BBQ and Brew 2016

So we are less than a week away from BBQ and Brew 2016. I am very much looking forward to this years event. Last year was fantastic and I can not wait to indulge in all of those brew samples.

Just wanted to get some opinions from the community on a few things though!

First, what are the opinions of moving the fest to the frontier area of the park? I thought the Pavilion was pretty good last year and kinda thought the point of the lakeside pavilion was to host events such as this. Perhaps the theming fits more but will it cause a cluster of people, making it annoyingly crowded considering they already announced over 20 tents plus the obvious influx in people in that area...thoughts?

Secondly, what are some of the options that you are most excited to try this year whether brew or bbq, I know I am VERY excited to try all the varieties of Cedar Point themed brews and Lienenkugel options, what about your guys?

Hopefully I will see some of you guys there, I will attend every weekend this year and cant wait!

I think it will be a lot better for the vendors to have it in the park as there will be a lot more foot traffic and exposure. I am not sure how it will play out from the customer perspective. I'll probably need a place to sit with a big plate of BBQ and I'm not sure I'll find that conveniently on Frontier Trail. Hopefully I'm wrong. I did not attend last year, but I heard great things and am planning to try it this year.

I went last year, but have not decided on this year as of yet. I would like to see how this new set up works, having it on the Frontier area instead of the pavilion. Last year, it stormed the one day of the event, and having it in the pavilion kept everyone dry, and allowed the event to continue. I don't see that being the case with the current setup, and I don't want to waste money on an event that will either get rained out, or be wet and miserable. I didn't see anywhere that they list an alternate location in case of bad weather.

This explains why Sunday Frontier Town has tables set up all down the midway (between the RoundUp and Chuck Wagon restaurant toward the train station) They were stapling red and white checkered tablecloths to them.

I'm looking forward to the event but wondering how it will be if it rains. The venue last year was perfect, I'm not sure if I like the change.

Do you need a ticket to get into the event? Is it just to get food? The day I was going to go last year, it got cancelled due to bad weather. The way I heard it was done last year was once you got in and processed your ticket, they gave you tickets for food and drinks and that the servings were big and many were leaving with unused tickets. If I could split the cost with another person in my group, I would do that. I would hate to spend all that money and have a few tickets go to waste.

You can walk through it just the same but in order to participate you must buy the 20 dollar (online or pass holder rate), 35 i think for GP packet that has 10 drink tickets and 5 food tickets. These tickets are the "currency" for the food and brew. 1 ticket get you a sample of a brew or bbq and 3 tickets gets you a full plate or a full beer. So technically you need tickets to participate in the eating and drinking but not to walk by and through frontier trail...which is why i agree that the new location is not ideal.

There is going to be a lot more congestion, not many places to sit like in the pavilion, and lots of non event people walking through and clustering it up. not to mention I imagine the influx of people will create longer lines for Maverick, and possibly Mean Streak and Mine Ride as well.

I really loved last years set up in the pavilions. It was perfect, spacious and was complimented with a wonderful setting. Not sure what made them move it but it must have been something significant enough. I imagine protein spills will become a little more common for the Maverick, Mean Streak, Cedar Creek and SkyHawk crews on those days. ;)

I don't like the idea of moving he event in the park like that... Last year, the pavilions were wonderful. Not only a beautiful view out to the lake but had shade from the sun, nice setup, etc...

I don't look forward to being jammed in a midway with tons of people walking around everywhere. We even debate about even going this year depending on what we hear about it, simply just due to location.

Maybe after a drunken fight or two from people "over-indulging" with the midway guests will bring it back next year to the proper venue! hahah

The keg of Chillwave DIPA is for me...and whatever Fat Head brings.

Thanks :)

Again the sale of alcohol means people are going to get stupid drunk and start fights? Really?

Of course. I know we beat our kids every night after a couple glasses of wine. Amazing we're still married as we imbide on a frequent basis. And let's not even get started on Pete...

Where exactly in Frontier Town is this event at? We'll be there Tuesday - Friday of next week.

Hope I don't get into a Saloon fight.

Jeff said:

Again the sale of alcohol means people are going to get stupid drunk and start fights? Really?

A certain percentage will. Not a high percentage, but the law of averages always wins in the long run.

Jeff said:
Again the sale of alcohol means people are going to get stupid drunk and start fights? Really?

'Twas a joke, hence the "haha" at the end of my comment.

Kevin, It is right in the middle of Frontier Town. Start about the Antique Cars in the main midway section and go all the way down to the area past Maverick and in front of the train station. They have picnic tables set up all over the area, and when we were there yesterday, they were starting to set up the vendor areas. I'm thinking they moved it there to increase exposure to the general public and drive up "day of" sales. If so, probably a smart move. My concern is just with general crowd flow and the area just becoming so congested that it's hard to move around, and also with there not being much shade in the areas where the tables are set.

My friends and I decided to give it a try after work last night and were not impressed with this year's incarnation granted it was only the first day.

When we arrived and showed our tickets for admission they gave us plastic tasting glasses with the Brew and BBQ logo on it which was nice. They also had a special suprise for Platinum Passholders, an extra ticket that got you a full glass of the new Valravn brew from the Brew Kettle stand which I enjoyed. This year is the same as last where you can use all 15 tickets on either brew or bbq. The food was delicious once you were finally able to get you hands on it...

I enjoyed the atmosphere of being on the beach last year and felt this years location left something to be desired. It did get a little crowded at times and the lines for food at the Texas and Kansas City BBQ stands were long. Choosing to have this event on the Frontier Trail proved to be a disadvantage to the catering team as they kept running out of food making the wait longer. I was frustrated when I went to get ribs and was told it would be a 2 minute wait and then found myself waiting 20 minutes. While the event runs til 10, last call was at 9:30 so I found myself having to quickly go from tent to tent collecting samples and setting them at my table so I wouldn't loose out on the use of my tickets. I was suprised to find that some of the beers listed on the tasting sheet were not available even though it was the first night of the event. The Brew Kettle had beer in their trailer but had to stop serving as the night went on because they had run out of cold beer.

I look forward to seeing what other's experiences are like to see if they make improvements in these areas as time goes on since it was only the first day. I spoke briefly with a gentleman in their Marketing department and he did say the event was moved to try to draw more people in who may not have known about the event prior to coming to the park that day. I get it but personally didn't enjoy the change in location enough to say I would definitely go back next year.

Well I just arrived home from CP after my trip for Brew and BBQ. Let's just say that today was EXACTLY the situation I had feared. Obviously the severe tstorm was not something they can plan for, but this is where the location change hurt the event at least for today. If it was still in the Pavilion, the storms impact would have been less significant. Instead at 630 I was being told that half the vendors where leaving and they are "soft canceling" the event for the day.

Even without the down pour, the location has absolutely no shading seeing as it is just a couple dozen picnic tables set up on the main midway next to Maverick/ Lil Lusty's stage and the picnic pavilion next to Maverick's que is being used for the main food tent, so their was not that option either. So if it wasn't the rain, the heat and humidity would have been rough.

I was told that my left over tickets could carry over for the rest of the events duration so I will be going back on Friday to give it a second go around. I will say that the pork sliders were pretty fantastic, but I was not a huge fan of the valravn beer but dark beers are not really my forte either. The staff was VERY friendly and they really did try their best to make the best of some very unfortunate weather. Crossing my fingers for better weather next weekend as I really believe the event is a solid one but today was just a rough and unavoidable dud.

For those that like IPAs, the Valravn IPA is a very good beer. But IPAs are not to everyone's taste.

I had purchased tickets online for Saturday. Never actually got to redeem my ticket due to the thunderstorm. We took shelter in the saloon and ordered food and drinks to pass the time. We were hungry! To their credit, the people working the event were going around making sure everyone knew it was officially canceled and we would be able to get a full refund or a ticket for another day. We got the refund without any hassles.

This event really should be covered. I felt awful for the vendors. Their fold up canopies started collapsing and dumping water on them, even before the heavy rains started. I realize they can probably sell more tickets with it being visible in the Frontier area, but you can't rely on the weather and there may be many days they end up losing money.

They could have the event in the pavilion (or another covered location) like last year, and still sell more tickets. Put a ticket booth or 2 out around the park to drum up day-of sales, put more signage or displays around the park, etc. Last year there was none of that, but those are small adjustments they could make this year while still having the event covered to make the atmosphere and functioning of the event more enjoyable for guests, and more easily functional for staff and vendors. I was there yesterday and saw them setting up to start the event for the day, but it already seemed like it was congested at the beginning with the foot traffic going through the area, and there was no real shade from the sun.