Community: Volunteering at the 2014 Winterfest... Tales From the SoberSide

I've figured out that one of the best ways to get involved in the Indy craft beer scene is to volunteer at events. I volunteered for DigIN last summer and had a great time so I figured I would do a more beer focused event with Winterfest this year. I worked the gates, which largely consisted of letting people into the event and making sure people left (without beer), so this means I got to interact with a lot of people that day... these are their stories (and mine). 

11am- I arrive. I ask parking people where I should park- "eh over there". Over there ends up being a 10 minute walk to the Winterfest location.

11:10am- 12:45pm- Various duties including putting out ice for the brewers, tracking down ReplicAle kegs for the ReplicAle trailer, repairing a flat cart that had lost it's wheel, wandering aimlessly, and trying not to get run over by a golf cart driven by Nick of Scarlet Lane Brewing.

~12:45pm- People are starting to line up?? 

12:45- 1:45pm- Making sure random people don't try and get in, guarding the tasting plastics, and getting trained on the scanning system. 

1:45- 2:30pm-ish- Get early entry people in the door, out of the rain, and drinking beer. 

• People do realize they need to have an ID to get into an event that involves alcohol right?

2:30-ish- 3:30pm-ish- Get general admission people in the door, out of the rain, and drinking beer.

• Did have one older gentlemen come to the gate with cash in hand to buy a ticket. Apparently he didn't know it was sold out and there weren't ticket sales at the door. Sorry man.

3:30-ish- 5:00pm-ish- During this time I was able to get away from the gate occasionally and try some beers, including Three Floyd's War Mullet, Iechyd Da Cookie Milk Stout, Black Acre Coffee Phantom Cat, (all favorites) and a bunch others. 

• Had a guy and girl come to the gate brandishing tickets... tickets to the home show in a different part of the fairgrounds. "Sorry sir you can't come in"; "why not?"; "those are tickets to the home show"; "so?""this is a beer festival";"I bought tickets to the wrong event I guess!"
• A local company was using generic growlers with their name on it as prizes and many fest goers were enamored with the $4 pieces of glass. My favorite was the guy who wanted to steal one and ask one of the breweries to fill it. Had to crush his dreams and inform him that wasn't going to happen. 
• One of the uninformed and shy volunteers was waiting in line with everyone else to get beer. Had to show him how to cut lines to get beer right away... one of the privileges of being a volunteer, which

1. Apparently some fest-goers don't think is fair, especially the Sun King Fanboys. Went to the head of the line to get some Pink Taco and heard several people cussing and freaking out.
2. Some volunteers take full advantage. Dealt with a few drunk volunteers (more on that later).

• Brewery pourer showed up with a ticket, so I gave him a general admission wrist band: "what does this get me?"; "What do you mean? It gets you beer... what do you want?"; blank stare "I thought I get special privileges"; "You need to work that out with your brewery or go to the check-in office"; "where's that?"; "right there past the booth"; I watched him go near the door, stand there for 5 minutes, and then wander off. After seeing the brewery he worked for I realized that he was probably on something. 

5-6pm- Back on official gate duty. Now mostly watching the drunk masses filter out; it's kind of like watching zombie hoards in "The Walking Dead", but some are less coordinated and meaner. Most were great though.

• Random roars go through the crowd- the zombies must be feeding. 
• 1+ hour left- a girl asks if her friends can get in for free since not much time is left: "No, the event is sold out"; discounted tickets?: "No, the event is sold out": full price ticket? "No, the event is sold out"

6- 6:45pm- Freedom! This was my designated time to enjoy the festival. I drank some beers, talked to friends and brewers, etc. 

• I could tell by this time that some breweries were a bit worn out. I was told by a pourer that I couldn't have the beer I wanted unless I drank the one he wanted me to first, because he was in control and didn't care he was being a douche (his words). 

6:45- 7:15pm- Time to get people out. Lots of high fives, handshakes, slurring, and germs. 

7:15pm- Asked to direct brewery vehicle traffic in the pavilion so they could pack up and get the hell out of dodge.

• Lucky me! Doing this with a couple drunk volunteers who were toting some cans of beer around: "Want some beer?"; "No thanks, let's get these cars directed"; "can't you do this alone? We want to go."; truck whizzes by going the wrong way. "Sure, but we can't let cars do that"; at that point Mr. Drunk yells I don't know what I'm doing and that nobody will listen to me. I walk away and soon after they join the paying patrons out the door. 

7:45pm or so- I go home exhausted. 

I got the sense that I took volunteering more seriously than some, but I had a great time, met some great people, and feel like I helped the Indy beer community pull off a great event. I recommend that everyone go volunteer at least once, but if you do, please try to take it seriously and don't treat it as a free ticket to get drunk.

#CANvitational #Volunteering

The historic start of Sun King's first annual CANvitational began this past Saturday, September 28th, 2013.  The inaugural run was a resounding success!  Thirty canning breweries up close and personal with 70 types of beers not available to the Indy market.  I heard several friends, and friends of friends, made the trek to Indy from surrounding states to check out the spread.  Let's start at the beginning. Like most events it all starts with setup and volunteers.

A lot of setup was done the day before.  Mostly tables, chairs, tents, and DJ stage.  Big thanks to all the volunteers who showed up to work like champs!  The real fun began at 8:30am the day of the event.  I would have some photos, but barriers, ice, coolers, canned beer goodness etc. don't move themselves!

Pro Tip: make sure to have your commercial drivers license when operating MACK trucks.

It was great to see Barnaby and crew out from 3Floyds rep'in their canned collaboration with Sun King.  Royal Brat is an ESB.  My first reaction to drinking it was Crazy Drinkable!  Just enough hops and malt to keep me interested.  By no means a Canoe Beer! 

The highlight of CANvitational for me was trying Tallgrass Brewing Co.'s offerings and meeting their Brewmaster, Andrew Hood.  Their lineup was four of their seven year-round brews: Ethos, 8-Bit, Velvet Rooster and Buffalo Sweat.  We even got to taste their newly released seasonal Zombie Monkie in their snazzy textured beer cans, and some in their prototype silver cans with signs... Oh those crazy guys in R&D!  Fun Fact: Andrew came up with the recipe for Velvet Rooster after hanging out all day at a competition/festival.  Beer inspiration strikes anywhere! 

#Zomkie

Top 5 Beers of the Fest

Ethos, Tallgrass Brewing Company Manhattan, KS (4.5)

    

On the Wings of Armageddon, DC Brau Washington, DC (4.5)

Anti-Hero, Revolution Brewing Chicago, IL (4.5)

Jai Alai, Cigar City Brewing Tampa, FL (4)

He Said, 21st Amendment Brewery San Francisco, CA (4)

One Final Note:  Well worth the price of admission.  Too expensive? Come #Volunteer with Jason and I!  You may just get paid in free beer, knowledge of the industry, and meeting great new people.  Cheers!

CANvitational was great!  It married a low key "Just hanging out" vibe with a ton of great breweries! To turn it all up to eleven head brewers were on hand to talk shop and promote their beer.  Great job Clay for executing such a great idea for a festival!  I for one can't wait for next year!  

 

Big Thanks to:

All the volunteers, brewery reps, and head brewers that made it out!
Hoosier Beer Geek

Sun King Brewery 

21st Amendment Brewery San Francisco, CA

Arcadia Brewing Company Battle Creek, MI

Avery Brewing Company Boulder, CO

Baxter Brewing Co. Lewiston, ME

Blue Dog Mead Eugene, OR

Boston Beer Company Boston, MA

Brewery Vivant Grand Rapids, MI

Brooklyn Brewery Brooklyn, NY

Cigar City Brewing Tampa, FL

DC Brau Washington, DC

Great Crescent Brewery Aurora, IN

Half Acre Beer Company Chicago, IL

Lexington Brewing & Distilling Lexington, KY

Marble Brewery Albuquerque, NM

Maui Brewing Lahaina, HI

Morgan Street Brewery St. Louis, MO

New Belgium Brewing Fort Collins, CO

Oskar Blues Brewery Lyons, CO

Revolution Brewing Chicago, IL

SanTan Brewing Company Chandler, AZ

Schlafly Beer St. Louis, MO

Sierra Nevada Chico, CA

Sixpoint Brewery Brooklyn, NY

Ska Brewing Durango, CO

Sockeye Brewing Boise, ID

Surly Brewing Company Minneapolis, MN

Tall Grass Brewing Company Manhattan, KS

Tin Man Brewing Co. Evansville, IN

Two Brothers Brewing Company Warrenville, IL

West 6th Brewing Company Lexington, KY

#Volunteering #DigIN

This past Sunday was the Annual Dig-IN: A Taste of Indiana Indiana's Farm to Fork Celebration at White River State Park.  Continuing my #volunteer streak I hooked up with the Hoosier Beer Geek (HBG) #volunteer group and helped out at the main gate.  It was a little bit of a cluster at first, but everyone pulled through.  So many volunteers were needed to keep this event running. The HBG crew was one of many groups helping out.  Great job everyone!

For those that don't know about #DigIN, it is a celebration of all that Indiana has to offer.  Everything from farmers, chefs, breweries and wineries from around the state all coming together for a great eating/drinking festival!  Oh wait!  Did I mention music to?!

I want to say that I was only there for the beer, but some chefs/restaurants of note were:

-Tent 4: Anthony Handslits with The Chefs Academy, Indianapolis
Dish: Lamb Ruben, Napa cabbage slaw & Minted Mustard
Just blew me away, great paired with the Tin Man: BIPA I was drinking at the time!

-Tent 1: Chef BJ Davis with Bee Coffee Roasters, Indianapolis
Drink: Plum Buzz Iced Coffee Soda


Not only was this little concoction made with coffee and plum juice, but it was also made with a special vinegar.  What was so special about it?  It was made from a few barrels of Upland Sours that had started to turn to vinegar.  ZOINKS!  It has a great sweet vinegar and coffee nose, light body, that cascades into a pleasant tart sour mellow coffee dry finish that was wonderful on a hot festival day!  I spent more than one of my bonuses on second/thirds of this fantastic brew!  Chef BJ Davis and crew ran out towards the end of the festival.  I hope they make this a staple in their coffee shop!  I wonder if they will make a cherry version in the future...  really accentuate the sour/wild character!

On to the Brews!

Most of what was being served off the Sun King Draft Vans were a lot of the usuals that are currently on draft or bottled around town:
Brugge - Harvey
3Floyds - Pride and Joy, Gumball Head
Daredevil - Lift Off
Triton - Railsplitter
to name a few...

Of Note:
Sun King - Cream Dream VI: Hops Live (VIP)
Flat 12 - Saison du Flat (VIP)
Tin Man - Black IPA
Three Pints - Black IPA
3Floyds - Moloko Milk Stout
Black Swan - Cherrywood Smoked Porter
New Day - South Cider

I know you are asking yourself "Why in all creation was he drinking porters/stouts on a 93 degree day?!"  Honestly, it was a much more pleasant experience then you think!  Everyone had IPAs and Saisons, only two had porters/stouts.  It really broke up the tastings for me!  Also a great nod to Brugge bringing their sour Harvey.  It was the only sour at the festival.  Many a heart was broken when that tap went dry!

A great perk for #Volunteering this time around was the amount of time volunteers had to enjoy the festival.  Also being able to go straight to the taps and get a fresh pint without waiting in the lines didn't hurt!  There were three beverage stations that were made apparent by Sun King's Draft Vans.  Most breweries brought kegs of one kind of brew, while others like 3Floyds brought several different kegs.  If their keg went dry, they tapped something new!  It was fun playing "who has something new on tap now" as a side game while Joe and I walked the food tents.  Speaking of Joe...

A big thanks to Joe Walsh with Flat 12 for taking me around and introducing me to several head brewers and higher ups in the brewing arena!  I finally got to meet Clay Robinson with Sun King, Barnaby Struv with 3Floyds, Brett Canaday with New Day, Fred Hillenbrand with Tin Man & Michael Pearson with Daredevil.  I also had a great conversation with Master BJCP Beer Judge Sandy Cockerham on Berliner Weisse style beers.  I was pleasantly surprised that she enjoyed the Berliner Weisse style as much as The Barons and I did.  I hope I hear from her soon so I know where to send that Deesko! I offered her.

All in all a great laid back festival atmosphere. Even with the slight dehydration and sun burn, Great times!  If you couldn't join us this year, we hope to see you next year!

Indiana Microbrewers Festival 2013: #Volunteering

Volunteering.  Some people do it for the emotional high they get after helping people in need.  Others do it for fun.  For me it is a bit of both with a dash of curiosity.  What does it take to get the Microbrewers Festival 2013 up and running?

Prep work: Friday afternoon 10-2pm - Set up tents/tables/chairs

Day of: 10:30am
I showed up early to help get stuff in order before the main contingent of volunteers showed up.  I blame that on over eagerness.  Jason w/ Hoosier Beer Geek (HBG), one of the walkie-talkie wielding El Heffe's of the event, had me taping instructions to the brewers tables.  None of the breweries were there yet so I was making pretty good time.


What caught me off guard was when I turned down the area designated "the Alley" only to meet Blaine Stuckey with Mad Anthony Brewing basically finishing up his stall...  After introductions and a little talking shop he brought up another event that sounds fun and is coming up soon.  "Say OktoBEERfest!"  The Barons and I hope to make it to this festival as well!

11:00am
After the initial pep talk from Rodney w/ HBG (Congrats to your wife again on the new job!) we all got sussed out into groups.  It felt kinda like divvying up for teams out on the playground.  "How many you got?  Do you have to have Suzy AND Sally?  You have 14 we have 12... Close enough!"  I chose Gate 1 with Jake from HBG.





Gate 1
Most of you who have attended the Microbrewers Festival's in the past know that Gate 1 is "THE Gate". I would say 80-90% of Joe-Public went through this gate to get into the festivities.  Daunting, but the team of volunteers we had running Gate 1 were pros.  High fives all around!  It also doesn't hurt that we had Jake from HBG running point. Clocking in at seven feet tall, he looks like he could play starting center for the Blackhawks.  He is a man who loves to say "No" and has every reason to back it up. I'll have his back no matter what because he had mine a few times dealing with obstinate inebriated individuals.

Pro-Tip: THERE'S A GATE 2!

11-3pm
At this point things got hectic.  There was the scramble to get Gate 1 setup, then the pre-scanning, ID'ing, wrist-banding and corralling of event goers.  I was feverishly trying to keep up with handing out glasses and maps.  My experience was the VIP and Early Birds were a nice group, but by the time we started corralling for General Admittance people were a little antsy/inebriated.  I have a feeling that's why we posted volunteers as security for the second corral.  All in all everyone was pleasant.  Just know I still ran like hell to get out of the way when we "let loose the hounds" at 3pm General Admittance.

4-6pm
Volunteer FUN TIME!  One reason to be a volunteer is to get these snazzy loud yellow shirts that scream VOLUNTEER.  The second reason is the privilege of line jumping.  I kinda felt like Spider-Man with a twist... "with great responsibility come great powers"  This was the reward for all the hard work put in for the day.  Granted volunteers had limited time to get brews, hence the line privileges.

It was a little frantic trying to find and taste as many beers as I could when my fun time hit.  The only disappointment was not being able to get back to the Alley.  If I wasn't a volunteer I could have had more time to taste more beers, but I don't think I would have had as many of the rare/limited releases. I'll take volunteering any day with my super suit... I mean shirt!  Just have to find a way to work with/around the limited half-hour tappings that has become all the rage at festivals.

I wound up with 32 tastes in 2 hours, with a pit stop for lunch.  Just shy of a gallon of beer consumed. I even made it back to finish off my volunteering shift at Gate 1, unlike some of my compatriots...

6-8pm
Closing Time!  C-Shift (which was just me) and Jake played bouncer for an hour.  I really appreciate all the volunteers that stayed or came over to help us out!  By 7 we had a wall of volunteers directing everyone out with the friendly "Drive Safe!" and more for their benefit than ours "Chug it like a CHAMP or pour it out."  Last thing we wanted was for them to get arrested and us to get sued.  Many photo ops were had next to the "No Pass Outs" sign and apparently hugs really are free!

Once the last event goers were gone, a quick collapse and stack of chairs and tables were done.  A final side of clean up the trash and recycling was had and we all called it a night.

All in all a good event!

Finish up: Couple of hours Sunday tearing down tents and returning them with the table and chairs to storage.

Top 5 Brews:
**Pappy Fog - Sun King Brewing - Indianapolis, IN
*Batch 666: Sympathy for the Devil - Sun King Brewing - Indianapolis, IN
**Batch 1 - Triton Brewing - Indianapolis, IN
Spider King - Brugge Brasserie - Indianapolis, IN
Ghost Pepper Imperial Stout - ZwanzigZ - Columbus, IN

* Limited Tapping; ** VIP ONLY-ish Thanks Big Guy!

Favorite Breweries:
Flat 12 - Year after year they bring the most inventive, fun, and very unique festival only beers.  Their "Mad Fermentoligist" mentality mixed with us, their test subjects, will always have me stopping by and supporting their brews!  Last year was Tennis, this year was bowling... I wonder what kind of showmanship they have up their sleeve for next year or the next festival!?  They also get bonus points for having all their brews available at kick off!

Sun King - I may give them hell for having extremely limited quantities of special/festival beers, but it may be the demand & excitement for their brews that is outpacing their supply that is the root cause of the scarcity.  I listed two of their beers on my Top 5.

It seems unfair to others, but the quality of the product blows me away.  Even though they are on the limited half-hour tapping list, I still love what they do.  Good job and keep it up guys 'n gals!