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We've gone to this event for several years and after this year may not go back. Too many tickets sold - people could hardly move around. Went to the 5pm session and vendors were already running out of product by 6:15 - not cool since the event goes until 8! Poor planning this year...wish i could get my money back.
Some of the vendors were out of beer before the event was half over. Pretty high priced tasting if your vendors are running out of products half way through. This was our fourth time for this event and our last.
First, the positives. I thought getting into the event was well organized and went very smoothly. I'm glad there were water stations available with dump buckets at hand. The live music was good quality and added to the atmosphere. I appreciate that there were South Dakota breweries represented, but wished there were more. What a great opportunity to try beers from across the state that was missed. The VIP access did allow an hour of sampling without the massive crowd in a fairly small space. Second, why I won't be coming back. I attended two years ago and had a great time. It was in a larger space (the Sioux Falls Arena) so people weren't jammed together as much. It seemed there were fewer breweries this year and many that were in attendance (mostly the larger, established breweries) were barely trying. The beers represented only their run-of-the-mill offerings and some breweries ran out of beer. Most didn't even bother to send a brewery rep. In my previous experience, many of the breweries had their two sample beers, but also had a few other things set aside for those really interested patrons. It was not the case this time. The food options seemed scaled back and the venue only had one register for a while. Poorly planned and executed on that front. For the money we spent on early VIP access, we could easily have done Lyft and visited several local breweries. We could have experienced a flight at different breweries and gotten a better sampling of what they were capable of vs. two (sometimes one) beers.
It would be great if the lights could be slightly dimmed, as it is less relaxing to sample beers with bright lights. Also, would love a liquor bar inside so my friends who aren’t into beer could enjoy themselves as well.
Event was way over sold and way too crowded. Vendors were not able to supply enough samples to last the whole session without being completely out for the 2nd session.
I had a blast! It was great to see that the state had something there about getting a ride home! I also really liked all the free stuff. It was a great experience and will definitely be back!
