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.