted by Cass & Brewery Market, Griffin Pub Band
FRI AUG 3 - Midnight Madness, Laganza (band), Beau's & Sawdust City
SAT AUG 11 - Cottage Country Comedy Party
SAT AUG 25 - Muskoka Beer Festival Wrap Party, Mill St & Flying Monkeys & Spearhead, Laganza (band)
SAT SEP 1 - Hillbilly Hoedown, Lake of Bays, Band TBA

Muskoka Beer Festival - August 25 - Bracebridge, ON
Hastings Beer Festival - October 13 - Stirling, ON
Websites for both launch next week.

[JerCraigs]

Thanks for taking the time to respond, cheers!