I’m hearing talk about a lack of Pro Brewers Night at the conference.
Let me clear this up a bit.
ONE “Pro Brewers Night” has been replaced with THREE days with the Pros.
We have split the pros so you can have MORE (not less) access to the pros and their beers. Being spread out you should be able to sample more of the Pros beverages because you will have more time to do so. This includes discussion with the representatives that may happen to be there.
The Pros will have a bigger presence in Grand Rapids than in any other conference to date, just not in the same manner we have seen in the past. It should be a significantly better experience.
maybe an example of something attendees may experience that wasn’t available in previous years would help with the mentality Fred mentioned. Will pros be pouring beer in seminars? Taking shifts in the social club? wandering among the throng gathered outside the banquet area pouring their beers?
Pro Night was a known, while the changes are an unknown.
just sayin’
It was my least favorite part of the conference. Doesn’t bother me at all that it’s gone. Especially since the beers will still be available in a better format.
It was my MOST favorite part of the conference when the conference was not well attended. Now that the conference is many thousand gassy homebrewers the pro brewer’s night just isn’t as much fun.
That’s kinda what I was getting at. I’m just not up for standing in line for 1/2 an hour with thousands of other people in order to get a sample of a beer, no matter how good the beer is.
Honestly, I prefer club night and have for a while. There are a few reasons. First, there is not a long line for just a few booths, everything is pretty even. It seems less crowded, maybe because many of the brewers are behind the booth serving beer, maybe because of the lines. Everyone is happy to talk to everyone else about their beers, rather than all of the homebrewers trying to talk to a limited number of pros - even if there are the same number of booths, each pro booth has one or two people to talk to instead of 2-40. The beer is at least more interesting, if not better on club night. People seem more involved with the event, maybe because of the club themes.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve loved pro night over the years, but I feel like it has been getting less fun than it used to be.
I like club night when the clubs aren’t beer dumping. If they only have five great beers, then serve five. No need to bring 20 when 15 are less than stellar. IMO I should not have to dump a club night beer because it has major flaws. YMMV.
