Beer Festival at Convention Center?

Are local beers included?

A beer festival planned for Louisville will showcase more than 150 breweries from around the world.
The Top of the Hops Louisville Beer Festival will be held Saturday, June 19, from 2 to 6 p.m., at the Kentucky International Convention Center, Exhibit Hall 1AB.

http://louisville.bizjournals.com/louisville/stories/2010/05/10/daily40.html?surround=etf&ana=e_article

Are local beers included?

A beer festival planned for Louisville will showcase more than 150 breweries from around the world.
The Top of the Hops Louisville Beer Festival will be held Saturday, June 19, from 2 to 6 p.m., at the Kentucky International Convention Center, Exhibit Hall 1AB.

http://louisville.bizjournals.com/louisville/stories/2010/05/10/daily40.html?surround=etf&ana=e_article

I got on the site and it says that BBC, Cumberland and Kentucky Ale are participating. It seems to be a good selection.

[Robin Garr]

I got on the site and it says that BBC, Cumberland and Kentucky Ale are participating. It seems to be a good selection.

I may have missed a couple, but the only "stealth" micro I noticed is Blue Moon, which is made by Coors.

So that makes 3 local beer fests in under a month. Do these people not have a clue about scheduling?

Just to make it clear "these people" does not include Todd.

Bummer Dude ....I'll be assisting Steve P. and the Rolling Bones BBQ squad that day.
I might be able to sneak over at the end of the day through being that it's right across the bridge from the competition.

This has turned into a popular question lately. Since I'm running a competing festival during the same time frame, I'll keep my opinions to myself, but Roger Baylor had something on his blog today that sums it up pretty well:

Per Roger "Top of the Hops is a for-profit fest being staged by an out-of-state entity. I've no reason to believe that it will not be a first-rate show. But no, I'm not personally involved with any of it, although I steered the organizers to local contacts in the beer business. I hope that helps. Thanks for your concern. "

http://potablecurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2 ... -hops.html

Have my ticket for Fest of Ales (also, my check for Great Taste was cashed, so the Fest is a warmup event for the Madison trip ).

Am I the only person who keeps accidentally referring to it as "Keg of Ales" or is it common?

Have my ticket for Fest of Ales (also, my check for Great Taste was cashed, so the Fest is a warmup event for the Madison trip ).

Am I the only person who keeps accidentally referring to it as "Keg of Ales" or is it common?

First time I've heard Keg of Ales.... but I kinda like it!

I should have the first round of the program posted on our website early this coming week. And due to popular demand, we are going to have a printed version of it available at the festival as well.

Don't have the program in front of me, so I can't call up the particulars. But I was at a Dayton Dragons (single A) baseball game this weekend. Ad in the program for upcoming beer festival at the stadium. Sponsored by Budweiser. Didn't stop to buy tickets for it on my way after the game.

Does any one know if the breweries will be represented by actual employees or just local volunteers? I attended the Flanagan's beer fest and it was a lot of volunteers without much knowledge about the product they were pouring. Something else i noticed, the kegs were stale in a few the booths (This was kinda disappointing). But the money raised went to a good cause, the Kentucky Humane Society.

Does any one know if the breweries will be represented by actual employees or just local volunteers?

I can't speak for the other local breweries, but NABC won't have any brewers on site. We have prior commitments to a local event.

I attended the Flanagan's beer fest and it was a lot of volunteers without much knowledge about the product they were pouring.

NABC had our whole brewing team plus our sales guy on site for the whole event. Same with the other local breweries in attendance.

Something else i noticed, the kegs were stale in a few the booths (This was kinda disappointing).

I'm not sure what stale means. Out of date? All the kegs from our local breweries were delivered fresh by our distributor one day before the event. Can you clarify?

many beer festivals use a mix of brewery reps and volunteer pourers. there are so many festivals in the festival season that brewers can't be everywhere at once, especially outside of their home state. we try our hardest to be at every event but we still have to rely on volunteer pourers sometimes.

I would hasten to add that if you try something you like, write down some notes so that you can do a little research on your own later. cheers!

Education ... there are so many choices now, and so many opinions (some occasionally informed), that sometimes the basic facts get lost. Not sure how to change that while spinning the hamster's wheel, but there it is.

This fest is most definitely a for profit event. I expect Bud, Miller, Coors to be fully represented. Not that there is anything wrong with that, it is just not my cup of ale. We have a lot of charitable events we have been doing for years that take priority, as well as just a lot of events for the few of us that have any spare time. But I believe we will have a person from the brewery pouring.
I am not fond of the marketing as well. "Unlimited Sampling" seems to be the tag line in their radio spots. Sounds like they are appealing to the drunken frat party crowd. I hope they have lots of buckets.