SAVOR: An American Craft Beer & Food Experience Tickets

We loved the Savor craft beer fest in the past when it was at the building museum but the new location and layout left much to be desired. 1. The Anthem felt too crowded with too many people and no time to talk with the brewers or learn about the beers in the crush (not sure if it was equally crowded at the Building museum, but it felt like there were a lot more folks at the Anthem and it was really hard to move around and go to the different booths) 2. the food struggled to get out or stay warm, including a lack of napkins and utensils for applicable dishes. In the past the food was always a highlight but was disappointing this time with food not being hot, occasionally stale, and not being present with all the beers Since the full purpose of the craft beer fest is to have great food and beer and connect with small brewers it was a real disappointment that it failed on all counts. Unless there is a rework of the format in the future we will not return.

This was the first return of SAVOR since Covid and I wish it had simply not come back. Tl;dr: too expensive for a glorified beerfest that didn't even have food good enough to pair with the beer. Disppointment #1: We purchased VIP Tickets only to find out that "VIP" entitled us to an extra hour of food from three chefs. Unfortunately, because there were also "Premiere" Tickets and, apparently, "Early-Acccess" Tickets, that were able to enter at the same time, getting into the venue took nearly 20 minutes so we got a total of 40 extra minutes of food, which ended up running out 40 minutes after the doors opened. Thank goodness we did get that 20 minutes of "exclusive" food in our 2,000 sq. foot "VIP" area because it was the only hot food we saw the rest of the evening. Disappointment #2: there appeared to be at least 200 VIP tickets sold and the VIP area was approximately 2,000 square feet not accounting for the beer and food stations that were setup and after that first 60 minutes (more like 40) it served no purpose. Disappointment #3: All the food served throughout the event was served cold, we even followed wait staff from the the food prep area and grabbed it as soon as it was placed on the tables only to discover it was already cold. Cold chicken wings, cold and soggy churros bites, cold chicken nugget bites amongst other items. Disappointment #4: There were no breakout sessions or beer discussions; as anyone from the before times will remember, these were a highlight of the SAVOR event discussing brewing, beer pairing, collaborations, special releases, etc. These were sorely missed but admittedly probably wouldn't have been such a noticeable miss if everything else had been stellar. Disappointment #5: The "VIP Exclusive" exit gift was... wait for it... a bag of chips. In prior years we received an exclusive beer in many cases great for aging and "savor"ing at a future date. We got the same can of beer as the Premiere ticket holders. Its fine that it came in a can but that bag of goodies really wrapped up the night of disappointment. The only good thing was the beer and the breweries and they were done a great disservice compared to what expectations were based on previous SAVOR events. We're highly unlikely to return to a SAVOR event.

Highs- Good beer, Food was tasty and plentiful, neat experience, and worth the price of admission. Lows- Over crowded, small venue, font color of beers offer was a light orange- could not read. Oh, and there was some bad beers too, but there were dump buckets.

Overall, the event was outstanding - my first and I hope to go again. I took your advice and selected beer and food that I wanted to try beforehand [I wasn't the only person with a list!]. However, it was difficult to locate particular breweries as the numbering system provided only tiny numerals at the tables. In future it would be helpful to have larger numbers prominently displayed on stands that can be seen through the crowd. Had some great chats with brewers and tasted some fine beers, with just a couple not to my taste. Food was good too.

I thought this event would be pretty cool. It was so much more. I had no idea just how many different brewers and beers would be there. I think I sampled 50 or 60 beers over the three hours we were there. My wife isn't even into been all that much but she loved it too because there were beers for every palate.

This was my first savor event since 2013. It was at a new venue in Washinton DC, The Anthem. We had the Premium ticket level which gave us an hour early entrance before GA. That hour was great but felt full in the venue just based on that limited crowd so when GA came in, it was packed in the venue especially on the second floor where it was tough to walk at times due to how crowded it was. Food was good but found that some of what was promised never came out of the kitchen. Overall it was a fun time but a more spacious venue would have been prefered for the 200 dollars a head we paid.

The time off COVID unfortunately gave us certainly a decayed experience. Logistics were the issue. The venue was far too small for the number of people there. At the NBM the setup was much more conducive to the event, some booths in the middle and the rest encircling the floor giving people room to wander and mingle. This was booths akin to the labyrinth that if you got the middle, good luck getting out. This also caused many headaches for service staff as they could not reach the booths to stock the foods which basically eliminated the pairing aspect and created a viscous cycle of grab the closest food only exacerbating the issue. I didn't get it, but I heard the VIP session was an even worse debacle of overcrowding and insufficient spacing. This is on top of the dwindling experience overall, gone are the lead up events, and the seminars, only the beers remain. Overall a fun evening, but hardly a nice evening out and more of a mob that had beer and finger food.

I have been to many Savor events over the years, and I can say that this years event was a bust. I think tickets were oversold. I purchased a VIP ticket and was discouraged by the crowd and the products available in the VIP area. Additionally, food was late to virtually every vendors table, and was subpar in preparation compared to years past. At each vendors table, food was highlighted first in black print with the description of the beer underneath in faint pink or Orange print. It was impossible to read in the dim light, and the font was too small. Table numbers should have been prominently displayed

Overall the experience was fantastic as it always is. However, I feel the VIP experience was over sold. Too many people and not enough room. You did not really get much for the extra money. In addition you did not feel like you had any added benefits with the exception of getting in earlier. I feel that in the past years at the Building Museum we were not nearly as crowded. That being said the Anthem was an awesome venue. Just cramped with the amount of people for this event and all the tables. I feel this would be better if it was offered over 2 days with less people should they choose to do it here again.

Great beers and food items, when you could get some, were good. They clearly sold too many tickets as it was impossible for the poor servers to navigate the crowds with platters. Also who would put orange lettering on white papers in a dim room? It was impossible to read any beer information! Love the concept but they need an experienced event planner to help them out.

Pros: The food and menu was the best it's ever been, check in was extremely fast, beer was also very good. Also kitchen was really good at refilling plates. Cons: The venue was Extremely cramped. There was absolutely no time to talk with brewery reps, just an absolutely flow of people constantly pushing through. In previous years in the building museum food service was much worse, but although it was busy there was significantly more space so you could talk with breweries and enjoy the food and beer dishes without being swallowed in a sea of people going from table to table. Not a whole lot of benefit to breweries coming to this event if people don't have the time to actually talk or remember the breweries at the event. If the venue is at the wharf the capacity should be cut significantly, if it is at the building museum it could probably have about the amount of people to came to this event. Overall some clear improvement to previous years, but also some steps back.

The change of venues and being rusty from COVID seemed to introduce significant logistical problems. The new space was not used very efficiently, encouraging large crowds around the beer tables while leaving the outer edges completely empty. Waiting until general admission was admitted to start serving food was a bad mistake, leading to a rush on food, and highlighting miscommunications where several beer tables were delivered the wrong food. Ultimately, when a well stocked and correct food/beer pairing was found, it was wonderful. But those inatances were the exception when they should have been the norm. Especially considering the high prices for tickets. We had been looking forward to getting back to Savor for years, especially with COVID, and left didappointed.

I love the Anthem, but this venue did not make sense for this festival. It was difficult to move around (especially up on the balcony) for the first hour and a half of the festival. Managing to snag a food pairing was impossible. The floor was a bit better, but it was still way too many tables crammed into a space that wasn't meant for people to be circulating around. Love this festival, but I will not be going back unless the crowd issue is addressed or it's moved to a different location.

This even was so fun! It was our first time and we went with a group of repeat attendees. The venue was not the right one for this event. It was so tight and cramped and hard to navigate getting to the booths. Food pairings were excellent and in good supply. Please consider putting it back at the building museum.

I've been to every SAVOR event. The Anthem is a great new venue. The beers and food were excellent. I appreciated we were let in a few minutes early. Two improvements are needed, however. First, it was just too crowded. I realize that more people means more money, but it was so crowded that it hurt the event experience a bit. Second, the lighting was crazy. Some of the brewery tables were in the dark and I saw many people using their phone flashlights to read the table signage. So, going forward, please limit the number of people allowed in and also improved the lighting around the brewery tables.