Long Live the 2015 Festival

[tony b]

Just to kick in my thoughts, which echo some of what's been said already.

In line with needing to get an earlier start (having posters printed by Benz Fest is an excellent idea btw), I thought we were slow out of the gate when we did start. We shortened the calendar by a month this year and I don't think we reacted to that well. I prefer the earlier date, let's just start planning sooner and be a little more aggressive early on.

Lee's suggestion of developing a Festival Planning document/checklist is another good one. No need to reinvent the wheel every year and have to rely upon "institutional memory" to get started.

The Refs group is clearly wanting to partner up with us next year and coordinate schedules. They seemed very flexible about scheduling their Festival next year to provide a little more brewing time between us. We should begin that dialogue soon, but no later than January.

I second the idea that we develop the tap list much earlier. It's easier to drop a beer off the list if it doesn't turn out good than to sit on your hands waiting to post it until after it's done and you know it's OK. About 2/3 of the beer list was posted in the last week before the cut-off date.

Not a marketing person at all, so I'm not much help there. The only time that I listen to radio anymore is when I'm in the truck (about a couple of times a month) and then, it's either KCCK or KUNI. I only listen to my music or satellite radio in the car. I like the idea of using more print media - Penny Saver, Hoopla, etc. If you didn't notice, the Manchester Bacon and Beer Festival, which was on the same day as us, had an ad in the Gazette that week. Don't know if it hurt us or not, but just pointing it out. Emphasizing our charity (Pints for Prostates) in our marketing would help us greatly, in my opinion. Not only the uniqueness of our event, beerwise, but that it's a Fundraiser, too, might appeal to a broader audience. Finding a way to target the college and "hipster" markets, who are heavy into craft brews, would be another good strategy.

[Sully11]

I'm a correspondent for Gazette Sports currently, and I know a few people over there. I could write a preview for us next year or get someone out to preview the event. It wouldn't cost anything. Maybe a series of stories following a beer from brew day to serving at the fest. Maybe we could do that for one of our more popular beers?

[whitedj]

The tap list would be a great marketing tool too. 'Sample over 100 unique homebrew from local brewers'

[Matt F]

Also, I have a couple of beers left over that are Matt Svlentic ales. Let me know if you want to stop by and grab them. I can also bring them to the next meeting.

[agray]

One thing I was thinking is to have a spot set up for bottled beers. I've got an idea in my head on something that would look nice. All I do is bottle right now and I know others bottle at least some stuff. We could quickly bolster our tap list this way too.

My thought is to shoot for 50 different varieties in bottles and have at least 3-4 on hand if each. Craig's habanero stout went over great and lasted an hour or more with six bottles.

[agray]

I also wonder if we couldn't get an interview on one of the local TV news broadcasts. Seems like it would be an easy story for them.

[czubak]

I will be all over with my thoughts here

-My limited time spent at the gate I had several (guessing 10-15 people) walk away once I mentioned $25. A couple said if it was cheaper more would come. Unsure on the validity of that, but something to think about.

-Setup needs to start earlier or we need a better laid out plan for several small groups to stick with. Maybe a "superintendent" of sorts for each group?

-Barrels of ice that kegs reside in rather than making trips to the cooler constantly. Also a cart with inflatable tires to get multiple kegs from the cooler and down the brick streets more efficiently.

-Can more be done with Facebok/Twitter to get us more visibility? I really wanted the Madison club to come down. If we can do that, I think more people will show up since Madison is more of a mecca for beer than CR. We could in turn go to their events if they wanted??

-Am-Pro, I really think this needs to happen. #1 it's cool #2 it could bring us a lot more traffic

- More raffle items. Heck I never even heard that the raffle happened

[Sully11]

-Am-Pro, I really think this needs to happen. #1 it's cool #2 it could bring us a lot more traffic

- More raffle items. Heck I never even heard that the raffle happened

I like the idea of a Pro-Am. There are a lot of beer festivals out there, and I think if we really highlight the fact that this brewed at home it could distinguish our event. A professional could bring name recognition and more traffic and give us another chance to mention that the majority of us are homebrewers.

[czubak]

-Am-Pro, I really think this needs to happen. #1 it's cool #2 it could bring us a lot more traffic

- More raffle items. Heck I never even heard that the raffle happened

I like the idea of a Pro-Am. There are a lot of beer festivals out there, and I think if we really highlight the fact that this brewed at home it could distinguish our event. A professional could bring name recognition and more traffic and give us another chance to mention that the majority of us are homebrewers.

Am-Pro was talked about to get teh professional brewers that still may brew at home to do just that and bring it and we would have a spot for them just like MUGS, etc. Great idea, everyone is just too busy running a business

[Matt F]

I talked to some pros and most do not homebrew. Like Chris said, they are busy running a business. You have to remember, running a brewery is not a 40 hour work week. More like a you are awake you are working work week. That has kept me in the corporate world of 40ish hour work weeks and lots of paid vacations. I love the idea though. Thought it was awesome, just tough to get participants.

[fargo41]

I think another option to get the local breweries involved would be to have them brew a batch on their system and have our club take home a fermenter's worth of beer each and have them put a twist on it. Then we could have one setup were people could try the same base beer but finished with different yeast or with other hops or flavoring added. If we did this we could even have the public vote on their favorite variation.

Surly did this recently for an AHA event, they gave out 5 gallons of lacto soured wort. They didn't have any follow up tasting but I think that would be cool for us to do.

[tony b]

The REFS group did this for their Festival this year. One of the best beers I've ever had was one of the Am-Pro's - they took wort from Blue Cat and made a killer Thai flavors beer with it - coconut, ginger, coriander, lemon grass, green chile.

If we asked our local breweries, with enough notice, we probably could pull this off next year. This is probably more feasible than for them to do a homebrew, as we found out this year.

[daryl]

Building on previous notes, with regard to having wort provided and homebrewers brew.....And perhaps a little friendly competition...

1) Recruit a brewery to donate wort.

2) Distribute wort to brewers (Beer Nuts Only....Attending Club Only....or Attending Club or a brewer who is a ticket holder)

3a) Have the brews semi-formally judged, by the Head Brewer and staff of the donating Brewery.
There could be several classes defined here (best tasting, truest to style, most innovative, etc.)
Maybe the donating brewery would be willing to select one or more of the winning recipes to recreate and serve/sell in their taproom. They could choose if it were to be 5 gallons or 5 barrels; or something in between.

3b) Have the brews informally judged by the attendees.... People's choice - categories...(People's Vote, First Keg to run out, etc.).

And have an entry fee....just to keep everyone honest.....maybe the entry fee is refunded after you show-up with at least x? gallons of brew and maybe some additional criteria.

Just some thinking out loud.

[Matt F]

Quinton has expressed interest in trying to do something like this. Would be our best contact to se what we can do.

[whitedj]

Yup. We just ran out of time. After asking the pros. I think it would be good for the public to taste what can be done with fermentation and post fermentation techniques. I'm thinking wild flavored beers and maybe the brewery would throw in a keg of their own for traditional baseline comparison.