Humane Society presents: Beer for Beasts at the Bell House

I’ve been to many beer festivals in New York, and while the Beer for Beasts event was a worthwhile cause and I had a great time, I had a couple issues with the way it was run — if this becomes an annual event, I hope they can iron out the little problem spots.
Food — top notch. I loved the brisket sandwiches, and the bratwurst on pretzel rolls. Even the chopped liver and mackerel spreads were great — I didn’t get to try the tacos or pizza, I went with the sandwiches so I could get back to the beer sooner. The fact that the food was included in the price made the cost of the event worthwhile.
(Yes, I know it was for charity, so I wouldn’t complain about the cost anyway — though I wonder why there aren’t more charity beer events in the city?)
Entertainment — well, I’ll never complain about burlesque, for sure. Though I was a bit in the cups by the second performance, so I don’t remember much of it.
My issues mainly concern the beers Sixpoint brewed exclusively for the event. Some were hits (Old Nessie) and some were misses (oyster shells in a beer? Hawaiian Punch?) and what seemed odd was the experimental nature of it all. A company releasing so many new beers at once makes me wonder if I was a guinea pig in some kind of intercompany competition — each beer seemed to be the brainchild of one Sixpoint employee, who brewed up one small batch.
And while I would never dream of complaining about the sample size (3 to 4 oz., I think) most of the experimental beers ran out by 4 pm, with another hour to go in the event. I understand that beer needed to be saved for the evening session — but if that’s the case, then maybe 2 oz. samples would have allowed the small batches to last a little longer.
Or perhaps the event was oversold — which is tough to say, since it was all for a good cause. I ended up leaving an hour early, since most of the food and beer had run out. I had a great time — but anyone who arrived late might have been out of luck.

two texts I sent out last night:
1) «I am at a beer tasting. there is a girl doing a burlesque act as Gozer from Ghostbusters. life is awesome.»
2) «I know what it was like in Weimar Republic Germany. now our money is worthless, but there’s amazing beer and burlesque.»
I’ve been to the Bell House for Blip Fest 2008 and 2009, and finally made my return last night for this excellent event for charity. $ 60 is a little steep for a beer tasting, but it’s for the Humane Society, and even a villain with a heart of gold such as myself can find it within him to support good causes.
Sixpoint came in and unleashed a blitzkrieg of epic beers. some were made exclusively for this event — there was even one brewed with Hawaiian Punch in it! some of the bartenders were a bit more liberal with their «tasting size» amounts of beer… not gonna complain!
while the place was pretty damn packed, people were still able to move without being squished, and the beer lines moved exceptionally fast. the overall organization of this was similar to some Unilocal events I’ve been to (FYI, Peter, Jane, and Leighann — this would be a great place for an event).
there were some food vendors out front — Calexico tacos, Pizza Moto, and Mile End brisket. again, those lines moved fairly fast (good, because they were outside!). had a piece of brisket — tender and heavily peppered (YESSSS), and a black bean avocado taco (NOM NOM NOM).
entertainment — there was a DJ. he was okay. twice during the event, however, they had some burlesque actors, and the MC was a guy who was larger than my cousin Big Frank. highlight of the acts was the girl dressed as Gozer doing her thing to a techno/​ambient remix of one of the songs played during «Ghostbusters».
this was an awesome event. I really hope they do it again next year. I’LL BE BACK.