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Cask Days - Oct 24-26, 2014

Post details, reviews and recaps of interesting beer events in Ontario and elsewhere here.

Moderators: Craig, Cass

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lister
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Post by lister »

Great event. I brought a rookie with me this year. He had a good time. I managed to have 21 of 41 beers that I wanted to try. I didn't drink enough water so I tapered off towards the end.

The pre-admitting and pre-purchasing of tokens was excellent. No time wasted getting in. Nice to know I'm not the only consistent early-bird to events. In the early hour I managed to get done my California selections. The crowd size for that early session was good. With the weather on Saturday afternoon being mostly good it wasn't as uncomfortable moving around inside. More seating was available which was good.

Didn't have any washroom delays. The first visit was the outside washrooms where I was the third person in line. I tried again later but the lineup was significantly longer. I tried the indoor Brickworks ones and that took no longer than five minutes. Maybe figure out a way to get more portapotties to minimize the wasted time waiting in line for those that had that issue.

I seriously thought about the Sunday session but wound up being productive at home. If the same format is done next year, a Sunday visit will likely happen.

Great venue though I still hate the location. There was some chatter in line about where to go if the event gets bigger... Skydome! :P
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Cass
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Post by Cass »

A great time as always. Loved the early admission, and selfishly hoped it would never end :)

That being said, I found the crowd extremely manageable and there was barely any waits to get up to the serving areas.

As an event organizer myself, it's always challenging to get the correct # of porta-potties for something like this. Not to get too crude but they might want to consider a walk-through "trough" that Beau's had at Oktoberfest. It's a small footprint and gets the boys though quickly.

Oh, and the beer was pretty good too :)

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lister
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Post by lister »

I joked about a trough (ala Maple Leaf Gardens) while in line at the Brickworks washrooms. I think the ladies would support that as it should divert many guys from the portapotties.
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midlife crisis
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Post by midlife crisis »

Brickworks washroom was off limits on Friday night for some reason - glad to see it got opened up for the rest of the festival. What is the ratio of men to women at Cask Days -- 3:1 perhaps? "Processing" guys quickly a very good idea.

midlife crisis
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Post by midlife crisis »

Some personal favourites: Greg Nash Terroir Wet Hop IPA; Dieu du Ciel Isseki Nicho with Amarillo; Coronado Idiot Double IPA; Brassneck Inertia II Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout. So many more, of course, that looked great but didn't have time or liver capacity to try.

A
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Post by A »

Cass wrote:A great time as always. Loved the early admission, and selfishly hoped it would never end :)

That being said, I found the crowd extremely manageable and there was barely any waits to get up to the serving areas.

As an event organizer myself, it's always challenging to get the correct # of porta-potties for something like this. Not to get too crude but they might want to consider a walk-through "trough" that Beau's had at Oktoberfest. It's a small footprint and gets the boys though quickly.

Oh, and the beer was pretty good too :)
The answer should be to figure out what formula they use in the U.S. and apply it here. Beer Fests and Music Festivals seem to be chronically under-serviced with porta-potties in Canada. In contrast, never seems to be a problem in the states.

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Cass
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Post by Cass »

A wrote:
Cass wrote:A great time as always. Loved the early admission, and selfishly hoped it would never end :)

That being said, I found the crowd extremely manageable and there was barely any waits to get up to the serving areas.

As an event organizer myself, it's always challenging to get the correct # of porta-potties for something like this. Not to get too crude but they might want to consider a walk-through "trough" that Beau's had at Oktoberfest. It's a small footprint and gets the boys though quickly.

Oh, and the beer was pretty good too :)
The answer should be to figure out what formula they use in the U.S. and apply it here. Beer Fests and Music Festivals seem to be chronically under-serviced with porta-potties in Canada. In contrast, never seems to be a problem in the states.
Ah, if only all Canadian fests can be like their American counterparts in so many ways...

It comes down to accessible space (to move in-and-out easily) & of course cost with porta-potties. There's a lot of extra space at the Brick Works because clearly the parking lots aren't being used to capacity as it's a beer festival. So the decision is then one of cost. PPs are likely more expensive here (as are most things) than the U.S., so organizers feel they get can away with fewer & save the money at the expense of a slightly sub-optimal experience. That's the Canadian way, not just Cask Days.

Hence my reco of a trough, it would be good value with a high return of guest satisfaction :)

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Craig
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Post by Craig »

Cass wrote:
A wrote:
Cass wrote:A great time as always. Loved the early admission, and selfishly hoped it would never end :)

That being said, I found the crowd extremely manageable and there was barely any waits to get up to the serving areas.

As an event organizer myself, it's always challenging to get the correct # of porta-potties for something like this. Not to get too crude but they might want to consider a walk-through "trough" that Beau's had at Oktoberfest. It's a small footprint and gets the boys though quickly.

Oh, and the beer was pretty good too :)
The answer should be to figure out what formula they use in the U.S. and apply it here. Beer Fests and Music Festivals seem to be chronically under-serviced with porta-potties in Canada. In contrast, never seems to be a problem in the states.
Ah, if only all Canadian fests can be like their American counterparts in so many ways...

It comes down to accessible space (to move in-and-out easily) & of course cost with porta-potties. There's a lot of extra space at the Brick Works because clearly the parking lots aren't being used to capacity as it's a beer festival. So the decision is then one of cost. PPs are likely more expensive here (as are most things) than the U.S., so organizers feel they get can away with fewer & save the money at the expense of a slightly sub-optimal experience. That's the Canadian way, not just Cask Days.

Hence my reco of a trough, it would be good value with a high return of guest satisfaction :)
Seemed like parking was at a premium when I was in line. Lots of people who were just there for the farmer's market and such wondering what we were all lined up for.

It's tough with that space, I can see why it's a bit of a struggle. The problem seems to me they want to limit the access a little bit, meaning they can't just scatter PPs all over the place, they want segregated areas for them. They could maybe do something in the area the ciders were or maybe in back where I assume the pinball machines were, but that's all predicated on brickworks actually letting them put them indoors, which they might not.

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Cass
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Post by Cass »

Craig wrote:
Cass wrote:
A wrote: The answer should be to figure out what formula they use in the U.S. and apply it here. Beer Fests and Music Festivals seem to be chronically under-serviced with porta-potties in Canada. In contrast, never seems to be a problem in the states.
Ah, if only all Canadian fests can be like their American counterparts in so many ways...

It comes down to accessible space (to move in-and-out easily) & of course cost with porta-potties. There's a lot of extra space at the Brick Works because clearly the parking lots aren't being used to capacity as it's a beer festival. So the decision is then one of cost. PPs are likely more expensive here (as are most things) than the U.S., so organizers feel they get can away with fewer & save the money at the expense of a slightly sub-optimal experience. That's the Canadian way, not just Cask Days.

Hence my reco of a trough, it would be good value with a high return of guest satisfaction :)
Seemed like parking was at a premium when I was in line. Lots of people who were just there for the farmer's market and such wondering what we were all lined up for.

It's tough with that space, I can see why it's a bit of a struggle. The problem seems to me they want to limit the access a little bit, meaning they can't just scatter PPs all over the place, they want segregated areas for them. They could maybe do something in the area the ciders were or maybe in back where I assume the pinball machines were, but that's all predicated on brickworks actually letting them put them indoors, which they might not.
Ah, sorry, you're completely right. I was basing my note on Friday night when I went. At that time the side parking lot near the Cask Days main entrance did have quite a bit of space and could have easily had more PPs.

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JerCraigs
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Post by JerCraigs »

Cass wrote: Not to get too crude but they might want to consider a walk-through "trough" that Beau's had at Oktoberfest. It's a small footprint and gets the boys though quickly.
I agree, one or two of those would have made a significant difference in "throughput". Access to the indoor bathrooms seemed to be wildly variable, as were the lines at the porta-potties.

In general, if the line takes long enough that I go from "I have to pee" to "I think my bladder is going to explode" before the front of the line then there's not enough toilets :) In terms of cost, I'm betting they actually lost $5+ per person in sales due to toilet lineups so a few more toilets would have at least broken even! It's not something they have total control over though either unfortunately.

Toilets aside I had a great time again at Sessions 1 & 2. The space was great as always and showed the work everyone puts into decorating. Had a lot of solid beers, though I have to confess that most of my highlights were from Ontario and Quebec. (I personally wish California would stop ruining good IPAs with hot peppers - in general, not just at Cask Days - but some people enjoy that.) We bailed on the Sunday session in favour of sleeping late but I heard it was excellent.

We went back for seconds of the sandwiches at Porchetta. Om nom nom!

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