CANvitational

I love this beer festival. I love that it’s outside (and that the weather cooperates generally). I love that it includes several breweries whose beer you cannot get here in Indy.
I can’t speak to the cost because my company is awesome and is a sponsor, so I get to go for free.
This year they had sweet tin cups for VIPs and those were awesome.
I will continue to go to this event as long as they have it.

Any place where you get to drink a bunch of beer samples all day is going to be a good time, but this event falls easily behind both Brew-​Ha-​Ha and the Microbrew Fest, and probably even Winterfest, in my book.
The location is great, and there was plenty of space relative to the amount of people once you got inside. The layout was done well, and there were a lot of areas to just walk around and enjoy your beer samples without being crowded. The entrance process was a lot slower than it needed to be, but it looked like they were using a third party security company to do the ID checking, so they probably didn’t care at all about efficiency and is why that was the bottleneck of the process. There was never a long line for the bathrooms, but having to leave the event each time was a little odd, and was slightly inconvenient that you couldn’t take a beer sample with you to drink while waiting. The food truck variety was great, and there were enough options that the lines never got long. It was really nice that they had some things to sample that weren’t just beers, including coffee and even Just Pop In popcorn. The lines at the beer tents were never bad either, and it was never much of a wait to go try something new.
The beers that were here are what I think is lacking compared to other beer fests. The limitation of it needing to be canned means that there is none of the wild and crazy beers that are usually the highlight of these events. There was no small batch stuff, no experimental beers, nothing brewed especially for this event. I love trying weird flavor combinations, ridiculously hoppy beers, spicy beers, and all of those fun things that you get at almost all other beer festivals that just aren’t here. It’s a lot of safe crowd-​pleasing beers that these breweries have decided to can for mass distribution. It’s not that they weren’t good; it’s just that it was disappointing for a beer fest. It also seems like a giant waste of time and resources for these places to have to can all of their beer, get it all cold, and then continuously open all of the cans all day to pour samples out of (along with a lot of aluminum can waste at the end of the day). It seems like way more sense to just let these places bring in kegs for the event, even if it is normally canned. Another problem the cans lead to is that when it got much slower towards the end, you might ask to try something that has been sitting in an open can in the sun for a much longer time that it should have been, leading to a flat or warm beer, although this was only an issue a couple of times the entire day.
The thing that makes the lack of options even worse is that the price for this thing is the same or even more expensive than the other brewfests. Their VIP ticket price of $ 75 is absolutely bonkers, and their normal ticket price of $ 40 ($ 50 after the price increase and $ 60 at the door) is the same or more as brew fests that have significantly more options and varieties of beers and breweries.
The only way I see myself coming back here is if I end up winning a free ticket through a promotion, but if not, I’m going to save my money to participate in the other beer festivals in Indy throughout the year.

One of my favorite beer fests of the year. What makes this one stand out? The chance to try beer from around the country, rather than the standard local fare (which of course is excellent as well). I found a few favorites due to this beerfest, namely DC Brau and Tallgrass, and it is nice to taste Cigar City as well. Canned beer is the way to go, and this beerfest celebrates it!

CANvitational keeps getting better every year! Lots of brewers representing all over from Maui to Colorado to London. Hoosier Mama was a stroke of genius whipping up their version of Micheladas. Big shout out to Just Pop In. Your popcorn samples were right on time with all of that beer flowing about. I love the pretzel necklace making station. It’s a must! Thank you to all of the brewers who gave out stickers and koozies and other giveaways. With so many samplings it really helps after the event to remind us of everything we tried. Thank you to the food vendors for providing a much needed service in between the beer sampling. I’d like to see even more food trucks there in the future. I thought the layout was great. It seemed to flow smoothly with very little bottle necking. Even though there were a long row of port-​a-​potties, the ques to use them were long enough to suggest more are needed! Nonetheless, I believe CANvitation surpasses many of the other brew fests in the Indy area.

Had a fabulous time at the 2015 CANvitational. The weather was awesome, the setting was great, and the beers did not disappoint. I thought the layout was spacious and kept it from feeling overly crowded. The live DJs were fun and the food trucks were essential! I devoured a giant soft pretzel and some pepperoni pizza from local food trucks. I also made several stops at the Just Pop In tent for the goose the market and Carmel corn popcorn samplings. There were several interactive components to the festival including making your own pretzel necklace as well as bean bag toss and giant beer pong. The lines were relatively short the entire afternoon which was nice. Hats off to the coordinators of the event– well planned!

We used to attend a few of the other beer festivals around town, but we stopped going to most of them because either the crowds exceed the space, or the waits for tastings were too long, or that they generally occur when it is blazing hot. NOT SO with the SunKing CANvitational! This was our first year attending (as we had a conflict for the inaugural year), and as long as they keep up the perfect logistics they were rocking this year, we look forward to attending each year.
I was impressed by the selection of breweries participating this year, and I loved that we never had to wait more than 5 minutes for a tasting at any booth (although this maybe made it a *bit* more difficult to responsibly pace ourselves… :-)). The admission cost was maybe a little steep for some, but I am fine with that, as I think it helps keep attendance at a reasonable number. I also think it is a bargain for several hours of unlimited tastings. I appreciated the ample number of porta-​johns, as the wait time for these was less than 5 minutes as well ;-). We REALLY appreciated the free canned water & the water refill stations. Why don’t more festivals do that?
Overall, my favorite beers I sampled of the day were (focusing on ones that I had never had before… it would be too easy to add in my established favorites :-)), in no particular order:
*Lemongrass Wheat, by West 6 (Lexington, KY)
*Bourbon Brown, by Country Boy (Lexington, KY)
*Rosa Hibiscus, by Revolution (Chicago, IL) [and I normally *hate* hibiscus stuff…]
*Coffee Porter, Surly Brewing Company (Minneapolis, MN) [I will have dreams about this Coffee Porter]
*DNR Belgian Strong, by Oklahoma COOP Ale Works (Oklahoma City, OK)
I can’t wait to go again next year!

This 2^nd year of CANvitational was better than last! The event planners utilized the courtyard-​type area for breweries to pour for attendees, rather than last year, which used the area for a VIP/​Volunteers/​Employees tent. It allowed for a great amount of space for people to move about, but also stand and chat without feeling in the way of others.
The music was great, the food trucks were some of the best in the city (hello, mac genie and beer!), and the amount of port-​o-​lets was super satisfactory. You don’t think about these types of things until you attend a beer festival where port-​o-​lets are in short supply (NOT FUN).
The main Beer Fests of Indiana predominately showcase Indiana/​Midwest breweries, which is fantastic, but it’s nice to have an annual event like this to sample things I can’t find in my local liquor store/​pub. A great event, for sure.

Beer festival downtown? Yes, please!
Last year I was disappointed I couldn’t go to the Canvitational. I was super excited to go this year! We arrived a few minutes late but noticed there weren’t that many people inside the gates. I would have loved to spring for VIP, but the price was crazy expensive. I stuck with my general admission ticket. There were several food choices and even a juice truck! Let’s be honest. I didn’t come here for the food.
There were several breweries I hadn’t heard of before and many that I had. I noticed very quick that there wasn’t a big variety. Each vendor had their basic beers. Even the breweries from Chicago were serving the everyday beer you can find on the shelves. Disappointed. I think the most excited I got was talking to Dark Matter Coffee.
To wrap it up, it was pricey for what it was. I love the location on Georgia Street and Pan Am Plaza. The lines weren’t long. The tasting glasses said 2013 on them. BUT they did hand out free canned water with refill stations. I enjoyed that. Unfortunately, we probably won’t return next year. Take my advice and just stick to the summer beer fest in Broad Ripple.

The 2^nd annual CANvitational was a great success! See my review from last year and then multiply it by 100! This is a wonderful beer event and should not be missed!
And, some guy pooped his pants this year, got chased by the cops and then hand-​cuffed. This event is THAT GOOD.

It’s all about the entertainment. Lovely fall weather, generous brew pours, local food trucks, and a guy who wet his pants darting out the front gate only to be tackled down. Embarrassing yeah. Watching drunk people in denial = hilarious.
Yes, we got early entry tickets thanks to (Shout out: Unilocal Indy!) but we trekked in late just right before 1 and got herded in with the general admission crowd. No skipping the lines. Boo.
While food truck options consisted mainly of pizza, fries, mac n cheese, and hot dogs, it would’ve been nice to see a bit more variety. Yes, drunk fat food is absolutely delish, no doubt about it, snacks would’ve been nice. Thanks to Just Pop In! for some yummy popcorn samples. The spicy Bloody Mary was excellent with the IPA to tone down the bitters. Otherwise, there was much more beer than I could possibly even sample given a good 2 – 4 oz pour ranging at 4.5−5.5 ABV. While I’m certainly not a lightweight, it left me feeling buzzed after about 10 pours.
Overall, pretty cool event. Loved trying brews all the way from across the nation including the Brits! Now how about a 3^rd CANvitational? Notice how the cups said 2013… reuse and recycle?

This was a great event hosted by Sun King Brewery which brought brewers together from around the country to display their canned beer or as Sun King calls them «mini kegs». My neighbor won a Facebook contest and got free tickets. The event was a major success and had a terrific turn out from vendors. We made pretzel necklaces which I strongly encourage so you do not have to slow your drinking down even to eat. The weather was awesome and all of the vendors were helpful. I was impressed with the Royal Brat which was a collaboration of Sun King and Three Floyds brewery. Indianapolis has many beer tasting events throughout the year, but I would consider this my favorite.

CANvitational was a blast and excelled where other brew festivals fell short.
Pros vs previous beer festivals I’ve attended in Indianapolis:
1) The location, venue, and setup. Each brewery had enough space and the ability to form lines. The microbrew festival in Broadripple is huge but it’s so spaced out that it’s hard to find each brewery. Brewhaha crams all the breweries onto Mass Ave and can get crowded. Georgia street worked perfectly for this event. I was easily able to visit every brewery in less than 4 hours.
2) the free swag. I collected 5 new unique koozies, including one from Unilocal and a tall can one from Kentucky brewing co that is designed for craft pint cans. I also walked away with a few Unilocal keychain bottle openers.
3) food trucks and free snacks. It would have been nice to see a few more food tricks, but I know that the Upland Oktoberfest pulled them away. At least the Omni had their chef there grilling up some fresh meats with a sun king beer jam.
I always make a pretzel necklace, but this event had a free pretzel necklace making station courtesy of draft magazine (who was also offering a $ 10 12 month subscription at the event). Unilocal was also giving away bags of pretzel crisps which were delicious.
Samples of just pop in were free and delicious as well.
Finally, free canned water. This was the first brewfest I’ve attended where they had water available. It’s nice to stay hydrated.
4) restroom facilities. There were plenty of port-​o-​lets. I never waited in line to go. I remember being miserable at brewhaha while waiting in a 20 minute line.
5) local sponsorship. Unilocal and visit Indy both had great representation at the event.
Overall, this was my favorite brewfest I’ve attended and I would definitely attend again.

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This was truly a great event! Beer, food (though there could have been more food trucks), local events and charities. Many beers to try! Worth the $ 50 admission price. Looking forward to see this event to expand in the years to come!