2008 St. Louis Brewers Heritage Festival
November 29, 2007 10:33 am Beer News, Brewery News
After the huge success of last year’s inaugural event, it seemed inevitable that this would be a festival that would occur for years to come. Well that’s looking to be the case as I’ve had a number of brewers confirm to me that the planning for the 2008 St. Louis Brewers Heritage Festival has already begun. The tentative dates for this event look to be May 8, 9 & 10, with a VIP event on Thursday the 8th, a session on Friday evening (the 9th) and two sessions on the 10th.
I’m here to tell you that we have the people putting this event together viewing this blog so here’s your chance to tell them what you liked and disliked last year. Perhaps an idea for the Festival Beer? Or maybe a beer demonstration you’d be interested in?
My suggestion is more education. One of my favorite parts of the festival was having the beer style with the brewery name underneath it. This allowed people to learn about the style by taste without having to judge it on the brand name alone. But I’d love to see more beer discussion in the tents. While I enjoyed the beer and food cooking demonstrations, I’d love to see maybe a tasting demonstration. This would allow people to pick up the subtleties in the beer and understand what they’re tasting.
What are some of your ideas or suggestions?
Tags: brewers heritage festival, ideas, suggestions
Willie :
Date: November 29, 2007 @ 11:32 am
More beer demos would be great. Brewing demos and or Judging demos.
I really enjoyed the even last year and I am looking forward to next years.
Sam Huff :
Date: November 29, 2007 @ 12:06 pm
I worked this event last year, here were some of the things I heard from people as I was in the Ale tent:
1) Move the pub tables outside, it bogged the lines down and made it hard to get to the beer
2) Perhaps bring some Cask Ales, something true to beer heritage
3) Put the beers in order of bitterness, so that if you went down the line you didn’t get the hoppiest beer first and ruin your pallet.
4) Better information for the pourers, most didn’t know what they were pouring or how to describe it.
5) Bar towels, nuff said
6) Different colored shirts for Tent captains, so security and staff can pick them out easily
7) A festival ale AND a festival lager
9) homebrewing demos (1 extract and 1 all grain per session)
10) Pro-brewer lectures and demos
Again, these are just comments i heard working the tents Friday and Saturday, I will be working again this year, it was soo much fun!
Jim Zavist :
Date: November 30, 2007 @ 7:55 am
Either more room or fewer people - this year’s event was too crowded (where the beer was being dispensed) for comfort and enjoyment. Something as simple as twice as many tents for the same number of tables (and twice as much space between them) would allow for a lot better circulation.
The other thought is getting it out of Forest Park - The Great American Beer Festival is held in Denver’s convention center and works great (no mud, good parking and transit access, running water in the bathrooms, and real heating and cooling). The new Busch Stadium would be a great location, while America’s Center would work well, too. I wouldn’t even object to taking it out of the city, to St. Charles’ Convention Center or to one of the universities. Heck, even put it in the vacant Dillards at Crestwood Plaza . . .
Sam Huff :
Date: November 30, 2007 @ 9:34 am
I agree that having on Lindell Field in Forest Park was a little bad, the smell of mulch dulled by senses and prevented me from enjoying the aroma of half the beers. Also, that field still hasn’t recovered from last year.
Maybe move it to a parking lot in FP. But with the 40 shutdown, I think the location should move anyways.
Bob :
Date: December 3, 2007 @ 7:16 pm
I would include more companies. I think that keeping it to brewers who produce their wort in St. Louis helped get this off the ground with AB, but it still kept out some strong St. Louis - and in that case Missouri - brewers.
I would widen it to any Missouri-owned brewer whose main market is St. Louis.
Jennifer :
Date: December 6, 2007 @ 10:58 am
Wondering if there would be a spot for home brewers to sample their brews… maybe have a contest and have one or two home brew winners samples distributed
Sam Huff :
Date: December 7, 2007 @ 5:35 pm
I don’t know if they would serve up homebrews at the festival. The ATF is heavily involved in these fests and they wouldn’t allow ditribution of an uncontrolled beverage at the festival. Now if a homebrew comp was held prior to the festival and the winning beer was brewed by one of the breweries attending, then it might be possible.
Erik Morrison :
Date: January 4, 2008 @ 3:49 pm
It was a great experience last year. I went during the afternoon session and there were no crowds and I was able to learn a lot about the beers. A more knowledgeable staff would have helped too.
Food was a sub-par, but overall had a great time and look to come back again this year. I would suggest moving to tables away from the lines since it could lead to congestion.
Curt Rosenthal :
Date: January 9, 2008 @ 3:03 pm
Had fun last year. I agree with all the comments surrounding congestion in the tents. In addition to moving the tables away from the taps, maybe more space between the taps would help. I would change the food demo to a brewing info center. Have some brewmasters, maybe a video on the brewing process. A display with the ingedients - hops to touch and smell, malted barley etc… Can’t wait!