Columbus Summer Beerfest

As with the last couple years at least, this year’s Summer Beerfest was held on both Friday and Saturday nights. I opt for the Friday night as I expect Saturday’s can get pretty packed. A couple years ago the lines to get in were a joke. This year and last year’s execution of the event is so much better. There is ample time to buy tickets, and the early check-​in they offer make getting into the event a breeze. This year the check-​in was at Gordon Biersch.
Summer and Winter beerfests are very different. The winter event feels more like a true beer convention while the summer beerfest has more of a party vibe. I enjoy both atmospheres, but for me it is important I know what to expect in case I’m not in a partying mood. The event is a great way to be exposed to different breweries and types of beers you may have never tried. They had a great food truck turnout, the live music is awesome, and the location is perfect. For those that aren’t into craft beers they even have stands offering your everyday domestics.

Beer fest is such a great time. The LC gets packed, but there is still room to move because they expanded the festival to the parking lot behind the LC as well. Tons of great beers, and pretty much every one of your friends will be attending it so you should probably go too!

Great selection of beers, but hella packed.

Complete and total trainwreck. Worst organized event I have ever been to. After paying extra for the «VIP» tickets in order to avoid the line and get in an hour early (as they promised) we showed up slightly before 6… and were greeted with quite possibly the longest line I’ve ever experienced in my life. Not only that, the mile-​long line that was the VIP line, was also the same line used by the general admission tickets. If anyone can tell me how the hell they were actually separating the two, I’d love to hear it. My friend and I walked for a good 10 minutes to try and get to the back of the line… unforunately, after 10 minutes the end of the line was still nowhere in sight, and it became apparent there was no possible way we were getting in within less than an hour.
This is pretty much just a huge scam. Selling VIP tickets to anyone and everyone pretty much rendered all those VIP «perks» impossible to take advantage of. Not to mention the god-​awful logistics of the event being: 1. Make long as line 2. Funnel aforementioned line through one single entrance. Whoever organized this event is clearly in the wrong business (or is in amazing business if their company’s objective is to make blind promises, take money, and fail to deliver on said promises). I’ll be filing a complaint with the BBB if I can ever figure out who the hell the organizer is. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a single person working there who knew who it was either.

After having been to every Beerfest since it started in Columbus I can say with certainty that I’ve experienced better.
Things started off pretty lame since we had to walk from the LC all the way down Neil Ave and up Goodale almost all the way to White Castle to wait in the VIP line. Like Travis U. said, I’d never been in a line that long for anything. At that point I wasn’t feeling very VIP.
We got in the event at 6:40. Which was disappointing since general admission was at 7:00. We got 15 minutes of exclusivity. The venue lended to beer booths being spread around everywhere. Some inside, some one either side of the outdoor stage, some in front of the stage, and some at the top of the hill. It was like a goose chase for beer. This was annoying, but also not the worst. It lent to more mingling, which was fun since the weather was great. But it also made it difficult to navigate and find beer you might have been looking for.
The only line I found to be long and arduous other than the VIP entrance was the line for food. 50 minute wait for Sophies. It was damn good, and they were handling the crowd well, but man, that was a long wait. The wait for VIP taps were way too long too.
Beer servers were nice, fun, and surprising knowledgeable seeing as many are volunteers. A change from previous beerfests were the quick beer stations and liquor serving bars. Since they expected long lines for ‘samples’ they had full 12oz beers to grab for drinking while you wait. God forbid anyone wait for a drink. Well, that lent to a bunch of drunk maniacs in the dark at 11PM spilling beer all over and falling on people. Great idea! :(
Overall, it wasn’t a total bust. We still got to try some great craft beers. It was just more chaotic. I am VERY glad winter Beerfest will be back at the Convention Center and back to 2 nights so VIP will mean VIP and beer stations will be organized and clearly marked.

I have no idea where my last review went, but I’ll try it one last time.
As a loyal beerfest attendant since the very first one, it has become a tradition amongst our friends to count down the days to each one. We were excited to try it out at a new venue, with food trucks, and a smaller crowd. It sounded like they had really nailed down the formula for an awesome time.
THIS WAS NOT THE CASE.
Drenched in sweat, we waited in line and were herded in promptly at 6 pm. Many tables were still being set up, and the first few beers were all foam. You could barely tell what was being served at each station because the signs were tiny (nothing like the big displays at the convention center). Not only that, but you had to hike up the hill to get to the top few beers, down the stairs to a few more, around the corner for a couple additional, inside to find some others, and then to the «VIP» lounge for a sad selection of taps. I would much prefer the wide open set up of past beerfests.
It had been advertised that there would be less tickets sold for this event, so we were excited for shorter lines… however, they were much longer than those in the past. It was hard to tell if people were in lines or just crowded around tables in the small space at the LC.
As the sun went down, we welcomed the cool breeze but were surrounded by darkness and the pushing and bumping of thousands of drunk people. At a time when I usually have a fabulous buzz and yummy craft beer names swimming through my brain, I decided to have a seat and wait out our ride. Around 10 I decided to try one of the food trucks (Sophie’s Pierogi’s). After the line didn’t move for about 15 minutes we were told it was sold out. I sat and watched as most of the other food trucks shut down as well (all except for Late Night Slice, which I’m sure would have been wonderful if the line would have been moving faster).
All in all, beerfest was not the event that we’ve held so close to our hearts for the past couple years. PLEASE take it back to the convention center, or venture to the shrine center or some place like that. I will not be going to the LC for this event again.