NY Brewfest Fiasco AKA Escape From Governors Island

June 20th, 2010Blog, Food & Drink4 comments

I attended the 4th Annual NY Brewfest 2010 held at Governors Island yesterday (Sat, June 19th) with the hopes of  enjoying a beautiful day tasting some great new beers.  That was not to be…

This was my first NY Brewfest, I had never been able to make it to the one at South Street Seaport and sadly – it will be my last.  I don’t know what the organizers were thinking but by appearances I would guess that their top priority was cramming in as many people as possible leading to a higher profit margin – ensuring an enjoyable experience with easy transport to and from Governors Island was most certainly not on their list.  Attendees were given a few options for getting to the festival, water taxis from lower Manhattan, Brooklyn and NJ – I chose the Manhattan option.  I should have arrived at the Pier earlier, that was my mistake but I had to grab a bite to eat first because I wasn’t sure how difficult it was going to be at the festival which turned out to be a very smart move. The festival began at 3:30pm and I made it to the water taxi at around that time to find a massive mob of very young anxious people, it took over an hour to get on the water taxi plus another 30mins wait for it to be ready to take off and travel to the island.  Once there, there was a 10min walk to the event area which was overrun with what looked like about 5000 people.  Yes there were many brewers present but no information on what they were serving – you’d have to wait on each line to see what awaited you and each line was 25 to 50 people long.  The plan was to get on a line, get very small beer then run to another line and repeat.  I walked around just enough to see where everything was and passed the food area which was even worse as far as lines were concerned, at one point the line at Sullivan Street Bakery was about 100 people deep – I didn’t bother trying to sample any of the foods there so that I could have more time to wait on the beer lines which was very disappointing.  I only saw 4 police officers inside the event and no medical crews or event security, outside the event there were many event security but their main concern was keeping people off the grass and finishing their beer before leaving the area.  In the end I was there for about 3hrs and didn’t do anything other than wait on lines (no food/bathroom breaks) and was only able to sample 10 shots of beer — there was no buzz to be had, just aching feet and frustration – all for only $60, no wait – there’s more…

Then I was ready to leave, it was around 7:15pm and the event was due to end at 8pm so I started on my journey back to the water taxi, hungry and still thirsty.  First we were corralled into the Manhattan taxi area then were set free to jump on what looked like a 2hr wait line for the taxi – fortunately no one had the chance to get tipsy that day so people were not rioting, yet.  As we passed the taxi line that would not end, everyone kept walking to see if there was another option for getting off Governors Island – we didn’t care how much we had to pay.  And then it was as if we had won the lottery, not sure who made the discussion but someone either from the island or the festival requested a huge passenger car ferry to assist in the transport, they invited us on and we were so happy – if it wasn’t for that, things could have ended very badly.

Later that evening, numerous angry posts began to appear on NY Brewfest’s Facebook page, they have since been removed…

On a positive note, I did discover one brew that I really did like which was Original Sin Pear Cider – though very light, it was very tasty and worth a second wait on line.

As an alternative to the NY Brewfest, consider the Blue Point Cask Ale Festival held annually at the Bluepoint Brewery in Patchogue, NY – a much smaller and way more fun event.  Another option is get your friends together and visit one of the many beer bars in NYC and plan your own mini beer fest – depending on the bar and how many people you can get together, you may even be able to arrange for a discounted group rate.

UPDATE

Many angry people on NY Brewfest’s Facebook page leads to the discussion boards being shut down but I copied the responses before they did! Read them below:

Paul Miles I really hope that someone from the event organizers reads these comments and responds to them as I’m really annoyed today. The whole event was terrible from start to finish, it was simply way too crowded. We arrived pretty early at around 3:30..yet it took about 50mins just to get into the event and to get our sampling glass. For the first 20mins or so the lines werent too bad, but by 5pm we were having to wait literally15-20mins for every beer. For the amount of space available I think that the organizers sold about 50% too many tickets. If half the amount of tickets had been sold it still would have been busy. For $55 per ticket I feel completely ripped off and I wont be going next year. I’m not alone in these thoughts….pretty much every person I spoke to said the same thing. It was so bad that I think the organizers need to issue some kind of public apology.

Paul Soltero The variety of brewery’s was great Very disappointed with this event though, the planning left a lot to be desired. some examples it took 45 minutes just to get in when the gates opened @ 330, the lines for everything except the toilets( good job there) were incredibly long. Example: was on line to buy some food the line wasn’t moving went out of fest to the lunch truck got something to eat sat down ate it went back in and saw that the people who were right in front of us in line hadn’t been waited on yet. Here’s a suggestion either sell less tickets to the event or start the event earlier.

Then trying to leave the island was the like blind leading the blind. We stood at the ferry area for over an hour (got there just before 7) waiting for a Manhattan bound Watertaxi while watching Brooklyn bound boats leaving every 5 min or so. There was no one from the Fest in charge just security guards with with no idea what to do. Finally after more than an hour the light went off in somebodys head. We were allowed to walk to the other side of the island to take the Governors Island ferry. What happened to all the boats going back to Pier 11?

GABF, TAPNY come to mind as some of the larger beer festivals I’ve been to that are very good examples of well run tasting events. You should really contact them.

Riley McCormick Why did you sell so many tickets?

Ari Burd Yah, what a joke. Completely oversold. Took almost 2 hrs to get from the water taxi to the inside of the event. Then, once inside, minimum of 20-30 minutes to fill the sample glass. I’d say in 3hrs I managed to drink the equivalent of 2-3 beers.

I noticed Brewfest has stopped letting people comment on the event….

Nick Fernandez Only made it through 1/4 of Brewer’s Row. Terrible. Anyone else think the exit process was two shoves away from a stampede?

Oliver Gold horrible experience from start to finish. waited over an hour to get on the boat then 25 minute lines at every beer station.

only tasted 3 beers before getting sick of it and leaving.

Nelson Ramirez Couldn’t agree more. This event was terrible.
Completely oversold, no crowd control at the beer lines whatsoever.
20+ minutes at each line accompanied by lame music.

You had a good thing going but you ruined it by being greedy. Shame on you!

Also for the record, I WANT MY MONEY BACK.

Matt Parker It was oversold. Knock 2K off the total tickets. Better line control needed for beers. There were too many Murray Hill kids just pushing through that I’m amazed fights didn’t break out…or maybe they did. Perhaps you should let people in but with 2 color wrist bands only serve those with one color on and blow an airhorn when the rest are able to get beers. Departure was a bit choatic as well….there were 2 ferry’s you could take but nobody really knew of the second one.

Riley McCormick I heard they sold 10,000 total tickets.. Does that sound crazy? That can’t be right.

Matthew Hendricksen To whom it may concern: I was more than disappointed with yesterday’s Brewfest. It was oversold to the tune of thousands of people, and was a complete disaster for most in the crowd. The concept was fantastic, as was the beer, but in no situation should anyone have to wait in line for 90 minutes for food, which is what many of us had to do (including myself). The transportation to and from Governors Island was also a complete disaster, but only because too many tickets were sold. I waited in line at Pier 11 for 50 minutes before I finally got to the island, only to find that I would wait another 50 minutes just to get into the Brewfest section. The return trip home was far worse, and I am amazed that no one was injured. I can assure you that I will not attend the 2011 event, and I strongly recommend that you consider the patrons equally with your bottom line.

Elizabeth Lenehan What a rip-off; I’d rather pay 55 bucks and go to a bar and be guaranteed a drink. They allowed in far too many people and leaving was a nightmare, I actually felt unsafe on the car carrier they packed us all on to leave the island (which took over 1.5 hours). Shame on the whoever planned this event—

Matt Klics I dont care how many tickets were sold. Next year sell 1/2 as many and have it in a more accessible place. The concept of having it on Governor’s Island was great, but some thought should have been taken into thousands of people wanting to leave at the same time.

Take a lesson from Brewtopia and have multiple sessions.

I am one of the people that went, not to get drunk, but to taste new beers and my $63 (after tax etc) only let me feel like our group was herded like cattle trying to get through the gates, then the average wait of 23 minutes (i had the time to calculate my average wait) for a beer only let me try 9 beers. Major disappointment!!
about an hour ago · Report.Colin Heckman sadly, unless someone out there actually reads this forum and has pull with the event, it will be the same story next year. there were a few brief periods yesterday when the a few of the lines moved enough that I could drink my sample from the previous brewery while I waited in line for the next one and not have too much of a gap between tastings.

being outdoors on the island (with plenty of shade as promised) was great, but having to deal with the constant sight of rude obnoxious people with multiple tasting glasses, planting themselves in the front of lines and getting 2, 3 and sometimes 4 samples (because they were pounding each glass and then handing it back for more), was unacceptable.

here’s an idea. start the event at noon, sell the same number of tickets, but have 2 tasting sessions of 4 hours each with a half hour in between to get people out and the breweries ready for the next session. up the price by a small margin (say maybe $5) and guarantee that breweries will not be running out of beer within the first hour (sea dog…again unacceptable!), or for the majority of the session.

if you need help with any specific details, talk to the people who ran the event at the nassau coliseum a few months back…no issues there!

Mike Reynolds Never going to this event again.
Never eating at Heartland Brewery again.
They were clearly doing this event for 1 reason….to exploit the vendors and attendees to make as much money as possible. It wasn’t about the beers and the great brewers this area has to offer, which is what it should be about.
A logistical nightmare.
A huge disappointment.

Sara Kennedy I agree with Colin. I was so disappointed in the large amount of people who were bypassing the lines, throwing down multiple glasses and chugging beers. I felt like I got to go to only a very small portion of the breweries I wanted to go to because of the line nightmares.
43 minutes ago · Report.Neville Mitchell This event was such a dissapointment. All I want to do is gripe and curse, but I am a defeated man. For weeks I was looking forward to this, and you know what? The joke was on us! Someone made some pretty serious coin out of this hose-job. 10 minute lines would be acceptable as it would help keep chochies from getting too drunk and out of control, but the problem was they were 25 minute lines by 4:30.

By the way, I paid 85 dollars for a ticket on craigslist for my girlfriend. She never ended up coming because I called her and told her not to waste her time.

I want an apology. Piss in my ear and tell me it is raining if that’s what it comes to, but someone should reply to this discussion.

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