My wife was thinking about bringing me down for the brewvival in February for my birthday. We’ve never been before. Is it worth it? 80 bucks a ticket/person seems a little steep but we are heavy drinkers/beer connoisseurs so maybe its worth it if we take a cab there.
Interested to hear what you all have to say about this event. Any pointers/advice will be much appreciated.
I’ll probably be going. Charging $75 for a ticket is basically a challenge to me to make it worth my money.
be sure to take pix and or video for us
I’ve only missed one year (the infamous flood of '13), and I won’t miss another - though this year I’ll likely be found behind the Palmetto booth most of the day. One of the best beer festivals in the Southeast, and the beer list for this year looks like it’s shaping up to be another great one.
Tickets are extraordinarily close to selling out last I heard (as in, down to the lower double-digits remaining online).
Depends on why you are going…
IF the goal is to speak to the brewers, discuss methods and ingredients, trends in the industry, well forget it. Most of the booths have serves that know nothing about the beer itself. It is crowed, loud, and more a party environment.
IF you are looking to get hammered at a party… You won’t find many places to drink as much for $70-80 per person.
You’ll be hard-pressed to find any beer festival staffed entirely by direct representatives of the breweries. Most small breweries simply can’t afford to to send folks to every out-of-town festival, so breweries located far out of town are often represented by distributors or remote sales staff. Given the attendance numbers at these festivals, it’s also difficult for knowledgeable reps to field every question presented by attendees. No festival is really the ideal setting for ultra-in-depth discussions (if you stop by the Palmetto booth, though, I’m sure I can talk your ear off).
Brewvival is an excellent gathering for like-minded craft beer fans, especially those in and around Charleston. The local beer scene is very well represented, and it’s always a good crowd. It is a loud, party-like environment that draws a generally younger 25-35 type audience, but I’ve never seen anyone get off-the-wall crazy or anything like that.