The Bar Towel

Uh ... well, I'm a relative newcomer to shipping beer in trades - I've done exactly two cross-border.

I pad the inside of a large heavy-duty cardboard box with extra cardboard, bubble-wrap, styrofoam - espcially the bottom. I triple-wrap each bottle in small bubble bubblewrap, making sure to protect the cap end. I layer the bottles mixed in with newspaper, more bubblewrap, packing peanuts - making sure the necks are not near the outer walls of the box or pressing against one another. Pre-wrapping each bottle in its own plastic bag helps too, and one guy sheaths the bubblewrapped bottle in cardboard and packs newspaper in the end of each tube, but I haven't found that necessary. Make sure the top is well insulated too, that there's no movement within the box once it's sealed, wrap really well with tape - there you go! You should be able to drop the box from a foot or two and not wince.

As for shipping, I use UPS ... after that ... if you're interested in what has worked so far, PM me.

So far no problems at all - less than a week each way.

I have a box arriving tomorrow - containing, among other things, Goose Island Bourbon County Stout, Founders Imperial Stout and New Glarus Belgian Red.

Trading's fun - I recommend it.

the only way i can face another Beer Festival is to the memory of great festivals of the past. the festivals where everybody was there to enjoy an import product that they passed in the lcbo/t.b.s. with a mild interest in, or to find a new love in a craft brewer from the other side of ontario that has very limited distribution in the gta, and finally, to talk the people who actually have a hand in putting the beer into that bottle and/or keg (and not some clown that drives a pretty brewery van loaded with t-shirts and coasters). remember when you gave one ticket and they filled your plastic vessel? remember when you laughed at the molson booth because it was the only booth you could go to that was largely ignored?
i can only hope that the craft brewers association is planning to reclaim the amazing festival that was lost to the swill-hounds of ontario!

Ok, so we all agree that an OCB festival would be better, so what would it take to organize something? I find with things like this, better to start small/low-risk, perhaps a GTA-fest, invite say a maximum of 10 craft breweries, find a suitable, smaller, more intimate venue, use Bartowel as our primary advertising venue, perhaps Jon Filson could give us a mention in the Star and/or give us some advice on print advertising... Does anyone on the forum have any event mgmt experience?

JWalter wrote:Ok, so we all agree that an OCB festival would be better, so what would it take to organize something? I find with things like this, better to start small/low-risk, perhaps a GTA-fest, invite say a maximum of 10 craft breweries, find a suitable, smaller, more intimate venue, use Bartowel as our primary advertising venue, perhaps Jon Filson could give us a mention in the Star and/or give us some advice on print advertising... Does anyone on the forum have any event mgmt experience?

It almost sounds like this is exactly a larger version of the Golden Tap Awards!

It almost sounds like this is exactly a larger version of the Golden Tap Awards!

Yep, just remove the GTA restriction and voila! A pretty cool festival idea...

Sounds like a great idea to me. I'd be damn sure to attend, and I'm sure we could get a decent turnout with the appropriate advertising channels - look at the buzz generated by Volo's cask fest. Do a one-day fest at a nice venue - ideally with some outside space. Actually, now that I think of it, the patio at Allen's would be a great location. As a U of T student I'm biased, but the courtyard at Hart House would also be great, although I'm not sure how amiable to that idea they'd be, because the U of T is often pretty staid, to say the least. Nevertheless, the possibilities exist and can undoubtedly be exploited.

BeerMonger wrote:The Fort York event is run by Cottage Creek Corporation...and I think they recently morphed into a new name but I don't recall it.

There's word of another new significant event likely to take place in May...I will post details of location and focus when I hear more but beer is definitely part of the equation.

Now that the Beer and Cocktail Show May 11-13 is official if I hear of anything extraordinary I will post...