Great Taste of the Midwest
A quick perusal of my blog stats tell me that many of you are hitting this blog right about now searching for tickets to the Great Taste of the Midwest.
Pardon me for a moment while I rant.
I will never again purchase tickets to another Great Taste of the Midwest. I won’t even use tickets if they were given to me for free. In fact, I’d be hard pressed to go to the Great Taste of the Midwest, even if you paid me.
Whew. I have that out of my system now. Perhaps I can address this issue in a purely intellectual sort of way.
The Great Taste of the Midwest used to be like Christmas to us. The first one that we attended (I believe it may have been the second one ever) was held in the Capital Brewery warehouse, with maybe 400 people and not so many breweries represented.
We stuck with this event for many years through thick and thin, laughing as tickets became harder and harder to come by, and saluting the Madison Home Brewer’s Guild on their success. We followed the event from venue to venue. We were intriqued when it settled in Olin Park. Of course, that’s when it started to go to pieces, the victim of its own success and its own arrogance.
And arrogant it did indeed become.
Last year, the ticket policy became ludicrous. In order to get tickets, you basically had to skip work, stand in line, get a “right to purchase tickets” ticket, then go back later in the day (again missing work) as the tickets went on sale.
The amazing development last year was that many of the venues trusted to sell the tickets to the public released the “right to purchase tickets” ticket to their regulars, long before these pre-ticket tickets were available to the public.
So, let’s say you were a die-hard, and you decided you were going to wait in line early, get your pre-ticket ticket, and then come back and purchase your ticket. Well, SURPRISE! Guess what! The pre-ticket tickets were gone before they were supposed to be available.
Does this sound like sour grapes? Let me hasten to assure you that this is far from the case. I had many a person approach me to see if I wanted tickets. But by that time, I had such a bad taste in my mouth over the arrogance, the abuse, and the ridiculousness over the ticket policy that I vowed that I wouldn’t set foot inside these beer tents again.
So, I urge you all to join me in this boycott. Get together with your friends and plan your own event. You can all bring your favorite unique six packs to try. Hold your own private Great Taste Festival in August, and then attend the Quivey’s Grove Beer Fest in the fall, when the temperatures are cooler and the attitudes are more palatable.
I would say that I would hope that the organizers of The Great Taste will once again get in touch with the philosophies that once went into making this the premier beer tasting in the Unites States.
But, frankly my dears, I no longer give a damn.
It has been now 5 years since i have been to the event. Why? Well they keep it in the family and the good ol boys network. I had sent in my check only to say again lottery or THIS TIME it was sent to early. Uhm it was postmarked MAY 1st. The probem? I mistakenly made out the check for 4/30 instead of 5/1.
Ohhhh booo hooo. I already sent them a letter stating my EXTREEM, uhm is that spelled right??? ,,, DIS PLEASURE however i don’t expect to hear from them….