The first annual SHABAM beer and art festival wrapped up on Saturday evening. I did my CBC column live from SHABAM on Friday afternoon. It gives a good run-down of how it was set up and its potential as an event. I also highlight a couple of special things that were exclusive to the festival, such as the release of Unity Brew and the new Glen Sherbrooke scotch barrel-aged beer. You can listen to the column here.
However, as the column aired about 90 minutes after the opening of the event, I couldn’t really offer an overall assessment of its success as an event. To be honest, when I was there it was pretty dead, and I left a bit worried that the event would flop. Having talked to a few people who were there later on Friday and on Saturday, plus a conversation or two with some of the breweries, I feel better that – particularly on Saturday – SHABAM caught its sea legs. A couple thousand people did finally work their way through the hall, and there were even some modest lines on Saturday.
Here are my observations after the first incarnation of the event. It has potential. The crowd was older, for the most part, and so more serious about trying beer rather than guzzling it. The atmosphere was right – relaxed with space and time to taste the beer and talk with the brewery about the beer, meaning beer education was possible. Plus most of the breweries were wise enough to staff their booths with staff knowledgeable about the beer, rather than just possessing a god-given gift of impressive cleavage. The art-to-beer mix may have been off, as it felt more like an art festival with beer tasting attached rather than a beer festival, but I am not going to complain about offering people a chance to purchase some local art.
My main concern might be the overall lack of beer range available. Most of Alberta’s brewers were there, which is fantastic. However, a few more breweries or new and adventurous beer would have increased the novelty quotient. The only brewery who took that part seriously was Alley Kat, who made a point of bringing a cask each night to offer a unique treat. Big Rock also brought back its long-lost Magpie, which was a nice touch as well.
Next year I would like to see a few more breweries – maybe other Prairie and honourary Prairie brewers, and in particular have each bring something unique, special, experimental or otherwise not available elsewhere. I would happily fork out $15 plus sample tickets to try a dozen or so beer not available anywhere else.
This is constructive advice to the organizers. I would like to see this event happen again. The charity angle will keep it grounded and admirable. Tweaking the beer side will make it a more attractive event for the beer-curious. Sorry drunk guys – this event isn’t for you.
October 19, 2010 at 11:07 PM
And please invite some restaurants to maybe partake in it. The food wasn’t that great.
October 21, 2010 at 5:43 PM
We’ll be having a meeting shortly, to discuss next year.
Two suggestions so far, either of which could occur.
One is to open it up to Western Canada, including Yukon.
The other is to get each brewery to produce a seasonal to be launched there. (least likely of the options, but who knows)I intend to have something to launch there. I’m hoping to work with the participating artists, and pick an artist to either produce a label, or create one from an existing piece. The beer would be called Shabam, and we’d use a different artist and (just thinking about this) brewery each year.
I’ve also suggested involving restaurants to work directly with a brewer. It would double the size of the beer section, by having 1 brewer & 1 restaurant together, instead of 2 brewers.
October 22, 2010 at 1:58 AM
I really enjoyed this event. I brought along a few friends that weren’t beer nerds like me and they still enjoyed it. I agree with the addition of quality food, but more in the spirit of combining it with beers. Such as local cheese and chocolate makers to pair with beers. That would give an interesting aspect and show to non-beer nerds that not just pretzels and peanuts pair with beer well.