The Bar Towel

detritus wrote:

Torontoblue wrote:

detritus wrote:That said, I'm pretty curious about the reason for the big price increase this year. If anybody has any info - please share.

(Also, the value will depend somewhat on the price of extra sample tickets. If they're inexpensive, the price-per-pint goes down pretty quickly.)

-Josh

Because every year that Cask Days has run, Volo hasn't made a cent. It's about time a little bit of cash was made for the hard working owners, don't ya think?

Yes, I do think, hence my later post: "I'll be extra peased if Ralph doesn't have to take a loss on the event and Colon Cancer Canada can make a few bucks."

Torontoblue wrote:You know, if Ralph wasn't so passionate about this event and the continuation of it, I wouldn't blame him if he came on here, saw all the bitchin' and complainin' and decided to jack it all in. Some just wanna step back and look at the big picture of what this event takes to organise. If I was running this event I wouldn't sell one ticket to the ones questioning the price!!!!!!!!

I thought I was pretty clear. I don't begrudge Ralph a bit of profit. Especially nice since he's giving some proceeds to charity. I was just surprised by the magnitude of the price increase and curious if there were any non-obvious factors behind it.

To reiterate: I'm neither bitchin' nor complainin'. I'm not "questioning the price", as I said, I'd happily pay a lot more for this event. I'm just curious. I'm still going to buy tickets and enjoy the event, like I have for the last few years.

-Josh

Well, you seem to be questioning everything regards the price increases when it's clearly been stated earlier in the thread the reasons for this. If anything, your recent postings are coming across as very confused. Almost troll like!!!!!

Torontoblue wrote:

detritus wrote:

Torontoblue wrote: Because every year that Cask Days has run, Volo hasn't made a cent. It's about time a little bit of cash was made for the hard working owners, don't ya think?

Yes, I do think, hence my later post: "I'll be extra peased if Ralph doesn't have to take a loss on the event and Colon Cancer Canada can make a few bucks."

Torontoblue wrote:You know, if Ralph wasn't so passionate about this event and the continuation of it, I wouldn't blame him if he came on here, saw all the bitchin' and complainin' and decided to jack it all in. Some just wanna step back and look at the big picture of what this event takes to organise. If I was running this event I wouldn't sell one ticket to the ones questioning the price!!!!!!!!

I thought I was pretty clear. I don't begrudge Ralph a bit of profit. Especially nice since he's giving some proceeds to charity. I was just surprised by the magnitude of the price increase and curious if there were any non-obvious factors behind it.

To reiterate: I'm neither bitchin' nor complainin'. I'm not "questioning the price", as I said, I'd happily pay a lot more for this event. I'm just curious. I'm still going to buy tickets and enjoy the event, like I have for the last few years.

-Josh

Well, you seem to be questioning everything regards the price increases when it's clearly been stated earlier in the thread the reasons for this. If anything, your recent postings are coming across as very confused. Almost troll like!!!!!

Which part is confusing you? I'd be happy to be clearer, if needed.

Also: Yes, like you say, I'm questioning the price increase. Not complaining, or bitching about it. Questioning price increases is one of those things responsible consumers do. As I've said several times now, I'm happy to pay more for this event, I think its still well worth the cost.

I'll ignore that "troll-like" comment.

-Josh

Torontoblue wrote:Because every year that Cask Days has run, Volo hasn't made a cent. It's about time a little bit of cash was made for the hard working owners, don't ya think?

i couldn't agree more. raise the price to $50 and i'll still be going without a second thought.

(not directed at you or any one person in particular, just my general reaction to this thread and the ones like it every year...)

i don't quite remember whether it was the first or second cask fest (i think the second), but i clearly remember opening the bag of goodies that came with my $20 ticket and seeing 10x $2 drink tickets, a glass, tickets for cheese and snacks, and a bunch of printed info on the various beers and other offerings. the first thing i said was "wait - we paid $20 to get in, yet getting that back right away in drink tickets, plus a glass, plus food, etc... how is it that ralph isn't bankrupt yet?".

i've seen the work that goes into planning and organizing this, the extra effort involved in coordinating dozens of casks from all over the province, the setup and teardown, the sleepless nights watching over the beer-filled patio, and innumerable other items that go into making cask days THE BEST event in ontario (and likely more). in all honesty i know that ralph will at best break even, even at this year's $35 ticket price. prices on everything are high, especially this year, and the guy has a heart of gold so you know that charity will see a big piece of the pie as they do every year. he does this because he loves the beer, and loves to make us happy by sharing that beer.

the biggest downer about every cask fest is always the few little negative nancys that have to say their piece. they don't like the price, or the beer, or the ticket sale method, etc. every year there's always someone who has to bitch and leave a bad taste in the mouth of all those that pour their heart and soul into this event. it's a shame that something so great can be tarnished by a vocal minority. i challenge anyone who has ANY complaint about this event, past or present, to propose a better solution.

the reality is that ralph has consistently increased the size of this event while still maintaining the quality and integrity of it. if you're too blind to see that i suggest you go spend your $35 somewhere else because i'd rather see you go whine about the poor LCBO selection or some other topic rather than lend any negativity to this world-class event.

All right. You folks want to know where the money is going? I painstakingly did this analysis of the ticket cost.

(OK OK, I copied and pasted it from caskdays.com)

Ticket Price Breakdown ($35)
Admission $8.00
Event charity $2.00
10 Beer Tickets $10.00
Cheese $6.80
Glass $4.00
GST $1.54
PST $2.60

--

Ah good, I don't feel so bad for snacking on so much cheese last year! (Plus, it was nice to be able to buy some cheese to bring home to the missus.)

Looks like it will be $2-$3 for subsequent samples.

sstackho wrote:Ticket Price Breakdown ($35)
Admission $8.00
Event charity $2.00
10 Beer Tickets $10.00
Cheese $6.80
Glass $4.00
GST $1.54
PST $2.60

But that only adds up to $34.94!!!

That means Volo is going to be pocketing 6 CENTS for every ticket they sell!!!!!

WHAT A RIP-OFF!!!!!!!!

the biggest downer about every cask fest is always the few little negative nancys that have to say their piece. they don't like the price, or the beer, or the ticket sale method, etc. every year there's always someone who has to bitch and leave a bad taste in the mouth of all those that pour their heart and soul into this event. it's a shame that something so great can be tarnished by a vocal minority. i challenge anyone who has ANY complaint about this event, past or present, to propose a better solution.

Thank you. It gets pretty tiresome and embarrasing to read the petty comments that seem to follow events like these. Or the pricing of Southern Tier. Or whatever.
I like to think of Bartowel as a valuable resource for both the knowledgeable and the new, but the carping about minutiae doesn't help.

Let's all try not to forget that this is a discussion forum. Last time I checked no relevant thread is disallowed assuming it's reasonable and topical. People have a right to express their concern when something increases in price by 350%. Ralph and Volo have since justified that expense and now it's up to those who took issue with it to decide whether to attend or not. That's fair and valid IMHO.

I also piled scorn on the questioners until I ran the math (poorly) and realized they had a point. It doesn't change my respect for Ralph, the event or my intention to attend. If Ralph were to chuck it all in since a few folks wondered what motivated (or required) the increase I'd be hugely suprised. It's simply commerce and no business man discounts the voices of the market no matter how fringe.

So let's all calm down and take the rhetoric down a notch?

See you in the ticket line up.

Jon Walker wrote:Let's all try not to forget that this is a discussion forum. Last time I checked no relevant thread is disallowed assuming it's reasonable and topical. People have a right to express their concern when something increases in price by 350%. Ralph and Volo have since justified that expense and now it's up to those who took issue with it to decide whether to attend or not. That's fair and valid IMHO.

I also piled scorn on the questioners until I ran the math (poorly) and realized they had a point. It doesn't change my respect for Ralph, the event or my intention to attend. If Ralph were to chuck it all in since a few folks wondered what motivated (or required) the increase I'd be hugely suprised. It's simply commerce and no business man discounts the voices of the market no matter how fringe.

+1 for sanity and rationality.

From now on I'll try to restrict my posts here to unabashed praise for things beer geeks are supposed to like (micros, beer bars, Buffalo, indy events, etc.) and scorn for things we aren't (TBS, macros, TFOB, etc.). Clearly there's no room or respect for a middle ground or nuanced discussion here.

So let's all calm down and take the rhetoric down a notch?

Oops.

See you in the ticket line up.

I'll be there.

-Josh

sstackho wrote:All right. You folks want to know where the money is going? I painstakingly did this analysis of the ticket cost.

(OK OK, I copied and pasted it from caskdays.com)

Ticket Price Breakdown ($35)
Admission $8.00
Event charity $2.00
10 Beer Tickets $10.00
Cheese $6.80
Glass $4.00
GST $1.54
PST $2.60

--

Ah good, I don't feel so bad for snacking on so much cheese last year! (Plus, it was nice to be able to buy some cheese to bring home to the missus.)

Looks like it will be $2-$3 for subsequent samples.

Awesome. This certainly quenches my curiosity. Looks like good value and a decent take for Ralph and the charity. Hopefully Ralph is able to recover his costs out of the $8 admission portion.

-Josh

detritus wrote:Quare: Will there be beer left on Sunday? Will it be "what's left" after the Friday and Saturday crowds have been through the most interesting offerings? Are the breweries bringing more than one cask each this year?

I'm sort of assuming Ralph is on top of this, just curious how it works

According to Ralph, via email:

"The event will start with 24 or 28 casks. In total there may be up to 46 casks. My thoughts this year, was to replace a firkin one at the time (as one finished, one would come up from the cooler)."

As with other aspects regarding the event, this is subject to change, but that seems to be the plan for now.

most of the cask offerings are now...up!

Just heard from a friend who is waiting to buy tickets that punters started lining up at 9 a.m. this morning.

As of 2:30 PM or so today, there were still tickets available for most of the sessions. I believe Saturday afternoon was the only one completely sold out (except for a couple of the brunch-inclusive ones). So those who couldn't make it today should still be able to get tickets for at least the next couple of days.

GregClow wrote:As of 2:30 PM or so today, there were still tickets available for most of the sessions. I believe Saturday afternoon was the only one completely sold out (except for a couple of the brunch-inclusive ones). So those who couldn't make it today should still be able to get tickets for at least the next couple of days.

Nuh-uh. Saturday was completely sold out before 1pm--all sessions.

denguy wrote:Nuh-uh. Saturday was completely sold out before 1pm--all sessions.

Sorry, my mistake. I thought that Ralph said there were still a few left for the brunch and the Sat evening.