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Timmons Pettigrew
COAST represents at WBF.
World Beer Festival Columbia showcases shallow beer fun
In the interest of full disclosure, I'm a committed beer geek who has long since drank the proverbial craft beer kool-aid.
I'm always seeking out the next release, the next new brewery to hit SC, and the beers getting the most hype on sites like BeerAdvocate. It's an obsessive hobby, which is great for me because I only have two speeds when it comes to interests: total geeked-out devotion and utter disdain. This probably explains why I love comic books so much.
But I digress. This weekend my wife and I made the trip to the state capital for All About Beer Magazine's second annual edition of the World Beer Festival held at the Columbia Convention Center. This was our first WBF, so we splurged for VIP tickets, got a nearby hotel, and hoped for the best.
I knew a little about this festival before attending. Basically, the magazine does its best to get breweries to send free beer for samples, and the staff is largely volunteer. This makes for very few brewery reps, and a debatable balance of low ticket prices and high profit margin.
This business model was very apparent throughout the festival, in what I would consider a bad way. One couldn't deny this was a beer-centric event, but the experience of trying a brewery's wares consisted of walking up to an uninformed volunteer (no fault of their own), getting a fill, and walking off. There was plenty of opportunity to sample a vast selection of beers, but relatively little info was available. Likewise, because of the "free sample" business model, most breweries were represented by beers that are readily available in any sizeable beer store.
That said, there were exceptions, and these exceptions were largely along regional lines. Charleston's own COAST Brewing was fully represented by Jaime and David's warm presence, both in their own booth and the adjacent SC Brewers' Association booth. The entire Thomas Creek gang was on hand in their matching coveralls. Foothills was gracious enough to send up some of their yet-to-be-released 2010 Sexual Chocolate Imperial Stout, a real unlisted treat and festival highlight. The list could go on, but not for very long.
In retrospect, I had fun, and so did everyone I talked to that attended. I got my beer geek itch scratched by COAST and Foothills in particular, and sampled a lot of beers I might not have bought otherwise. However, if you care about the story of beer, the process of that delectable treat getting from the fermenter to your lips, this was largely not the fest for you. It's time to start looking forward to Brewvival, which promises to be a smaller, more focused, and more geek-oriented event. WBF left me with more festival fever than I started with, and the only cure is more cowbell. Er ... you get the idea.
A few photos of this year's WBF can be found at my Flickr page.
17 Jan 2010 10:44 am.
One important point that you might not be aware, is that brewers are not allowed (by SC law) to pour beer to the public at those events, hence the reason for volunteer crew.
Timmons Pettigrew
17 Jan 2010 4:36 pm.
I did not know that J.P., very interesting. I wouldn't think this alone would deter reps from showing up though? The reps that were there were great, kudos to them for coming out. Definitely enhanced the experience at their booths.
Timmons Pettigrew
17 Jan 2010 4:47 pm.
CORRECTION: Just got word from Foothills that the Sexual Chocolate was the 2008 vintage.
17 Jan 2010 8:28 pm.
TP:
I was at the World Beer Festival in Columbia yesterday and I write for All About Beer Magazine, the organizers of the event.
I just wanted to let you know that South Carolina does not allow brewers of distributors pour beer at festivals. A number of brewers were at the event, as well as sales reps. I can tell you it is as frustrating to them as it is to you that they cannot be behind the table serving their beers, but many were close by talking to beer fans.
The WBF provided a great program guide that listed all of the beers served, with information on each one. Obviously, not the same as being able to ask questions of the brewer, but a good step. Also, the WBF had three tutored tastings during each session of the fest. Each one featured a beer writer taking guests through 5-6 selected beers. All of those sessions were well attended.
Just about every beer festival has room for improvement, but I think having the WBF in Columbia is a great thing for South Carolina beer fans.
Cheers!
Rick
17 Jan 2010 9:31 pm.
I have been to over 100 beer festivals in my time, and I actually rated Columbia's in the Top-5. Not because I live here, not because I was a volunteer, but because of the set-up, the building, the selection of beers, the ease of getting beers (I've stood WAY too many times in long lines for beers), etc.
Sure, it would be great to have more reps be present on site. The associated travel costs may dictate that it's not possible for all the breweries to send a rep.
As far as the brewing process, etc., I think that the people that did conferences were very knowledgeable in their fields. I did not attend the conferences (I was volunteering) but heard good feedback from people that did.
As far as the profits and what they were... I'm not familiar with the "rake" but I have to think that renting the Convention Center is not cheap! Sure, using a park in the middle of the summer would be much cheaper.
The majority of the beer fests that I have been to are in the same price range (30-40$) for unlimited tastings. Last year I was miffed a little bit at the Vermont Brewers Festival... they charged 25$ and we were given 15x3-oz tickets. So it's a limit of the equivalent of 3 pints... and their additional tickets were TWO dollars each... which would mean that an additional "pint" would cost 10$!
JP
Timmons Pettigrew
17 Jan 2010 10:51 pm.
Rick - agreed! I support any and all efforts to grow beer culture in SC, that's why I attended WBF. And as I said, I had a lot of fun, and would consider going again. The fact that I didn't feel it was "geeky" enough for me is probably a good thing for a fest of that size. Let's face it, most people aren't geeks, and it's just as if not more important that there are beer events catering to them if we want beer culture to grow. Hence my disclaimer - I reviewed it from my personal perspective, which is not that of the average joe.
JP - Didn't mean to imply that the price was too much, quite the contrary, I thought the ticket price was very reasonable. But my impression (right or wrong) was that the low price is made possible by the largely donated beer, the all-volunteer staff, and relative lack of brew reps. Just one man's opinion, nothing more.
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