Capitol Beer Fest

Regular tickets aren’t priced that bad considering all you can drink, time permitting and assuming the breweries bring enough. VIP tickets way over priced as you don’t get anything worth the up-​price.
Anyone who wants to complain about long lines, we’ll they’re all like that. I’ve been to over a dozen in CA and a half dozen in OR and long lines are part of these things. This past year they went thru really quick considering the amount of people.
This past year it drizzled and was still worth it. Had 98 percent of the booths, there was food and music too.
If you want to complain because the music is only so-​so and other then food trucks and beer there really isn’t anything so it «isn’t a festival» or isn’t a good one, we’ll CA beer festivals don’t usually have much else to offer. Sorry if don’t like it — drink somewhere else.

Initially, we walked up thinking how wonderful it was that the extremely short entrance line was moving so fast, only to discover it was the VIP line. My heart sank as we turned the corner and the general admission line wrapped around the block. Thankfully, this line too was moving at an impressive speed. The difference did not seem worth the $ 25 between admission prices though. (VIP also included parking but we arrived early enough, grabbing breakfast beforehand, that we didn´t have an issue). On the other hand, we were drinking for a tax deductible cause. All proceeds benefit the Runnin’ for Rhett Foundation.
What counts is on the inside:
Beer, Cerveza, Bière, Pivo, Bier, Serbesa…
…and more where that came from. There were enough vendors that the lines were shorter than expected, and once again, moving quickly. The only thing without a line were the bathrooms! Well played Beer Fest planners, well played.
There were many old favorites present; shout out to Founders Brewing Company. A fellow Michigander, I grew up not far from their brewery. Surprisingly, there were a ton of breweries new to me. For example, Pizza Port Brewing Company, Golden Road Brewing and H2OPS Sparkling Hop Water. Yes, you read that right, a nonalcoholic hop flavored water. The most remarkable find of the day would have to be High Water Brewing´s Campfire Stout.
I left more prepared to walk into the next bar than I arrived. Success.

Amazing event! Will definitely go again!
We got the «regular» (as opposed to VIP) tickets for the 2016 event. We were able to get in the gate quickly and get right to tasting. There were over 120 breweries present, many with more than one beer on tap. I think for next year I will plan out where I want to go in advance since there is no physical way to go to all the breweries. We kind of just ended up getting in random lines for tastings, which worked out in the end. We got good and pickled!
I’m also glad I didn’t get the VIP ticket — there really didn’t seem to be any bonus to getting one other than free parking (which was only $ 5 anyway and who would dare rive home from a beer tasting event anyway?) and a pass for a free car wash. It would have been a good deal if it would have come with an Über/​Lyft credit or a special tasking glass.
The only bummer is that the advertised «souvenir tasting glass» was a plastic 4oz thing. Kind of lame. I love getting souvenir glasses to talk up events after the fact, but this one will probably be going in the trash. Maybe it’s not their fault and SacPD required it be made out of plastic. There was also a small hiccup with getting my prepaid t-​shirt — I was given the wrong size– but the shirt vendor is sending me a new one, which is really cool
I wish there would have been more food vendors. We ended up leaving just a bit early because the lines at the food trucks were too long.

This beer tasting was an absolute blast! There were big names and Mom and Pop Brewers. Some had a small line and others didn’t. The thing I liked most was that each Brewer took time to tell me about their brew and why it’s different. The band was fun and walking and hanging around was a good time. I heard that this was all volunteers for a non-​profit called Running 4 Rhett. Well I thought they ran it well and it is someplace I’d travel 600 miles to go to again! Next time I’d like to request sunshine!

I’ve been to beer festivals in Brussels, Belgium Tokyo, Japan, Charleston, SC and several other locations around the world. This is the WORST most piss-​poor excuse for a «festival”-in-name-only that I have ever been to. First, the line just to get in was .91 mile. Yes I took out my pedometer and clocked it. So I wait in line for an hour. Pay my $ 45 to get in, am issued a teeny-​tiny-​itty-​bitty little cup. Then I get to go stand in line again for a two ounce taste (or a tease if you will) of craft brew. I read that 125 breweries were represented, but it took so long to stand in line after line after line, for what amounted to 1.5−2 ounces of beer, that the sheer agony of the wait overpowered any enjoyment of the single swallow I was poured! Combine this with mediocre food truck «cuisine», and it was just an all-​out terrible experience.
Never again!

So many Breweries, so little time! For my boyfriend and our friends, that is. (I offered to be DD in exchange for my man driving my gfs and I around wine tasting next month). Turns out it was great I was there and sober because everyone who went to beer fest seriously needed a sober friend! The beer was flowing! Totally worth the 40 $ the guys paid.
As for the 10 $ we had to pay for me to get in and be DD — I’m happy it went to Running for Rhett!!! But as for what was provided for DDs — nothing. There was free bottles of water for everyone which was nice, but otherwise, DDs had to pay for food etc. I understand businesses need to make money, but it would have been cool to get a little discount or something. Or even if there were more vendors with cool stuff. The Kind Bar people were there, a window retailer, and the Lake Tahoe Visitor’s Bureau…
Don’t get me wrong, watching everyone have fun and over the few hours become sloppy zombie drunks was great fun, and my guys had a lot of fun — we now have at least 50 new coasters and 10 bottle openers too! But, a lil somethin’ for the DDs would have been nice.
I wanted a DD only bounce house obstacle course.
Oh and if next year the organizers could provide more seating or advertise that bringing lawn chairs or picnic blankets is a good idea — that would be great.
Location: 5 stars absolutely
Buy tix early, like a week prior, and arrive early too.

It was good, A little improvement from the one at the cal expo.
but the impatient version of me, hated the idea of waiting so long in a line,
when I pre-​bought my tickets online! hmmmmm… I heard if you didn’t buy tickets
that line was a bit shorter. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

Had a blast at the Capitol Beer Fest this year. Having it on Capitol Mall was the best idea anyone could have for a festival such as this. I am still pretty new to the Sacramento area, so I am still super stoked on the Capitol building and the Tower Bridge and look either direction and you see one or the other.
The beer selection was incredible. I believe there was something like 103 beer and food vendors with the vast majority of the beer coming from the greater Sacramento area and Northern California. Of course other areas were represented (Maine, Oregon, Colorado and So Cal) but the local guy was definitely the star there. My favorites were as always Knee Deep, Out of Bounds, Drakes and Ninkasi (Eugene, Oregon).
We all know you can’t drink beer without good food, and that was covered. We chose to order grub from the Rudy’s Hideaway food truck. I mean really, who can pass up Maine lobster on a stick called a Lobi Pop? Not me!!! We also ordered the amazing little gems they called Crab Balls. The Lobi Pop was served with and awesome non-​mayo coleslaw that was the right combo of sweet and tart. Crab Balls were accompanied by a handful of homemade potato chips (coulda eaten a bucket of them).
Like I said in the beginning, we had a blast at the Capitol Beer Fest this year and will make it a yearly tradition. Great was to close out Sac Beer week!
Cheers!!!

Capitol Beer Fest 2014 is in the books. Huge improvement from Cal Expo. I liked the setup this year up and down both sides of the street for around 3 blocks.
103 craft beer and food vendors. This was enough to make even the longest of lines very tolerable. I doubt I ever waited more than a few minutes.
My personal highlights were Knee Deep, Drakes, Ninkasi and Rudy’s Hideaway.
Lowlights nothing major at all.