Crowd enjoys BrewFest CharlieWest

A large crowd turned out for the inaugural BrewFest CharlieWest held in Charleston, WV, Saturday, April 11, during and after the WV Power baseball game. The festival was a promotion of the baseball team as part of its season-opening home stand.

Great weather and great beer, it was a very happy crowd. With beers from seven West Virginia craft breweries beefing up the ballpark’s normal AB-InBev-centric beer offerings, it was a special treat for local baseball and beer fans.

Following the game, the team even threw in a concert by The Company Stores, one of the hottest bands in the Charleston area.

BrewFest attendance exceeds expectations

The public’s response to the new festival was very encouraging, as this part of West Virginia seems starved for more opportunities to learn about and celebrate craft beer. The $30 festival ticket price, which included the baseball game, hot dogs & hamburgers, after-game concert, and five full-pint pours, was a real bargain. For ball game attendees not buying the festival package, they could still purchase individual beer coupons good for a craft beer pour.

While the attendees definitely skewed younger, a good mix of ages was represented, including plenty of retirees enjoying new beer experiences. It was especially great to see Charleston’s young professional community present in such large numbers. It’s the kind of event they have been saying Charleston needs more of.

If anything, you might have to say too many people turned out, as many of the WV craft beer selections began going dark about half way into the festival’s time slot.

Small breweries give big time support

West Virginia breweries participating in the event included Bridge Brew Works, Fayetteville; Mountain State Brewing Company, Thomas; Blackwater Brewing Company, Davis; Charleston Brewing Company, Charleston; Morgantown Brewing Company, Morgantown; Greenbrier Valley Brewing Company, Lewisburg; and Big Timber Brewing Company, Elkins.

It was a great opportunity for small out-of-region breweries to build their Charleston customer base. The brewers we spoke with were quite impressed with the ballpark facility and the big turnout. Because the park has a large variety of food service, wide concourses, spacious clean toilet facilities, shade structures, and plenty of seats, it is a super venue for a beer festival.

The best ballpark giveaway in recent memory

Minor league ballparks are well-known for their promotions. We’re used to getting ball caps, baseballs, plastic bats, bobbleheads, and the like. We’re not used to getting a real, usable beer glass.  For the BrewFest, the WV Power gave the first 1,000 people through the gate a pint beer glass with the Power logo on it.  The glass was sponsored by radio station Tailgate 107.3. Now that’s a pretty cool gift.

Each glass was packed in a sturdy cardboard box, and, for safety reasons, folks were not supposed to unbox them at the ballpark. But, of course, you did see several people using them for their beer and heard at least one crash on the concrete. Unfortunately, beer, glass, and concrete aren’t a good mix.

One glitch that needs addressed

Most things at the festival went very smoothly and were well-organized with the exception of one important item. The festival managers did not order and purchase enough beer from the West Virginia breweries they invited to the festival-or- they sold more festival ticket that there was beer to support them. Either way, something got screwed up.

Breweries began pouring beer at 1:00 pm when the ballpark gates opened—a full hour before the baseball game’s first pitch. Those who came early and stayed through the game got their pick of the local craft beers. Unfortunately, the event organizers had also advertised, “After the game, stick around for the inaugural BrewFest CharlieWest!” But by the end of the game, almost no West Virginia-made beer remained. Those who didn’t want to watch the baseball game, and who came later to only attend the Brewfest, were the ones most affected.

More than a few disappointed faces were seen as people learned that almost all the local WV brewery beers were gone. For the record, there was still plenty of other (mostly macro) beer available throughout the day. To the crowd’s credit, people were understanding and simply moved on to the other beer that was available. But not having enough WV beer was a great loss.

Note to festival management: buy more local beer

For future local-beer-festival events, ballpark management should definitely order a lot more local beer or sell fewer festival beer tickets. The participating small breweries would have gladly brought more beer with them if they had been asked to, but instead, we heard, were instructed to bring a quite limited amount.

• It is unfortunate that the craft breweries—all of which spent considerable amounts of their own time, money, and energy to bring their staff, beer and draft equipment to the event—had to turn away bunches of people because of a lack of beer which was not their fault.
• It is unfortunate, too, that any festival attendee, who came for the promise of sampling local craft beer, ended up having to switch to drinking mostly Bud Light and Yuengling—an occurrence that undoubtedly pleased the ballpark’s beer distributor but few others.

 Future outlook: clear and sunny

In summary, BeerFest CharlieWest was a very good inaugural event at which people could sample and learn about West Virginia breweries that they may not have had the chance to try before. The large turnout shows the community’s keen interest in locally-made craft beer. The insufficient quantity of local beer at the festival can easily be addressed and hopefully will be before the next locally-focused beer event the WV Power may promote.