2010 Cincinnati Beer Fest

I have to give my review of the 2010 Cincinnati Beer Fest. I had more thoughts rummaging through my head about the event while I was there than I ever could have imagined. I mean it was a great thought. I love beer. What better way to enjoy said beer than to have an opportunity to taste from a selection of 130 varieties? I was however troubled once I got there. I wasn't upset with the $35 I spent on a ticket, and I certainly loved the discount pricing for the designated driver. I also was thrilled to see a big screen viewing area for the NCAA tournament games. The music was pretty good from the jazz trio that was playing and I have to admit, I was pretty damn excited to see the Taste of Belgium working up some waffles (because I LOVE those waffles). Anyway, all that made me happy, but the souvenir drinking vessel? A little plastic mug. Not a cool little tasting glass? I mean for $35 per person, I'd think the vessel actually being glass would be a certainty. Apparently I assumed incorrectly. Then I get my tickets. 35 of them in fact to enjoy 35 samples of refreshing brew. Fine. I'm happy with that. That is until I get to the first booth. I wait in line for what seems like an eternity for my immense thirst, and then I get my measly little 2oz pour. Wow! 35 tickets for $35 = $1 per sample @ 2oz. means I just essentially paid $6 for the equivalent of a bottle of beer. Not a problem if I'm drinking high end micro brews/imports or tasting something unique and limited from a particular brewer, but that wasn't exactly the case for the bulk of the 130 beers offered. I wait in line again. My 2oz. had no chance of lasting long enough for me to stay "watered" while I stood in line, so when I got to the end I offered multiple tickets for a full pour. I knew I liked the beer I was getting, so I saw no harm in that. "Absolutely not," I was told. OK, then. What's the harm in that? My little mug is 4oz. Let me give you 2 tickets for two tastes of the same beer and I know I'll have enough for the next line. "Nope." Now I'm a little pissed. A few beers I really wanted to try had long lines, so I decided to hold off on those until a little later on. I go to my next stop and wait in my usual line, and when I get to the end I ask a question about the beer. The lady pouring tells me she doesn't have any clue about the beer and she, "Doesn't even drink beer." OK, then. Where's the representative from the brewery/distributor to talk about the beer that I read was going to be there in the Enquirer article on Thursday? Not at the beer fest apparently. I will say however, this was not the case for Rivertown, Sam Adams & Moerlein. They were all very nice to me. I decide to move on to the next stop and I look at the clock. Uh oh!! Based on my remedial math, at the pace I'm going and with the length of the lines (and the size of my samples), there's no way in hell I can go through all of my beer tickets before the end of close at 9:00pm. As I pointed out earlier, with 35 tickets it worked out to $6 for the equivalent of a 12oz bottle of beer. What on earth does that start to cost me if I can't use them all? And another thing, If I can have no more than 6 bottles of beer essentially, and I'm drinking those beers over a 4 hour period, with 1 per hour effectively exiting my system according to breathalyzer stats, then by the time I leave I can have no more than 2-3 beers in my system. Why did I bring a designated driver again? I digress. Let's get back to the beer I really wanted to try, but decided to wait until the lines shortened up a bit. I see one of the lines is getting shorter, so I jump in. When I get to the end of the line, the beer I wanted was "out." Gone? Get another keg, damn it! I was told by the very sweet woman pouring the beer, that nobody has come around to check on her in a while, and as soon as they do, she'll get another keg. She then told me I could sneak up to the front when that happens and she'll get me my sample so I don't have to wait in line forever again. EXCELLENT! This made me very happy. I checked back ten minutes later - nothing. I checked back again - nothing. Finally she explained that there wasn't any more of that beer left until they got a delivery from the distributor... the next morning! I'm not coming back tomorrow. This does me no good. Now I'm pissed again. By the end of the night, I waited in line a lot. I also got shot down on 4 beers that I wanted to try that were all gone. I didn't make it through all of my tickets which now changed my cost formula to the tune of $7.50 that I spent per 12oz bottle beer equivalent and I went home sober. Not what I was looking for in a beer fest. I don't want to sound like an ass, but I feel cheated by the whole thing. Maybe next year.