I would have taken more pictures, but, you know, beer.
This weekend I headed up to the Saratoga Beer Week(end) with two of my friends. There was a $10 Groupon for admission  that I missed, so I had to pay full price at the door.
That wouldn’t have been too big a deal, only they stopped selling the regularly-priced $20 tickets for the Groupon session way in advance (while continuing to sell $20 tickets for the other sessions right up til the day of the event), and the door price was $30.
Okay, no big deal. Â It sucks to pay 3x more than either of my friends (and $10 more than both of them combined), it sucks to feel like I got hustled, but, beer. Â Beer makes everything okay.
Then, I was handed my sample glass, filled with 4 tokens. The thought that went through my head was “…50+ vendors I am dying to try, and I just blew my entire beer budget on 4 tokens?â€
The math worked out to about $18.75 for a 12-ounce bottle of beer. The math can suck it.
I understand the liquor laws for events like this.  I know they aren’t allowed to give out more than X ounces of alcohol for free.  I get it.  What made me unhappy was that after the insane price jack between the Groupon and “door price,” I got stuck paying $7.50 per sample, and having only four chances to find beers I might enjoy turned out to be anxiety-producing. What if I chose wrong?!?
I’d have been a lot happier with a smaller sample size and twice the tokens, especially when many of the beers required two tokens per sample due to “rareness.”  Next year’s event planners: I hope you’re avid readers of Friday Puppy and can make this happen.
In the end, I tried five beers – Mother’s Milk, which is a delicious milk stout from Keegan Ales in Kingston, NY, two beers from other vendors I ended up not liking (goodbye, $15), and one beer from Brooklyn Brewery I knew I liked, since I didn’t want to waste my last token on something gross.
I wish I could write all about the other amazing vendors there; however, aside from Steadfast Beer Co., who are awesome and gave me a token-free sample of their excellent gluten-free sorghum beer, I have no idea what delicious brews I missed.
The silver lining is that I had a great time with my friends at an event that offered a turnout of really enjoyable people. I was able to discover a single beer from a single brewery that I really enjoyed, and I’ll buy it again soon.  My friends and I were able to gallivant around Saratoga after the event ended, and we drank beer at fun places all day and quite a bit of the evening.  Double silver lining – turns out the Parting Glass has bottles of Mother’s Milk for $4.75, which was a much better return on my carefully allocated beer money.
Next year, I’ll just make sure I get the memo on the damn Groupon.
GS5
Feb 28, 2012 at 3:26 pm
Try the Battle of the Brews at the Track… the last Friday before Traverse Weekend. Around $20 – four hours in the paddock so you can still bet and watch the races, and they give you something like 10 tickets for samples but will give you more if you run out and aren’t sloppy. Plus, half the vendors don’t even take your tickets anways! Not to mention it’s a fundraiser for the Red Cross, so you can say your drinking to save lives.
Def the best beer event around!
Carlene
Feb 28, 2012 at 4:02 pm
@GS5 – Thanks for the heads up! That sounds really great, and I really enjoy finding new breweries to support, especially local ones. My frustration at this event was much less about the money than not being able to do exactly that.
That Guy
Feb 28, 2012 at 5:10 pm
Wow Carlene, (clears throat), great necklace, among other things!! Maybe next time, you know, more pictures. Yow!!!
Carlene
Feb 28, 2012 at 5:24 pm
@That Guy – If all it takes to entice readers to read my entries is my photo in a tank top, consider it done.
this guy
Feb 28, 2012 at 6:27 pm
I agree about that tank top…wow !! Carlene you have a fantastic pair of…ummm assets:) We def need to see more of the twins in future articles.
Jon is another guy’s name
Feb 28, 2012 at 8:41 pm
Was there food too at this thing, or just beer sampling?
Carlene
Feb 28, 2012 at 9:01 pm
@Jon – There was food, but not included with the ticket. Most of what we saw was $5+.
Chad of Chad’z Beer Reviews
Feb 28, 2012 at 9:15 pm
heh, I know how you feel. I thought $20 for 4 tokens was a ripoff, I feel bad for people that paid door prices. That is an absolute snow-job, though. They should have given everyone at least 8 tokens. The key is to go to tables where the brewers themselves are at instead of just volunteers. I must’ve had 10 or 12 beers and only bough 2 extra tokens.
I made a video of the event, maybe you’ll see yourself in it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6nTjZJfU3M
Beeswax, Not Yours INC.
Feb 29, 2012 at 9:47 am
I also went to the event, and agree with the sentiment that it was sort of a rip. I get that the idea of a tasting isn’t to get sloshed, but only 4 tokens for 3 oz. servings amount to one beer for $20 (I bought my tickets in advance) is pretty abhorrent. I think that 6-8 tokens would have been fair.
Luckily we also happened upon a few vendors that were happy to discuss their offerings and offer a sampling sans wooden nickel.
Aside from the value, it was a fun event and I would attend again if the benefits were more reflective of the price.
Emily R
Feb 29, 2012 at 11:21 am
Carlene! I was there too. I actually think I saw you but I didn’t want to creep on a stranger, even more so when I was slightly drunk. Haha.
Carlene
Feb 29, 2012 at 11:22 am
@Emily R – It’s a lot less weird to get creeeped on by you in person than just in the comments – next time, creep away!
Summer
Feb 29, 2012 at 3:39 pm
There’s one in the summertime outside of Saratoga that takes place on a farm, and we got twice as many tickets for the same amount of money. Plus, half the time they don’t even take your ticket, so we actually had some left over by the time we left.
Rachel
Feb 29, 2012 at 5:03 pm
I agree completely. I was very annoyed after receiving my glass for 4 samples for $30 (I overhead a few other people commenting on it as well). I mentioned to my spouse that we could’ve tried full-size glasses at the local pubs for the same price. I guess my expectations were too high after attending the Albany Craft Beer Festival. I likely won’t be returning to Saratoga’s, but will definitely go to Albany’s again next year.
Jay
Feb 29, 2012 at 7:39 pm
Of all the beer festivals I’ve been to (yes there have been a few), this is the one with the least samples by far. To have so many breweries there and to only give out 4 tokens was no good. And for what they were charging for additional tokens, I could have gone down the road to a bar and bought a full sized beer.
GS5 pointed out Battle of the Brews, and I have been there the last 3 years. That is the best organized beer festival I’ve been to. All the other ones I would say did a good job and I’d be happy to go back.. If this one is the same next year, I will not be attending again.
(Just to note, I am the guy on the left in Carlene’s photo)
Jason
Mar 1, 2012 at 6:30 am
Try the Empire Beer Fest in Syracuse in July. $30, unlimited samples, 2 stages of live music, great food.
Saratoga Festivals
Mar 1, 2012 at 10:49 am
Few clarifications:
Extra samples were $2.00 for 5.5 ounces. That is a $6.00 pint of beer. Not $7.50 and they were not 3 ounces.
We dont get beer donated like other events as such, which also means we get much better brews to our events versus others.
If you got the Groupon you got a steal, congrats…although we wont be doing that again. If you paid the pre-sale price, it was a fair price….events like this have a few more costs then just beer (facility rental, staff, bands, stages, linens, tables, marketing, and this little thing called INSURANCE). If you paid $30 at the door, you waited too long (session 1 sold out in 3 weeks because of Groupon) and session 2, you had over 60 days to purchase tickets.
Going forward, we will be offering an early bird price, a pre sale price, and then a day of price. You will receive a glass and basically unlimited samples. Thank you all for attending Saratoga Beer Week and join us for Saratoga Brewfest June 16. More info for these events at http://www.saratogafestivals.com
Carlene
Mar 1, 2012 at 11:07 am
@Saratoga Festivals – The $7.50 I was referring to was how much my four tokens cost me. Thanks for the clarification, although maybe a re-read of what I wrote would clarify my meaning.
As you can see in the comments, there were many people who were happy to pay a $30 price tag if they felt they received $30 worth of product. I did not feel that way, and tried buying $20 tickets in advance, only to find them sold out. I was disappointed with fact that the high price left me feeling as though I had overpaid for an otherwise nice experience; I hope you take a look at some of the other comments on the article to get honest feedback that people took the time to contribute.
If the price-to-token ratio is adjusted, I’ll be there next year, hopefully writing a glowing recap of my experience.
Saratoga Festivals
Mar 1, 2012 at 3:44 pm
We understand that, we also use feeback to better our events. We wanted to offer a low ticket price for everyone to enjoy, which meant less samples to cover costs.
Moving forward we will be offering the higher price with the unlimited saples per the feedback we have received. We will be able to offer DD tickets to our guests at all our outdoor events. Thank you all for joining us at the first annual Saratoga Beerweek!
Carlene
Mar 1, 2012 at 3:58 pm
@Saratoga Festivals – Thanks for following up on this. Next year’s event sounds like it will be worth every penny, and I’ll be looking forward to it. Thanks for the dialogue; I always appreciate the inside scoop. See you next year.
Saratoga Festivals
Mar 2, 2012 at 9:21 am
Very welcome, dont forgot Saratoga Brewfest and then our newest project, Parrothead Festival which will be a two day event bringing business and lots of fun to the Village of Ballston Spa…the new Margaritaville located in Parrotoga County! Website is being built, just decided to make this a family friendly event….although Landshark Lager will probably be our sponsor!
ravioliollie
Mar 3, 2012 at 11:15 am
Hey all of you hip beer lovers. Ditch those faux festivals in the states and book a flight to Belgium for a REAL bierfestival experience. Go to Zythos.be for a com plete listing of festivals. Sure the flight can be pricey, but once in the event, you buy your very own glass to take home with you for 2 euro. Then you buy tokens,(jetons) for 1 euro each and just meander for 10 hours if you can hold up and sample more than 70 Belgian Beers. They all speak better English than we do and you will have a ball. Granted the us has come a long way from the bland and weak “lawnmower”beers of yesterday, but to see a bierfestival with memories to last a lifetime, hey, come on over.
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