The Jozi Craft Beer Fest has been and gone and because we told you about it some and gave away tickets, you were probably there. If you weren’t, I’m not gonna lie, you pretty much missed out on an awesome summer day stuck right in the midst of Jozi’s winter season. Try not to do that again. But whether you weren’t there and wanna get a feel for the event, or if you were and just wanna relive a bit of the glory, we’ve got some pretty great digital memorabilia for you. Between our gallery, the short video and even a comment from our ticket winner, Dries Scholtz, we think we’ve got you covered.
Take the jump.
Now first thing’s first, let’s talk about the tickets. The gates to the fest opened at 10am and already the place was mad pumping and tickets sold out fast. Just a theory, but I’m guessing this is because people really like beer. With tickets sold out pretty early on, the organizers were forced to start turning folks away. I know Jaz ran into a few people when he pulled through at 2pm who were standing in the parking lot, lamenting the absence of craft beer in their hands. Tickets were advertised as being in limited supply before the event even kicked off, and I think it’s about time folks realize what that actually means. It may’ve seemed like poor form on the part of the organizers, but turning people away once they’d sold out meant they could properly contain the fest and make sure that every stall didn’t run out of beer and food within the first hour.
That would’ve sucked balls for everyone involved.
Secondly, here are Dries’ thoughts on the fest:
First off I would like to thank the dudes at Another-Day for the tickets to the Jozi Craft Beer Fest. I have always loved beer. The first beer after a day at work that you down faster than what The Spear got smeared; the second beer that you have to remind you that it’s all gonna be ok in the end because you still have four left in the fridge.
The festival was great and the people were awesome. I know there was a couple of complaints because of the long queues and that it was a hipster fest, but honestly do you wanna go to a beer fest where the first team jocks hang out moering each other and you after a couple of beers? Or do you wanna go to a beer fest where the people a friendly, music is good and food is awesome?
I am happy that the event turned out to be a success for the organizers’and the micro-breweries and I am looking forward to the next one.
Thanks guys.
And Dries is right. There were totally some mega-queues at this fest. Not because the breweries and restaurants were slow, but because there were a lot of people all trying to get at the same things all at once. Things rolled along pleasantly, though, and I didn’t hear many complaints even from people stuck in lines. Especially not when Great Dane started shuffling out free tequila shots to people because owner Gert considers queues his own worst nightmare. And yeah, there were hipsters. But we all know how I feel about “them”.
You ask me for a valid complaint? There aren’t enough black people coming to these events in Jo’burg. Sorry to say it, but it’s true.
Between being pinned to the grass under the weight of well over a dozen different kinds of beer and cider, musicians like Shotgun Tori, Yo Grapes and Gil Hockman up on stage, and the epic closing jams from the always-exceptional Shortstraw, even the background noise at this place had me feeling pretty chilled out. It honestly felt like I was trapped in the perfect summer day. Can’t complain about that.
But hey, everyone knows I’m good at shilling so don’t take it from me, check out our gallery and short video of the day’s events below.
Special Thanks to Sarah Payne for some extra photos!