Atlanta Beer Carnival

I have been a volunteer with the Winter Beer Carnival since conception (as well have done multiple other beer events).
The company that has been contracted in to manage the event IS THE SORRIEST, UNPROFESSIONAL BUNCH OF INDIVIDUALS.
So if they continue, and you want to volunteer, BEWARE!
Volunteering is awesome.

What the carnival rocked:
1. Beverage variety– considering it was a «beer carnival», they offered a fair amount to non-​beer choices, including wines, ciders and (of course) water.
2. (speaking of) FREE WATER– you smart people, you! You must have been RA’s in college.
3. Large space– I never felt crowded or stood in line for a beer/​game for more than five minutes. The space was well laid out and had a good «flow»
4. Staffing– whether they were volunteers or beer company associates, the people running the show were polite, enthusiastic and made the event really fun!
What the carnival lacked:
1. «spit buckets” — okay, not for spit, but for the beer that people didn’t like. I was not the only one looking around for somewhere to dump my unwanted sample. Many dumped it on the ground (gross), others in the trash can (also gross), and some (like me) just gave in and chugged.
2. Prizes– admittedly, the carnival prizes are not what I was excited about, but I overhead many complaining about the silliness or simple lack of prizes.
3. Shade– but I suppose that was the point of moving the «winter beer carnival» to April.
Next year– I will remember sunscreen.
Overall– awesome time was had by all!

Good assortment of beers but the event was not as appealing this year at Atlantic Station as before at the Masquerade. The vast expanse of asphalt/​concrete doesn’t do it for me. Still, a good event.
Jopen rye ale = tasty.

I have been to every Winter Beer Carnival in ATL.
First Year — Art Gallery — AWESOME SAUCE. All I remember was «shutting the place down» while dancing to 80s classics (great DJ!) and finding a stash of prizes in my purse the next morning.
Second Year — Random Lot in Midtown — loved the much bigger venue, lots more games, plenty of space to roam around. It helped it was beautiful weather that year. But I waited forever for food (almost 45 mins for a funnel cake!) and the lines were so long for the bathrooms that I walked over to Cheetah Lounge to use their facilities. BONUS — the location was super convenient to MARTA. And Midtown in general; I walked there and back that year.
Third Year — Atlantic Station — The infamous freezing-​my-​butt-​off year. I was so cold I couldn’t drink enough to make myself forget about it. They were very poorly prepared for this situation. Also, the layout of the beer tents was super confusing, there were people everywhere, and the games weren’t as fun/didn’t have cool prizes anymore. Worst of all… we had a medical issue in our group, and I was absolutely floored that no one could tell me where the medical tent was. I had a guy who was literally gushing blood, and all the volunteers (even event staff) were clueless. We finally found «first aid» which was some volunteer with a first aid kit, and I was shocked that for a beer festival this large they didn’t have an actual first aid stand… you know, for the idiots who drink way too much or, like my friend, injure themselves.
So I resigned myself to not going this year, since last year was pretty awful and I’m supposed to be on a diet. But at the last minute my plans changed, and I was back for a fourth year.
I still don’t like this location. It’s tough to get to without driving or taxi-​ing. It’s also CRAZY windy over there, so even if it’s not too cold you’ll get a wind chill. The layout is still confusing.
And– either they sold too many tickets or the booths were just too close together, but the lines were out of control and impossible to get around even if you weren’t in line for beer. Definitely the longest lines at a beer festival I’ve had to wait in.
We got there around 4:30pm, an hour and a half into the festival, and almost every table was out of one or two of the beers they were offering. It’s a little annoying to feel like you have to pay for the VIP ticket in order to, you know, drink the beers you were expecting to be able to try.
The lines for games were also ridiculous, and I didn’t really see any fun/​interesting prizes. Many of the seemingly less-​popular games didn’t have any attendants either… I guess they didn’t have a good handle on their volunteers. The keg racing thing that took up a huge amount of space ended up breaking down towards the end.
As for beers. I didn’t try anything particularly outstanding, or rare, or anything like that. Kind of a bummer.
I’m trying to think of something positive to say. I loved the addition of Food Trucks to the event. The DJ was decent. The company was awesome. Oh, and Unilocal!was there with some sexy volunteers!
After this year’s experience, I really don’t see myself returning unless I get free tickets somehow. It seems like just another event where they don’t care at all about crowd control or capping ticket sales.

We’re new to the city and thought this would be a fun event. What could have been awesome was simply mediocre. Quite a few beers ran out at 5:00 and when I spend 50 bucks on a ticket I don’t expect it to run out 2 hours before the end of the event! The booths were run by volunteers who didn’t know anything about the beer or where to find it in Atlanta. Definitely not a beer tasting, rather a big drunk fest. Games could have been great but again mediocre. A grumpy volunteer closed the bowling game at 5:00 as «it was getting too rowdy». No crowd control. In sum, a definite disappointment. Will not return and will certainly spread the word.

This was my very first beer carnival/​tasting event and the biggest thing I walked away with was now I can say that I’ve been to one.
Overall, this experience was slightly mediocre and insanely cold. We got there around 3:30 and was met with traffic. Finally found a parking spot in the deck after 15 minutes. It was frigid and windy so I was really looking forward to the promise of heating lamps. We finally made it through the lines and got to the event area. It seemed like everyone was packed into the main tent in an attempt to escape the wind. There were definitely not enough heating lamps to actually provide any warmth. There were lines everywhere and the set up was messy. (It would have been nice if they had a map of all the different tables and game booths.) The games were meh… but you get what you pay for… in this case it was free.
There were a couple of food vendors out. I got the brats from Ormsby’s and was happy with how good they were. Unfortunately, by this time, I was grouchy from the wind and cold and just wanted to go home.
My 3 star rating was mostly due to uncontrollable factors. The dismal weather ruined this experience for me. Had it been a sunny and mild winter day, I would have definitely loved everything about this.
I want to thank all the volunteers at the carnival. They were all shaking from the cold, but managed to be very kind and energetic!
I would like to go to the carnival next year… I just pray for better weather.

I had heard about this carnival over the years and I was intrigued at the fact I had the opprotunity to get VIP tickets via Unilocal had intirgued me even more. Unfortunately, I was not a lucky winner in the tickets.
But alas, I ended up getting 2XGA tickets the morning of the event (still $ 40+4 at the time). I mean, who doesn’t wanna try out «hard to find» beers (a reason for those quotations, exlpanation later)??
Approaching Atlantic Station around 3:30, traffic was a mess (everyone kept going to same entrance, not realizing there are 10+ entrances to the garage around the premises!) — but came with an easy fix– take Maket to 16^th and sneak on in– Voila! We got front row parking and avoided all of the traffic/​pedestrians/​police.
It was cold as shit. Let me rephrase that– it made Navy Boot Camp during the winter (which is on Lake Michigan) feel like a summer in the Sahara– it was THAT WINDY at times. I wore a hat, and jacket, but I should have brought gloves.
After all of the check in process, you are free to go in and play. The event was hosted this year in the side parking lot at Atlantic Station (which they now dub the «Special Events Area»). There was a tent in the middle, and random appendages throughout (I would assume a an overhead shot of the carnival would be comparable to JFK Airport).
There were a lot of pros here, but unfortantely, more cons. Crowd control in the main tent was my biggest issue. Since it was so windy and cold, everyone seemed to pile up in the main tent, which made it very difficult to navigate and see what there was to offer (I even heard rumors of a Unilocal booth??!). After 3 hard fought loops, we still were not able to experience everything in the main tent.
For an extra 20 $, you had access to an hour early entry and another area to freeze your ass off, that was in the SW corner from the entrance.
Next to that was the food– IMHO, the best part about the event. Ormsby’s some other place, and Ri Ra’s had items for purchase. The guinness brat from Ormsby’s was excellent, and the Fish and Chips from Ri Ra’s were simply the best I ever had (I wish I were scarastic, this is not BS!) — I will have to go back to Ri Ra’s and check it out– same with Ormsby’s (Which is nice– close to the Wine Shop I frequent often). There was plenty of seating around to eat.
On the other side of the main tent were the restrooms and the SweetWater/​Terrapin/​PBR pours. Then there were 3 wood burning ovens and some other games there too.
There was even a Ferris Wheel that was just a tease– I didn’t see it revolve once! There was also a slide that got love early on, but faded quickly.
Around 5:30, it seemed like either beer was running low, or people couldn’t handle the wind because the place seemed to mellow out quickly… Which sucked since the event was supposed to be over @ 7…
The last thing I will bitch about is how quickly some of the beers ran out and the types there were. Yea, there were maybe 1 – 2 I have not heard of, but these beers are readily available around the city thanks to places like Taco Mac and Cypress ST PnP– so I wasn’t really greeted with some knock your socks off brew (I mean where in the hell was Samichlaus, the $ 17 a 4 pk belgian with a 13%ABV???). That kind of sucked.
Maybe next year will be better, but @ $ 44 a ticket, I won’t be the one to report back…

Volunteered for Unilocal here. Has\d a blast with kathleen², ken and megan.
Due to the Unilocal table receiving a lot of attention, I wasn’t able to try much of the beers available, but you Sierra Nevada guys next to us for keeping my tasting glass full.

Mmmmmm… beeeer! I especially want to give a shout-​out to those lovely people at the Absolut table for serving up the most delicious flavored vodka cocktails I’ve had since my last blue drink in LA (I just love blue drinks).
Unlike most of my friends, I had a general admission ticket and I couldn’t get inside until 3:00 PM. The line looked long, but it only took about 10 minutes to work through the whole thing.
The DJ wasn’t all that, but I think that had more to with the acoustics under the giant tent than his skills. Speaking of the tent, there were a lot of fun booths set-​up and it was also the coolest place to be. I couldn’t believe how warm it was, even for Atlanta… in February.
All I know is I was stumbling out of there around 5:00 PM, so I think I got everything I could have ever wanted.
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Thought this was an all around great event. Given the unpredictability of what folks are going to gravitate to beer-​wise… I thought the organizers kept the event well stocked. I was «sampling» up to the time they shut down. Two years in and this thing just keeps getting better. I can’t wait for next year.
Think next year they will need more carnival rides or what not because those things were slammed. Nice job!

This event was a blast, and I’d highly recommend checking it out again next year. I was impressed with the array of beers and games. The food vendors were also quality. Ormsby’s was there with their sausages/​bratwurst offerings. I had a tasty jerk chicken sandwich at the stand next to Ormsby’s that was reasonably priced and huge. I wanted to do the funhouse mirror, but that thing was packed all day long.
Were the lines for the bathroom long? Sure, but it’s a festival – that’s par for the course. I found beer all the way up until the end of the festival without too much trouble, so I’m not sure why others are suggesting they «ran out» of beer 2 hours early. (Yes, some individual tables ran out of beer, but not the whole festival.)
More water access and maybe carby cheap eats (pretzels, crackers) might be a good idea for next year. But again, awesome festival that I’ll definitely be coming back to again.

I’m going with a «meh» rating on this one. Maybe I’m spoiled from living in New Orleans for so long, but I’ve never heard of a beer festival running out of beer 2 hours early. I was done tasting by then so I wasn’t upset, but I can see why so many other people were-​especially if they didn’t get there right at 3pm like we did.
I really found the «carnival» aspect to be lacking, it felt like we were in someone’s backyard and it held my attention for about 5 seconds before we were kind of bored. Not to say that I didn’t appreciate what they were going for, just that it wasn’t what I expected.
We stood around most of the time, trying to avoid the huge crowd in the tent even though we had to venture in periodically since all of our favorite beer was in there. I think it would have been nice to have more activities and maybe some bands or something.
Frankly, if the weather hadn’t been nice we probably wouldn’t have lasted as long as we did and we would have felt cheated. Also, there were very few beers there that we had never tried before so we ended up going to our regular favorites the most. I did like the Holy Mackeral from Ft Lauderdale quite a bit, though.

First, a huge thank you to Kathleen for sending me a ticket, it was awesome!
This was my first beer festival of any sort, and it was interesting to say the least. I did find it odd they ran out of most of the beers, but you also can never predict what might happen.
The games they had set up made my day. I loved that you could play Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots and life sized Operation. Who ever came up with that deserves a gold star. Most of the beer they had were things I have had before, but I was surprised to see a few things I had never heard or seen before. Definitely impressed with the selection. I think the only thing they could do better is have more water coolers around the whole place instead of one centralized area. Just a thought.

I was told by a few people that this year’s was far better than last year’s, so there’s hope of progress. This was a vendor fair with a few amusing asides. Given the free ticket (yup, another one), I was able to taste quite a few brews I’ve hesitated buying. I’ll likely buy one of them (Midas) now and know better than to buy the others.
There were four beers I didn’t recognize from the shelves at Hop City out of all those available. sigh. I wish they had coordinated with the brew-​your-​cask-​off competition or had homebrewers sampling. There may be nasty legal entanglements with that, though.
I somehow didn’t notice the beer running short, yet I stayed until 7. I did notice the *water* running out very early. Makes rinsing out the tasting glass rather difficult. The cheese in the VIP area was a very welcome palate cleanser while it lasted.
With the confusion about what brews where where, and with running out of water, I’m not sure I’ll be buying tickets next year. A trip to Hop City is more economical, predictable, and still pretty fun. But they want to continue growing and improving, so we’ll see. I did have a blast at the carnival, though, even after us married fuddy-​duddies stayed back and let the singles go mingle.

Overall the beer carnival was held on an awesome spring-​ish day in February. so you can’t go wrong there! They had all sorts of beer, ciders, liquors and even baby shots of tequila and jack Daniels (which I didn’t see last year at all). The event seems to be growing last year the location was much smaller and therefore packed with people. It was nice to be able to maneuver around easier. While the VIP area was nice, and had allot of the more «high end» beers I don’t think I would have sprung the money for the extra privilege had I not gotten a free ticket.
They also had various carnival games, a sled ride… with real snow, and a fun house to name a few.
I would definitely purchase tickets next year!

If I had paid for a ticket, I would have been very disappointed.
Thankfully, that extra half hour plus some of that Absolut Wild Tea left me with a headache until I finally sucked it up and went to bed. Oops.
If I hadn’t had a VIP ticket, I would have been pissed. The Unibroue beers were in the VIP tent despite the fact that they were not listed as VIP on the website. On the same note, it wasn’t like that tent was nice to be in… I was dying from the lack of ventilation. Then the ~special bathrooms~ had just as long of a line as everywhere else by 5:30.
I figured they would run out. It just looked like there was not enough beer and way too many people. On a similar note, if they tout something as «going to sell out,» it seems kind of silly to expect that they weren’t going to run out.
If they went with less of a sample, it probably would have helped. Some stuff I did not want more than a few sips of… and if I liked it, I’d go back and get more at some other point.
I probably would go next year only if Unilocal helped me out once again: P
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