Wine Crush in Old Town

Oyster Fest.
Wine Crush in Old Town.
Wells Street Fall Fest.
Wine Crush in Old Town.
That’s the history of the September fest in Old Town over the last ten or twelve years. Perhaps we’ll see this fest come full circle and be the Oyster Fest again.
This year’s September fest in Old Town was significantly scaled back from years past. The fest went from North to basically Burton. The fest did technically stretch down a block further to the south, but south of Burton things were completely shut down — at least on Saturday night.
The fest this year only had one stage. Missing was a second stage either on the south end or behind O’Brien’s. Minus one stage, the crowd for the fest this year was markedly thinner. I will say, however, that even though there weren’t tons of people in attendance, those who were there were looking good. This fest seems to draw a more mature and better looking crowd. Hi.
The beer selection at the fest consisted of Goose Island products. Green Line notwithstanding (blech), that’s a win on the suds front.
The band on Saturday night was Wedding Banned — the usual, redundant fest band drivel. They need to change their name to Fest Banned and work from there.
Overall, this wasn’t a bad little party, with the sights being better than the sounds. We’ll see what they decide to call this fest next year. Come on, Oyster Fest!
It’s 3−½ stars.

I went to Old Town Crush yesterday (2013) and was very disappointed. Admission to the main portion of the street fest was $ 7 and admission to the wine tasting «tent» was an additional $ 45 ($ 40 if purchased in advance). $ 45 was good for 15 tasting tickets to really crappy wine in a cramped environment. For $ 45, I expected higher quality wine in nicer quarters. Next time I’ll save my money and just pay $ 7 for the main entrance. The cover bands were entertaining enough.

This year’s Wine Crush was horrid! My friends and I benefited from the rain at last year’s event because we were getting over-​poured. However, this year you pay $ 40 for 10 tickets that basically got you a shot of wine. I think the woman working said it was basically 1 oz. To be honest, none of the wine was that great. I’ve gone to Napa and Paso Robles before to do wine tastings where I spent way less than $ 40 on GOOD wine and got more of a buzz then what we tasted yesterday.
Not only that but some of the people working the tables might as well have been pan handlers. One person demanded a tip and another person had NO idea what they were serving, openly admitting that he knew nothing about wine. If I was someone who really was there to learn more about the grapes and such I’d be pissed, but no I was there to get drunk so it didn’t matter.
Either way, it’s become an annual ritual for my friends and I to go so we will probably go again next year, but I’ll stick to beer if they continue to jack up the cost and lessen the amount of wine they serve. BTW — it was $ 7 to get in!