RocCity Brewfest

First things first. The ticket price. There was so much confusion with purchasing tickets which were $ 35 when I first tried to purchase. Then it was jacked up to $ 38 in contradiction to the price listed on the event website. Overall, if you did not take advantage of the Cyber Monday deal for $ 20, you were ripped off… let’s not forget the $ 45+ at the door on the day of the event for MAYBE 2 ½hrs of tasting.
Ticket shenanigans aside, the event featured non-​local companies for the most part. The closest local joint was Fairport Brewing which was winning for me with their Oh-​Pa, oatmeal pale ale. Among the recognizable non-​locals were Stone Brewing, Stillwater, Evil Twin, Sierra Nevada and Saranac.
Some of the beer was going skunky! I hope they find a way to prevent this for future fests.
I was very surprised to see Merrits Estate pouring and selling these flashing mugs of their famous and delishiz sangria slushies! They also were offering a wine slushie calle XTC… it was utterly sweet. Stick with the sangria if you are an in-​betweener like me.
ANOTHER suggestion is to please sell all inclusive tickets that allow guests to also attend the Wine About Winter tasting event.

When I first heard about the RocCity Brewfest, I was super excited to hear that it was going to be held at the Rochester Dome. Even to my surprise, they had a VIP option which I jumped on immediately. Being a VIP, we got to attend the event an hour early, among other things. The Fest and I got off to the wrong start, with the security staff being VERY RUDE to the guests right from the beginning. Were VIPS for god sakes, you should be catering to our needs. Also to my surprise you find out that the JDRF co-​sponsored the event, a charity organization for Diabetes. This was not advertised on the BeerFest website, cause people know that when events are co-​sponsored by a non-​for profit group they tend to get ripped off (which was true about the VIP option). Deanna, the head organizer for JDRF did do an amazing job organizing the vendors/​people around the event. 2 thumbs up goes out for the entire Unilocal!staff that night for welcoming everyone into the festival dome, and giving out really cool beer shirts (which I got one of course). Speaking of the Dome, it was ridiculously cold in there, you wanted to go back to get your jacket.
VIP: immediately we got a program with the listed selected beers, only to be told 5 minutes later to disregard the program cause most of the beers would be different. It was nice when they rolled out 10 kegs for the night, gave us our beer glass, and told us to pump. From that point on it goes downhill with the kegs. MOST WERE ALL FOAM! It was boarder-​line ridiculous to try to get any actual beer out of ANY of them. THEY DID NOT REFRIGERATE THEM, so these kegs were left getting warm ALL DAY, which contributed to the HEAVY FOAM. I paid for a VIP FOAM experience. You can tell the other VIP guests in that room were getting upset about the kegs… THAT WAS PARTLY WHAT WE PAID FOR! After getting full off FOAM, the food arrives to the center court. The food was delicious with rice balls, meatballs, salad, and pasta. However, it was nothing SPECTACULAR. They made you eat the food right away, while trying to juggle with the foam situation. They should of just kept the food in the back corner all night for the VIPS, to eat as they go. Finally, with the food and foam you are stuffed right way. The BAND finally comes to play for us 5 MINS BEFORE the rest of the GUESTS arrive for the main event. Your telling me you couldn’t get the band to play for us while we were there the FIRST HOUR– RIPOFF.
THE MAIN FLOOR: I should of just payed for this option cause it was WORTH IT. All the vendors were amazing at describing the different hoppy IPA beers they had available. They also generously filled the beer glass to the top every-​time. At one point I was so stuffed from beer goodness, I needed a HUGE break before going back in. The beers around the dome I felt were organized extremely well, with little or no lines to «hop» to each vendor. Finally by the end of the night my date arrived, and i was good and toasty. Job well done!!! FYI: they did have a wine about winter part on the other side which I did not attend BUT guest feedback said they thought it was not worth it cause the wine selection was horrible.
Overall: Rude Security Staff, Poor VIP treatment, Poor VIP experience, FOAMY KEGS! (don’t blame it on the pumping, they were FOAMY PERIOD), Great food (although you have to eat it right away!), Where was the BAND??, Awesome Beer vendors, Unilocal!, Honestly I will be back BUT not for the VIP unless they fix it!!!

Thought this was a fun time. Went to the evening tasting from 7−10pm, plenty of time to casually peruse all the selections. My favorite beer of the night was the Smoky Cherry Wheat, LA31 Bocanee from Bayou Teche Brewing. It was smooth with a truly smoky scent and flavor that made me want to order a rack of ribs. A close second was the Pilsner from Smuttynose. I normally hate dark beers but I really enjoyed the Chocolate Orange Stout from Moylans Brewery. Overall I loved trying all different beers in small amounts without continuously pulling out my wallet and at the same time supporting a medical cause. The music was fun, the people were friendly, the beer was great. Next year I am soooo buying the pretzel necklace. I missed the boat on that one.

Went to the RocCity Brewfest and had a great time. Maybe it was the company. Maybe it was the music. Maybe it was the atmosphere. It was definitely fun. People were very friendly and the beer displays were plentiful. My favorite was the chocolate orange stout from Moylans Brewery although there were several other tasty brews from local breweries like Custom Brew Crafters in Honeoye Falls and Fairport Brewing from Fairport. All I know is that I got an opportunity to sample several beers and had great time doing it. I think that I will be a regular at this.