Spring Craft Beer Festival

Without a doubt much more fun than I anticipated! There were three or four BIG rows of craft breweries and most were serving between 2 and 3 different brews. My favorite of the day was shake, a Colorado brew… it was a dark, creamy yet light chocolate-​y delicious beer… it stood out and I was not the only one that thought that. In talking with other attendees that seemed to be the vibe; ‘did you try the shake!!!’ There were a few other stand outs; founders all day IPA, a gingerbread beer, and something by hooker. The best part of the day was the ‘silent’ dance floor; you trade in your ID temporarily for a pair of headphones and the DJ Cranks as you dance like nobody is watching! It was a cool experience. My only disappointment was the $ 7 (yes, SEVEN) pretzel; there were really gross food options and when people are drinking that much beer it would be smart to try and provide some better options… PS late night Chaeuffuers had a booth there (awesome) and I strongly suggest calling in advance and booking a ride! Loved the Unilocal booth too:))

Many breweries started running out of beer close to 8. It ended at 9:30. So, there’s that…

This craft beer festival was alot of fun. Had a great time with my blackout friends. I was a little thrown off my the random gutter sales demo and the peeps flavored beer but hey thats ok.
5 stars was not awarded due to the environment. They could have transformed this event with a good well rounded DJ to make a more party lets get fucked up kinda vibe… however maybe thats what they’re trying to avoid. They DID however have a silent DJ dance section although it wasn’t to large.
Silent Auction was also cool.

Best beerfest yet!

This was my first experience at the Spring Craft Beer Festival, it was fun but nothing too special.
This was in the basement of Nassau Coliseum, didn’t have to wait long on line to get in. Tickets were $ 50 a person, $ 12 if you are designated driver. Basically a bunch of random tables set up all along the walls of the basement, giving small samples of different types of beers. Went to the 5pm festival, but there was one at 1pm earlier that day as well.
The people I went with had been to previous beer festivals here, they seemed disappointed in this years festival. They said the previous years there were alot more varities of beer and also more free stuff given away.
I wasn’t a big fan of water bottles being $ 5 a piece, but I guess thats what you get. There were restrooms but also tons of «portable potty’s» too, if you don’t want to wait online.
I would probably go again, but according to what others said, this years was nothing special compared to previous festivals.

As always, Drew and the LI Unilocal community had an amazing showing at the Spring Craft Beer Festival! I was given a free ticket to attend and I thoroughly enjoyed myself! It was the first time I’ve ever been to a beer festival and couldn’t believe how much amazing beer and cider there was, how amazing the people were, and how many knowledgeable folks were there.
Thank you Unilocal,Manhattan Beer Dist and Clare Rose for an amazing event! I very much appreciate it!!!
THIS has been a review by Gaurav

As I am a regular participant in this show, I would prefer to be in service of the beer there than to be a guest among the crowds because it is much more fun. Knowing at least 75% of the people involved also helps my cause for my group of volunteers known as The LI Beer & Malt Enthusiasts.
The show has two sessions and it has been my experience that the first session if usually the best one with the special releases and the first impressions to be made. In this show, I found a fair number of interesting beers that I liked and many that were mildly average.
As a leader of the craft beer movement on LI, I always find this show amusing when people come up to me and ask for «something that tastes like Bud Light» or «Which one has the most alcohol?» or «How quick can we can drunk on this?».
By the time the 2^nd Session has ended, I always have a stable of fun memories from this show, though this one was special because I took home of one of the Pabst Blue Ribbon girls.
While hardly a craft beer, PBR was well served and helped visitors recognize the difference between Craft and Everything else.

Checked in at Unilocal and got my Unilocal Life gloves, any how, it was good, a lot of fun. Wish I could have kept my ticket rather than it being taken away when we went in.

I’ve been wanting to to go a Beer Festival since college but never had an opportunity until now! It was nice, but since I’m in the midst of studying for midterms, I couldn’t really enjoy it as much as I would have liked! I guess that means I’ll have to go again to another one when I’m not so stressed and pressed for time! I tasted a couple of different brews, including some hard ciders, local brews, Sam Adams and my favorite being the Konig Pilsner. And bought a cute shirt that was priced fairly ($ 15!) I had half expected the merch to be $ 50+ so it was great to see venders weren’t taking advantage of the consumers. I was also thrown by one of the venders– windows and roofing consultants– they were out of place it was strange to see them in the midst of beer and beer-​styled merch. Particularly because when my Dad and I looked up at the roof it was leaking and covered in certain spots by some tarp. Would have been nice to have a larger food variety (I’m not a fan of brat so my only option was a pretzel). All in all it was a fun experience, but would have been better if there was more food options, I had more time to browse and taste some of the other beer selections that were offered.

Overall a great time with over a hundred beers to sample and drums& bag pipes. Only downside was that many vendors ran out of beer pretty early into the festival. This caused greater lines and tensions between tasters for cutting or talking too long. I also heard from someone who’d been to the earlier session that session was had more handouts and giveaways. Other than that I’d definitely consider going again next year. I discovered a ton of new beers.

Besides being held in one of the crappiest arenas in all of sports, as well as not being convenient to get to via public transportation, the Spring Craft beer festival was well run. It had about 50 brewers and plenty of port a johns along with the building’s restrooms so you didn’t have to wait long. If one side of the ballroom had long lines, you could always walk to the other side. Food was available for purchase, such as pretzels and bratwurst as well as water. The pretzel was somehow more expensive than the bratwurst though?
Most importantly, there was no limit to the amount of 2oz samples you could get from the brewers. Some beerfests only provide you with 10 beer tickets and then you’d have to go purchase more. This one allowed you to try as many as you can within 3 and half hours. Also, despite being on long island, I did not witness any incidents occur with the locals. Just some creative use of fake mustaches and some boobs fall out.
If they held other beer festivals here you may want to consider attending.