American Craft Beer Fest
Hello all. Finally posting my ACBF volunteer recap. It was ACBFmazing!
I ended up volunteering for Saturday setup and session one. Like a great many beer advocates, I am prone to overzealouslness. I took the volunteer info sheet’s suggestion that volunteers arrive early to hear, arriving just before 9 am for an 11 o’clock rally call. It was me an the security guard for a bit before a few other early goers wandered in and out. I met some interesting people, serendipitously enough, Lost in the beer aisle‘s Josh among them. If you’ve never checked out his site, you 100% should. Go now – I’ll wait.
The volunteer staff was made to wait until 11, the time actually indicated to arrive. Didn’t see that one coming. I will note this to the Beer Advocate: If you are going to say ‘feel free to arrive early,’ expect early arrivals. We volunteered for this event. We get excited. We want to help. If you don’t give us enough direction, or are remotely vague, you end up with a bit of chaos. I guess, if I had any constructive criticism it would be on that point. I felt fairly under prepared to volunteer. I was given a FAQ sheet, vague times, roundabout directions on where to arrive, and set loose. Once I was in and set up though, the event ran surprisingly smoothly.
I was in section C. My captains, tboom29 (Tyler Hougaboom) and csniezek (Chris Sniezek) were cool. Captains assigned us tasks, oversaw sections, handled issues, and scheduled breaks. I was assigned to be a monitor for Victory Brewing and Woodstock Inn Station and Brewery. Basically, my job involved monitoring the lines for unruly behavior, blatant drunkenness, watch for spills and such. I also policed my brewers for over pours, serving from anything other than the tasting cup – you get the idea. Josh got to serve beer for Bear Republic & Schmaltz Brewing – that lucky bastard!
My brewers were cool. I was warned by my captains that Woodstock Inn could be a little over the top. The rep seemed to just be tad high maintenance and I can’t say I blame her; If I were a small brewer working a fest, I would want everything perfect. Plus, their beer was good and that goes a long way in my book. They have a great take on the pale ale and a solid brown. They ended up to be a cool lot and I hear that they offer Brewer’s weekends for those looking to spend a weekend learning the process. I may just have to make that trip.
For my troubles, I received a meal ticket, T-shirt, tasting cup. I was given two thirty minute breaks to dash off and sample beer. Having an orange shirt pretty much means you can dodge most lines. I was unaware of this at first, but the brewers know you are a volunteer and most will help you out. There still just wasn’t enough time to try everything I wanted to try during the event. But then again, that wasn’t the point. The point was to help out. Beer Advocate and Harpoon do a lot to make these things happen, and this was my way of contributing back to the beer advocate community. Plus, I had session two tickets…
And session two was fan-freakin-tastic. Pics to follow, but that is a post for a different time.
Free beer
Free food
Free shirt
New friends
Met cool brewers
Helped the New England beer community grow
Warm and fuzzy feeling distinctly different to drunkness
I will definitely volunteer again.
Pretty Things AMERICAN DARLING 2010