Session Toronto - June 22nd

[Kish84]

I'm sorry but I find all these collaborations with musicians\celebrities and local DJ's (?) so gimmicky.

Focus on the beer and not what celebrity wants to throw their name on a label.

I think it's great personally. I imagine that it would help bring more exposure to craft beer, more exposure could lead to more bars serving craft beer.

[NRman]

I'm sorry but I find all these collaborations with musicians\celebrities and local DJ's (?) so gimmicky.

Focus on the beer and not what celebrity wants to throw their name on a label.

I think it's great personally. I imagine that it would help bring more exposure to craft beer, more exposure could lead to more bars serving craft beer.

What Kish said. You can't hit the ball if you don't swing the bat, even if you have to foul a few off in the process!!

[IPA_Lover]

I'm sorry but I find all these collaborations with musicians\celebrities and local DJ's (?) so gimmicky.

Focus on the beer and not what celebrity wants to throw their name on a label.

Having not tried any of the beers, who are you to instruct these brewers to 'focus on the beer?'

Why I'm the King of Beer silly! Who are you to question me on who I am?

[IPA_Lover]

I'm sorry but I find all these collaborations with musicians\celebrities and local DJ's (?) so gimmicky.

Focus on the beer and not what celebrity wants to throw their name on a label.

I think it's great personally. I imagine that it would help bring more exposure to craft beer, more exposure could lead to more bars serving craft beer.

Craft beer is doing pretty damn well on its own don't you think? Judging by the sold out events and craft beer on tap all over the place now as well as the variety of beer avail in the LCBO.

I don't need a Dean Blundell Porter or Justin Bieber IIPA, do you?

[nickw]

But give me a Miles Davis Bitches Brew, please!

[IPA_Lover]

But give me a Miles Davis Bitches Brew, please!

I can make an exception for that!

[ritzkiss]

I'm sorry but I find all these collaborations with musicians\celebrities and local DJ's (?) so gimmicky.

Focus on the beer and not what celebrity wants to throw their name on a label.

I think it's great personally. I imagine that it would help bring more exposure to craft beer, more exposure could lead to more bars serving craft beer.

Craft beer is doing pretty damn well on its own don't you think? Judging by the sold out events and craft beer on tap all over the place now as well as the variety of beer avail in the LCBO.

I don't need a Dean Blundell Porter or Justin Bieber IIPA, do you?

Meh, who cares what it's called or if Bieber's tears are the special ingredient in it - if it's good beer, it's good beer. There are lots of other factors I care about a whole lot more than the name a celebrity might have lent the beer.

[PeenSteen]

I'm sorry but I find all these collaborations with musicians\celebrities and local DJ's (?) so gimmicky.

Focus on the beer and not what celebrity wants to throw their name on a label.

Having not tried any of the beers, who are you to instruct these brewers to 'focus on the beer?'

Why I'm the King of Beer silly! Who are you to question me on who I am?

You should have made that your screen name instead of IPA_Lover

[IPA_Lover]

Having not tried any of the beers, who are you to instruct these brewers to 'focus on the beer?'

Why I'm the King of Beer silly! Who are you to question me on who I am?

You should have made that your screen name instead of IPA_Lover

Brilliant. Hopefully it's not already taken.

[lister]

For those that went this year and last year, were any or all of the criticisms addressed?

So far from a small sampling of comments on the BlogTO article there were some execution issues.

[JesseMcG]

I had a good time... my biggest complaint (other than the fucking humidity) was that I waited in the wrong line for ages. I bought my ticket online the day before, and waited with my printed receipt in the ticket-holder line. I arrived at 3:45pm and waited in that line until I reached the front, to be told that I had to get to the back of the other line, which by that point was huge, and horribly slow. The security guy at the front gate was letting 1-2 people in at a time, and there were two girls looking up names for tickets. One line for names A-L, one line for M-Z. The A-L line wasn't very popular for the amount of time I was at the front and could tell, so it amounted to 1 girl getting people their tickets for a pretty long period of time.

So I arrived at 3:45 and got into the venue at 5pm. Probably my own stupidity is to blame but the same thing that happened to me happened to a bunch of others as well. It would have been nice if someone went down the line telling people the deal.

EDIT: Also - it was rammed. Line-ups for beer weren't an issue... but standing/sitting somewhere out of the way after getting your beer was an issue. The volleyball court was stupid.

[groulxsome]

I've been wondering how others felt about this event. Here is my run down:

The Good

- The beer. The quality of the collaborations was great.
- Access to beer. Short lines for the breweries made getting beer really easy. As did the "all you can drink" aspect.
- The brewers. As much as I love Cask Days, it's really nice to have someone from the brewery to talk to about the beer as they pour. It's a little less reminiscent of the "Beer Store" type list from Cask Days.
- The music. Not too loud, not to obtrusive.
- The glass. Nice and solid.

The Bad

- Crowded. There were places you could find some reprieve from the crowd, but it was pretty tight. The main path through the tents was often hard to navigate and if you wanted to sit down you were often out of luck. Not great.
- The Volleyball. Why have something like 1/8th of your crowded venue put aside for a small group of volleyball players? It came off to me as a little privileged and didn't really set the right vibe at all.

The Ugly

- Water. Where was it? I heard maybe you could get some at the first aid tent? The little water fountain right by the music stage? Events that are focused on drinking really ought to have a large and very clearly marked water station. The Roundhouse Craft beer event last year had water set up almost as another brewery, which was great. I shouldn't feel like I have to go to the first aid tent to get water. It's part of drinking responsibly. Maybe I could have gotten some water from the bathroom, but then...
- Bathrooms. Line up for days. For a short event, to have to put 20 minutes aside to try to get to the bathroom is not acceptable. Put some extra bathrooms over the volleyball court or something. 20 minutes isn't a long period of time, but if you had to use the washrooms twice in the 5 hours you just paid about $6 to wait in a smelly bathroom line.
- Getting in. $6, assuming you paid $50 for the five hours, which would be hard considering the line up to get in. Two unmarked lines? Names organized by first name? For a short event getting in shouldn't take an hour. That's another $10 paid for just waiting to get in. (Again, I'm using the dubious $10/hour math for this event.)
- The "Glass Washing Station." Basically this was set up like something from Just For Laughs Gags. A filthy bottle brush which should have had water jets shoot through it when pushed on resulted in water spraying everywhere and no one getting a clean glass for a long time. Germ feast. Have a water station with a trough for rinsing glasses.

---

Overall, I enjoyed myself but the addition of some picknick tables and porta potties over the volleyball court, a simple set of 4 water taps over a tough for rinsing glasses and drinking water, and a more streamlined entry system would have made the event really great. For the price, a little thought to water and washrooms would have given it a lot more dignity. Honestly, there I three things I look for in a beer festival - beer quality, water access, washroom access - and this didn't do too well on those latter two.

[JesseMcG]

I've been wondering how others felt about this event. Here is my run down:

The Good

- The beer. The quality of the collaborations was great.
- Access to beer. Short lines for the breweries made getting beer really easy. As did the "all you can drink" aspect.
- The brewers. As much as I love Cask Days, it's really nice to have someone from the brewery to talk to about the beer as they pour. It's a little less reminiscent of the "Beer Store" type list from Cask Days.
- The music. Not too loud, not to obtrusive.
- The glass. Nice and solid.

The Bad

- Crowded. There were places you could find some reprieve from the crowd, but it was pretty tight. The main path through the tents was often hard to navigate and if you wanted to sit down you were often out of luck. Not great.
- The Volleyball. Why have something like 1/8th of your crowded venue put aside for a small group of volleyball players? It came off to me as a little privileged and didn't really set the right vibe at all.

The Ugly

- Water. Where was it? I heard maybe you could get some at the first aid tent? The little water fountain right by the music stage? Events that are focused on drinking really ought to have a large and very clearly marked water station. The Roundhouse Craft beer event last year had water set up almost as another brewery, which was great. I shouldn't feel like I have to go to the first aid tent to get water. It's part of drinking responsibly. Maybe I could have gotten some water from the bathroom, but then...
- Bathrooms. Line up for days. For a short event, to have to put 20 minutes aside to try to get to the bathroom is not acceptable. Put some extra bathrooms over the volleyball court or something. 20 minutes isn't a long period of time, but if you had to use the washrooms twice in the 5 hours you just paid about $6 to wait in a smelly bathroom line.
- Getting in. $6, assuming you paid $50 for the five hours, which would be hard considering the line up to get in. Two unmarked lines? Names organized by first name? For a short event getting in shouldn't take an hour. That's another $10 paid for just waiting to get in. (Again, I'm using the dubious $10/hour math for this event.)
- The "Glass Washing Station." Basically this was set up like something from Just For Laughs Gags. A filthy bottle brush which should have had water jets shoot through it when pushed on resulted in water spraying everywhere and no one getting a clean glass for a long time. Germ feast. Have a water station with a trough for rinsing glasses.

---

Overall, I enjoyed myself but the addition of some picknick tables and porta potties over the volleyball court, a simple set of 4 water taps over a tough for rinsing glasses and drinking water, and a more streamlined entry system would have made the event really great. For the price, a little thought to water and washrooms would have given it a lot more dignity. Honestly, there I three things I look for in a beer festival - beer quality, water access, washroom access - and this didn't do too well on those latter two.

Exactly this.

I skipped the bathroom line, went out the back door, walked across the open field and pissed on a tree up against a fence. The bathroom lines were absurd.

[Cass]

Luckily I live around the corner and could just go home to use the washroom. The lack of porta potties is inexcusable. If this was an Artscape responsibility as was referenced earlier then they seriously need to get their act together.

I applaud anyone who wants to take it on themselves to organize an event like this. I know it's a lot of work. But the lines, crowds, washrooms and lack of space management hindered the overall experience. Take the event with half the people and everyone would have loved it.

[Griffin Gastropub]

Thanks to all who came out. It was by far our best attended event, but again had it's hiccups. Thanks to all for all your critiques and suggestions.

Regarding the WASHROOMS: you can imagine our horror when we found out the porta-potties wouldn't arrive in time. Last year we had a washroom debacle, and we made sure we had enough porta-potties reserved that we would be well beyond comfortable. As Cass indicated, this was an Artscape supplier.

Regarding the COLLAB BEERS: there were some complaints in this thread that it may seem gimicky. I suppose it is, but what it did do is ensure that EVERY beer vendor had a unique one-off beer on site. Our patrons requested one-offs and/or cask beer, and this was our creative solution to get the breweries excited and on board.

Regarding the ENTRANCE: We had more staff and more signage allocated to the front gate from 3:30 to 5, to ensure we could handle the rush. Our hiccups with other issues inside the park meant we never got the staff we needed to the gate, nor did any of the marker-board signs get installed.

The sound/AV/electrical company showed up late, under-staffed (1 guy for 2 stages & electrical duty), and without all necessary equipment. This was again an Artscape supplier. This meant our food vendors, some of our beer vendors, and both stages were not ready when the festival gates opened at 4. We were forced to 'steal' staff/volunteers from front gate & inventory teams to get all of our vendors up and running.

Regarding the SPACE: We are having terrible luck with event spaces in our 4 years of the fest. Sunnyside Pavillion & Sudbury 99 both double booked our follow-up dates, forcing us to find new locations. We love the accessibility of Wychwood Barns, as well as the combination of indoor/outdoor space. As with a new house, you can only best-guess where people will gravitate, until you actually host a party. Assuming we're back at Wychwood, we will either be shrinking the crowd by 25%, growing the usable space by 25%, or hosting multiple sessions with smaller crowds.

Regarding the WATER: There was drinking water available all day at the first aid tent, and free bottles at the Griffin Bar inside. The food vendors all had bottled water for sale if you were desperate. We were unable to source a public-use glasswasher (like at Mondial), so we had one constructed. It failed when put to use by 2000 patrons.

We're very sorry for the hiccups, especially the washrooms. A day with hiccups means we, the organizers & our staff/volunteers, spend all day stressed and running around. We aren't in the business of maliciously sabotaging our awesome customer base. We hope to retain the safe, happy, educated drinkers who attend our events for years to come.

Please continue to let us know what improvements we can make, and what you enjoyed about the fest.

Hopefully we'll see you at the pub this summer, or maybe even at Session Muskoka (www.muskokabeerfestival.ca)