Untappd Beer Festival: Level 1

Not exactly the "Fyre Festival" social media leads you to believe.

When we heard Untappd was coming out with their own beer festival, we knew we had to go. Untappd was the app that took our love of craft beer drinking to a full blown hobby: with badges and achievements and everything! Once they announced the date (May the fourth be with you), we immediately started looking at flights.

Early on in the planning, we decided to make it a “day trip”. Very ambitious for two people who would be drinking all day, but financially it made more sense than paying $150+ extra just to crash somewhere for the night. After all, as long as we had a plan, we were good to go, right?

Untappd kept an updated list of breweries that were going to participate on their website. Leading up to the festival, we would check the list to see which breweries were added, and which ones had to sadly tap out (get it?!). We crossed off breweries that we had already been to, local breweries to Brooklyn (looking at you, Other Half Brewing), and breweries from our home state of Maryland (sorry DuClaw Brewing Co.!).

It’s important to have a game plan with a festival as large as this one. There were over 170 breweries and there was no way we were going to be able to try them all, so we had to prioritize. The Bruery and Cigar City Brewing were on our “must try” list, along with a few others. In fact, we were able to hit most of the top spots on our list within the first half hour of the festival because of our due diligence.

1) Splurge on the Early Access, you can accomplish a lot of drinking in the first hour.

2) Get there early to wait in line. Yes, waiting in line is a drag, but it’s better to wait in line before the beers are pouring than after.

3) Download and review the map prior to the festival. There will be some last minute changes, but generally knowing where the beer you want to try is will pay off. Also, being familiar with the layout is also a bonus that will help save time.

Check out full itinerary HERE

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Prior to the festival, we were able to check out Wooden Robot Brewery. The location stood out to us as being walking distance to the festival, a local Charlotte brewery, and their food menu look spectacular (it was!). They offer flights in the servings of 6 oz. small pours, so we got a little toasty before the festival event started. Stand outs were: Agave Azul (saison beach beer with a hint of lime and sea salt); Mark it Zero (American IPA with zero IBU, hoppy but not bitter); and the Strawberry Swirl It! (fruit forward sour, but sweet enough to drink like juice).

With Early Access tickets, we were let into the festival at 3:00 pm. We showed up at 2:15 pm and made friends with the people in line. You makes friends fast when you all have something to complain about: the plastic cups. Prior to entry, we were carded, went through stadium caliber security (goodbye travel umbrella), and given our “souvenir sampling glass” -- only it wasn’t made of glass. Not only were they plastic, they were so fragile that I broke mine within minutes of holding it. Since the festival had not even started yet, I was able to grab a new one. It’s our best guess that the reason they ran out of so many “glasses” was because within the first hour people kept breaking theirs and asking them to be replaced. But if you scored a red solo cup (one of the many alternative offerings Untappd had provided), you were in it to win it!

With all the restrictions the stadium put on the attendees, we can only imagine it was their idea to use plastic cups instead of glass. To Untappd’s credit, they are offering anyone who purchased tickets an Untappd Logo Pint Glass if you email them at festival@untappd.com and provide your name, address, and email addresses associated with your ticket purchase. Would *I* prefer a tiny little tasting glass instead of -another- pint glass to add to our collection? Yes, but only because they’re so darn cute.

One hour into the event and we were having a great time. As mentioned, we hit most of our top tier spots early on, so once the lines got a little bit longer and the crowds got a little bit bigger, we were there to just mingle and try anything. It had been beautiful up to this point, but the expected rain clouds were starting to hover. It was at the first sight of lightning that the Untappd team made the call to ask all the attendees to head inside the concourse area of the stadium. This was around 4:45 pm and a huge disappointment to the drinkers who had just entered.

The Untappd Beer Festival: Level 1 was a “rain or shine” event. The contingency plan if it was raining was to bring all the breweries inside the concourse. But instead of making plans to do that, the Untappd team decided to wait it out. It paid off in the end, only having to wait about an hour or so, and the festival was then extended. However, the lack of communication during the time spent in the concourse is what made the devoted beer drinkers frustrated and ungrateful.

By 6:15 pm, most tents were up and back in business. Although the storm delay did scare away some patrons (most who were confident they could ask for their money back), the majority of us stuck it out and rallied. The breweries really came together and continued to pour some of the best beers we’ve tasted--probably because it felt more like we earned it.

Check out review of the beers HERE

Quick shout-out to #JimmyJohns for being the MVP at the event. They were handing out free sandwiches during the festival and during the time in the concourse.

Overall, Untappd Beer Festival: Level 1 was a lot of fun and something we’re definitely glad that we attended. A fair price for the amount of beer we were able to consume. It was an occasion for people to travel to North Carolina to try a significant amount of local brews in one spot. But also the chance for locals to try out-of-state beers when they may otherwise not have the opportunity. Sure, the weather could have been better and Untappd could have done a better job preparing, communicating, and making sure that our time was better spent; but overall--with proper planning and the right attitude--the day was a success. #untappdbeerfestival