Beer Fest Advice

[archthered]

My city is having it's first Beer fest in a couple weeks and they asked some homebrewers to provide beer in addition to the commercial breweries, so I volunteered. This will be my first time providing beer at an event like this. I was just looking for general advice and tips for getting the most out of the experience as well as things to do to make things easier for me.

I know RDWHAHB, but I was hoping for a little more than just that. I set a Home Brewery on Untappd and I'm going to encourage people to rate and comment on my beer because it might be nice to get some feedback and think of ways to improve. And I don't know if there's other things I could do.

Although I am genuinely interested in advice I'm not taking this thread too seriously so if people want to treat it more like a "Don't do X" or just tell silly stories of their first time that is fine too!

 

[bleme]

In my area, the beerfests are flooded with various IPA's and half the 'customers' are looking for something 'lighter'. Fruit beers and ciders are usually the first to kick. Twice I have had my keg kick in under an hour. First was a wheat beer that had 2 quarts of fresh strawberry juice added to the keg the day before. The other was a sweetish cider flavored with Torani's Mango syrup.

For a lot of them, Guinness is the only dark beer they have ever tried and they assume all dark beers are alike. It can be a rewarding experience to introduce a few to the wonderful world of porters, browns and milds.

In general, it is usually my goal to take something that most people have never tried, whether that is because it just isn't a popular commercial style or because it is one of my experiments that breaks all the rules.

 

[954surfer]

We've been doing a beer fest for 6 or 7 years. Consider making an instagram for your brewery. You will meet a lot of people interested in getting into brewing and want to know when you're going pro lol.
We like to have fun trying to be like the breweries, such as doing visual displays with whiteboard or chalk. Over the years creating the signage and displays has become as fun as brewing. I recommend bringing help to pour so you can take a break. The technical aspect of serving is sometimes challenging. Some years we've needed a pitcher to use for serving when carbonation etc. has gone awry. Bring some water so you can rinse people's cup.

 

[bleme]

I'd say a sign saying who you are and what you are pouring is a must.

This is my club's 10-tap system. You can't see the tower in this pic, but that barrel is a 2-tap system. We also have 3 and 4 tap jockey boxes for smaller events. Although it isn't strictly needed, we prefer to keep our kegs on ice so there aren't any big temp fluctuations from beginning to end.

If you have any, some literature on homebrewing would be nice too.

 

[IslandLizard]

How are you serving? Got a jockey box?

 

[mongoose33]

If you really want feedback--and it appears you do--then brew the beers you like or that you consider your best beers. Get feedback on what you want, not on what you think people want.

And watch to see if some people have a second or third one. That, to me, is the only real way to know if people like your beer--they have another. Yeah, some will have one and like it, but the only way to be sure is if they have another.

******

We did a beer fest here last year and had mostly local homebrewers. I had just built a new keezer (old one died), and decided, since it was still in my garage, to serve out of that. Pretty easy to move since I can disconnect the gas easily and lift off the lid and collar and carry separately from the freezer part. I have five taps. I took 4 beers, and a friend had his beer on the 5th tap.

One thing that was clear was this: some of the setups were....well, sketchy. Kind of kludged together, some of them, and didn't look all that good. To a homebrewer they might have looked ok, but to an unknowledgeable casual customer, it would look pretty dodgy. Sketchy, dodgy, kludgey.

I think presentation matters. If you look like you don't care by the dodginess of your setup, it'll be hard for some people to get past that. I know, it doesn't really matter, but then again, it does. You want people to judge your beer, not your setup.

A picnic tap is ok, so long as you're not showing a beat-to-hell keg from which it's drawing. Same with the gas. It can be covered with a blanket or moving blanket or something or other. Or perhaps you use a jockey box. Or even a keezer or kegerator.

Having some sort of signage will help too. A hand-lettered sign sends the wrong message. Have names for your beers, and a description for them.

******

Best story of my beer at the beer fest: A woman came up, asked what I had. I offered her a splash of my Darth Lager, a sort of Schwarzbier thing I brew that is my house brew. She looked at it and said "I don't like dark beers." I asked her to just take a sip of it and taste it with her tongue and nose, not her eyes.

She took a sip, her eyes kind of unfocused, she took another sip, then another....then handed me the glass to fill it up.

She came back 3 times for more.

 

[archthered]

How are you serving? Got a jockey box?

I'm going to take a couple of kegs, set them in my 10 gal coolers/mash tun and hot liquor tank, and then fill that with ice, serving with a picnic tap. After reading Mongoose33 comment I may take a blanket to cover the CO2 tank and maybe even my kegs. My kegs are in good enough shape but it may just look nicer to have them out of view. I may consider getting a jockey box at some point but not yet, I wouldn't use it often enough I don't think.

If you really want feedback--and it appears you do--then brew the beers you like or that you consider your best beers. Get feedback on what you want, not on what you think people want.

And watch to see if some people have a second or third one. That, to me, is the only real way to know if people like your beer--they have another. Yeah, some will have one and like it, but the only way to be sure is if they have another.

Having some sort of signage will help too. A hand-lettered sign sends the wrong message. Have names for your beers, and a description for them.

Best story of my beer at the beer fest: A woman came up, asked what I had. I offered her a splash of my Darth Lager, a sort of Schwarzbier thing I brew that is my house brew. She looked at it and said "I don't like dark beers." I asked her to just take a sip of it and taste it with her tongue and nose, not her eyes.

She took a sip, her eyes kind of unfocused, she took another sip, then another....then handed me the glass to fill it up.

She came back 3 times for more.

I am definitely bringing the beers I want this time though, in the future I may take bleme's advice and bring one that will have mass appeal if only to get more people to consider trying the other stuff. We are required to have signage for a variety of reasons but I will definitely try to make mine not look sketchy! I have names but hadn't considered a description so I may add that. I will definitely look for repeats!

 

[505-Brewer]

Have your kegs ready in time. Chill additional kegs. Push beer into new kegs under CO2. You’d be surprised how much sediment can get stirred up during transport. Pushing to a new keg will remove this concern.