Enjoying the sun. Getting in line. Search for the glass rinsing station. Looking up that one beer you’re interested in. Disappointment when you went out of your way only to find your much sought after beer already sold out a few hours in. We all know these emotions from visiting the numerous beer festivals over the years. Lately, I also posted on some of the absolute basics I expect from festival organizers. Even more recently, I was lucky enough to man a stand at a festival as well.
As a guest I would typically maximize my time to sample. When working at the festival this easily adds a bunch of hours on both ends, while keeping sampling to a minimum; I had to drive the van back, lucky me. The festival would start at 1 pm, so we came together at 1030 am at the brewery. Colleagues had already packed the van with everything we could possibly need, so off we went! Arriving at the festival venue, there were already a lot of crews assembling whatever they felt they needed to attract the crowds to their stand. Slowly, every spot transformed from a uniform collection of metal frames with wooden panels into the colorful and varied displays of brands, each with their own characteristic look and feel. After all, selling beer is for a good part marketing and presenting a clear and recognizable image is vital.
Arriving two hours in advance, we obviously had more than we needed. But you know, things can (and will) go wrong during build-up and preparation. The water supply was leaking, the lights under the bar wouldn’t light up, such kind of small things. Six taps, six different beers, a wooden bar and signage to explain the beers we tried to impose on the masses that would undoubtedly line up in just a few hours. In the background, the bands were sound checking and the grills were lighted at the food trucks. Being well prepared and well in time, we obviously were ready to roll about 45 minutes early. Great, that’s the time to explore the beer festival a bit by yourself, before it would get crowded.
Brewers and their colleagues are more than interested to geek away about your respective beers for a bit. Given that the drive back was still a few hours away, this was my time to sample a few of the interesting beers, well before they would sell out! Unexpectedly (to me, anyway) this was also the time that the proper geeks would show up and make their rounds to collect labels, stickers and other goodies. For my colleagues this was not quite the first time, so they actually had prepared packages with all the goods for them to just come and collect. How easy it can be to make a grown man grin widely…
Time to start! Open the gates! People were lining up and it was fun to witness the different strategies of the various early birds. Some were dedicated. They had their phones ready and marched straight at the first brewery on their list to sample their carefully selected festival opener. Others would just walk up to the first stand from the entrance and sample something random. Yet others confiscate a place to sit, make sure they decide among their group of friends who would get which beers and who would guard their settlement. Some just find a stand with short or no lines yet and come ask what you have to offer. “I’m here for the stories, give me all your beer stories!’” one shouted at me. Stories he got. It wasn’t that crowded yet, so better please the enthusiasts.
During the busier hours there still are people with different strategies. Some would quickly come back after you served them a beer they like, either to try all your other beers, or to just stick with that one for the rest of the festival. “I found the best Tripel here, so I won’t be drinking anything else!” Nice. We had three kegs of all beers that we brought. Two of them sold out very well before the festival ended and it was touching to see the sadness on their faces when they realized that they were not the only ones liking their favorite drink. Hours run by quickly when serving beers to satisfied customers. Eight hours also run by pretty quickly and you wouldn’t guess that in those hours you poured about 600 beers and told equally many slightly buzzed faces to enjoy this one! Half the beers were sold out by the end.
Nine sharp. The lights turn on. Bright! Time to stop pouring and start encouraging people to move towards the exit. Most very willingly and gratefully obey. Some get stubborn, a little aggressive even. That’s the price you pay for serving alcoholic beverages en masse. Time to break that stand back down. Where we needed to unpack 18 full kegs and three gas tanks, now it’s mostly empty plastic, and just a handful of slightly heavy containers. Turns out that after about 11 hours of work, one gets a bit less sharp. I turned on my navigation on bicycle mode, so we took a scenic route back to the brewery, until it wanted me to turn into a one-way street. What a beautiful country-side we have!
Back at home base we only needed to get much of the stuff out of the van and put some new stuff in for the next morning. Then, a well deserved beer that tasted like never before. Such a fulfilling day!
Tasting Craft Beer 
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