Haven't written the follow up because frankly there wasn't much to say. The organizers of Made in the Shade did charge more and gave us less. As one local brewer noted it was a drunk fest not really a beer tasting anymore. Another brewer wondered if the festival will even be around next year in it's current form because of how badly it was managed. The absence of Arizona brewing community with the exception Beaver Street and Mudshark stood out to everyone I spoke with at the festival. The lack of homebrewers and local breweries pouring their beers ensured that the lines got long fast. I noticed some folks even drinking cans of mass produced swill waiting in line to enter the festival, I couldn't help but wonder if they came to sample new and different beers or thought it was a college kegger.

Only a couple beers really stood out for me. Steamworks had a nice Amber lager that was very clean. The New Belgium Mothership Wit was so good I have gotten a six pack after the festival to enjoy some more. The Stone beers were as usual excellent.

At one point we got into a mystery line which turned out to be Pyramid, since I don't care for their Hefe, I tried some Honey beer which was overly sweet and had no complexity. A friend disliked it so much he pour it out on the ground, the ultimate of insults at a beer festival. But then I did the same for Redstone's Raspberry Mead which was more reminisce of koolaid than a fruit mead. Largely it was a bunch of mass distributors and a handful of Southwest regional breweries.

In the end everything I predicted before I walked into the festival was correct sadly. Many of the craft brewing fans I spoke with are doubting they would even come next year. It makes me wonder if the Brewing Guild or some local group won't take up the mantel of making a smaller, more community minded event in the future. There is a market for a high quality beer tasting event in Flagstaff that the community can once again be proud.

Preparing both mentally and physically for this year’s Made in the Shade festival. But for the first time in a long time, I am not really excited about it’s approach. I get the feeling the organizers are charging more, offering less, and are not returning back to the community on the same level.

First off the price has gone up, but the festival doesn’t pay for the beer, the brewers do, and I doubt the county has had a dramatic price increase in use fees.

I get the feeling they are offering both attendees and brewers less. Attendees used to get glass glasses and I can accept plastic make less mess when dropped. They are probably cheaper but for $35-40 for general entry fee they can give us a decent piece of glassware as souvenir.

The next way we are getting less is fewer breweries. Now sure if you look at this page they advertise over 50 breweries, but the truth is there are only really around 30 breweries. Then a few regional distributors who show up with a truck and pour you beer from a bunch of breweries. Breweries they have no experience working at the brewery or knowledge of the beer. I come to beer festival to meet a brewer or someone who works there and knows about the beer. I go early just so I can check out a few places early before the event gets crowded to get to know the brewers and their beer. Actually have a bit of conversation, because these events are as much about the social experience as the beer. When you go to a distributor truck with 10 taps, they won’t generally discuss the beer because frankly they don’t KNOW it. The distributor gathers delivery people to the festival to pour and they don’t care about it, they just want to move a line.

The festival used to be a star in the Southwest attracting breweries from as far as Las Cruces, San Diego, and Boulder. New Mexico and Nevada both used to be strongly represented and they are hardly here this year. In fact outside of two local breweries, only one other Arizona Brewery decided to come which is a clear sign of what the state's brewing community thinks of the event. 3 out of 30, okay 3 out of 50 if you use their numbers, regardless of whose you use, it is a horrible sign about the condition of this beer festival.

The festival organizers are also offering less to the brewers as well as us attendees I have heard. First off our homebrew club and the Phoenix organizations were denied to even share our beer this year. In addition this is only a rumor that I am working to confirm, but I have heard this year they are far most restrictive to brewers/pouring staff. The organizers are requiring the brewers to buy a special use liability insurance to pour at the event, prescribing number of kegs to bring (that the breweries pay for), that those people who pour can’t sample beer at other booths, and lastly the festival used to sponsor a brewer's hotel where the rooms were covered by the festival in exchange for the brewer's staffs work and free beer. Brewers must pay for their rooms this year. My source indicated that the AZ Brewers Guild was so put off by the requirements they have decided to boycott the festival. Hence why less than 10% of local brewers participating in this year’s festival, but this is only a story I have heard from one source, I trust, but I am working on confirmation.

Restrictive rules like the above will impact small regional brewers and homebrewers the most. They are the ones least likely to be able to meet such requirements, but it is these groups that are at it's core the heart of the Craft Beer Revolution. They are the most ones on the front lines with the most innovative ideas. Without them you are left with larger wholesalers and the megabrews. Companies more interested in a bottom line and less interested in flavor. Flavor, diversity, and community are core values that craft beer was built on, ignoring these values and ultimately the festival will lose it's heart and soul.

The brewing community has a long history of supporting the larger community, but you can’t make it all demands and no return. Last year I heard the complaint that the only places with interesting and unique beers was the homebrewers. This year with the lack of them and the local state brewers I suspect the overall impression will be even more bland. If this is the case the organizers will need a major shakeup or I will start taking the money I spend from this festival and putting it toward other more local friendly events like the Prescott Oktoberfest.