1. 02 July 2010 · 12:59 AM ·

    Top of the Hops Beer Festival

    Saturday June 19th, was the Top of the Hops Beer Festival.  Located at the Kentucky Convention Center, and with unlimited sampling of 275 different beers, it was bound to be a very interesting day.

    There have been a plethora of “conventions” and “festivals” hosted at the very expensive downtown convention center, which have turned out to be total flops and not worth the money spent, so needless to say I was leery of the outcome.  Pricing seemed a little steep, especially for my very shallow pockets.  Living off pennies a week, I didn’t exactly have the $35 plus to spend on general admission, let alone fork out even more for the VIP.  So I did a little research.  

    Sifting though the website for the festival, I stumbled upon the great opportunity to volunteer.  Excitement flowed though me at the idea of drinking more than my fill at the ever affordable price of free.  Shortly thereafter I found my fingers typing in all of my personal information into tiny coded boxes, and smacking the mouse placed over the submit button.  Immediately I thought to myself in regret, “What if I just signed myself up to receive more spam mail”, but to my amazement and relief, a week later I received an email asking me to make a phone call to prove that I was not a bot.  

    Everything from then on moved smoothly, receiving only one more phone call a week before to make sure that I hadn’t backed out or made other plans.  The day of the festival came, and I woke up excruciatingly early (yes 11:30am is not exactly the crack of dawn, but for third shift it hurts), and I arrived at the convention center to sign in and receive a quick briefing on the legality of pouring 2 oz of beer.

    1:00pm came and those with the very bright VIP wrist bands started flooding in.  I was assigned to pour for Black Sheep, which isn’t one of my favorites, but the crowd seemed to get a kick out of the “Monty Python’s Holy Grail Ale”.  I was a bit perturbed at the other volunteer placed with me who knew nothing about beer, and only categorized the beer as light or dark.  For a moment there I wanted to scream at her for simplifying something that I hold so dear to me, but my anger subsided when Paul from My Old Kentucky Homebrew stopped by my booth to shoot the breeze, and thus distract me from my rage.

    I poured Paul a bit of the Riggwelter Yorkshire Ale, and he took his sickly self back to his booth and prep for his home brew 101 lecture. Shortly thereafter, the flood gates opened.  The clocked turned 2:00pm, general admission made they’re way into the festival, and the beer began to flow. 

    Sadly within the next hour, the Black Sheep booth ran out of beer to sample.  Other booths followed shortly there after.  So I did what any good volunteer would do and attempted to find an intern and replenish my supply.  I found one intern, Eryn, who dressed suspiciously like that girl from Paramore.  Together we chased down the higher up in the event only to be told that there would be no more beer.  

    My heart was broken upon hearing such news.  How on earth are beer fans supposed to enjoy themselves when there was no beer to be had.  Eryn and I wandered around as I debated the pros and cons of actually buying a blue wrist band, which would allow me to drink freely.  I came to the conclusion that forking out the last of my money to drink only a third of the supposed 275 beer was not worth it.  Eryn, the wonderful intern, came to my rescue and pulled a few strings.  Score one for the poor kid, it was time to drink.  

    Eryn and I parted ways, I checked out of my volunteer duties, donned my City Scoot shirt for a little pro bono advertisement, and screamed like a school girl watching Elvis from back stage. I raced though the booths, attempting to drink up all the beers that were left.  After I had a sufficient amount of cardio it was off to Impellizzeri’s with a few of my friends.  

    The festival itself was not awful, but the lack of supplies and knowledgeable volunteers, gave me a bitter sweet sense of relief that I did not actually spend my money on admission.  The festival would have been much more professional and enjoyable if the booths were manned by actual representatives from the breweries, but I suppose that luxury is reserved for the larger Vegas style conventions.  Had I the funds to do so, my money would have been very well spent on the VIP admission.  At least with the VIP title, I would have had early access to all of the beers before running out, as well as a few reserved beers not on the main list.  Alas, it was a learning experience, and a very enjoyable day none the less.  The Top of the Hops Beer Festival is a decent way to spend a Saturday afternoon, and is a simple event that appeals to all levels of beer drinkers.  Just remember that when you ask a volunteer about the beer they are pouring, they may just reply with “I don’t drink beer”.