Louisville Brewfest

Brewfest is an event my wife and I shall attend every year. We buy tickets as soon as they are on sale and have a wonderful time. 2015 was no different we had a wonderful time and will be back again!

Amazing event!
I attended Brew at the Zoo last year and really enjoyed sampling all the beers, but between the price of the ticket and the heat outside that day, it was something I’d prefer not to repeat.
Louisville Brewfest gets it all right. Great venue (we could even huddle inside when it started pouring!), good price (if you’re still thirsty, just buy more tickets!), and great representation of breweries and food alike. I’ll definitely be back next year, preferring this event over some of the other local beer events.

I like this festival for what it is: A showcase for local beers, with a lot of locals getting together and enjoying some fall weather at beautiful Slugger Field.
But as a craft beer nerd, I don’t rank this too highly in terms of beer festivals (of which I’ve gone to far too many). Almost every beer at this event can be found at any decent restaurant or liquor store in town and would be considered basic offerings at a good craft beer bar in the city. I mean, if you haven’t had a West Sixth IPA, a Country Boy Cougar Bait or a Goodwood Bourbon Barrel Ale by now, you’re probably not really into beer. So I guess this festival is for you and it gives you a way to expand your palate.
They did have some more limited-​release beers at the festival, but those had their own areas that had long lines, and even most of those beers weren’t exactly very rare. I used the occasion to try beers from Akasha and Monnik, two new breweries on the scene whose doors hadn’t opened yet, and Eight Ball and Tin Man. For $ 1 4-​oz pours (plus $ 5 admission), it wasn’t bad at all.
There were several good food vendors there as well, though most of them had pretty long waits. It’s all pleasant enough, though, as you run into many friends and enjoy the outdoor atmosphere (well, most of the time; it was pouring rain this year).
All in all, this isn’t an event that I plan my calendar around, but if I’m free, I’ll probably go. I really like having a showcase for the growing local beer scene around here, and the selection is probably good enough for most people. I just wish there were some more interesting choices.

I always love going to events where I can try beers I have never had before. And… even if I have had them before it is still fun to drink it again! :)
Slugger Field has a nice set up for events like this, using both the outside parts around the field as well as the inside area.
I also enjoyed the food vendors that were set up around the place too.
I am ready for next year’s Brewfest!

Bourbon & wine are great but let’s face it… BEER is the star of the show at brewfest. I’ve been a few times now & this year might have been one of my favorites. It seemed like they had more options than in previous years. More beer! More food! More wine! More bourbon! I love this event! Everyone seems to be having a great time at this event… even the vendors & bartenders!
I tried something new this year in going by myself & taking my chances on running into people. There are 2 spots within Slugger field where taps rotate every 30 minutes. I missed a couple of them, but flying solo allowed me to bounce between spots & try most of the ones I wanted before they ran out.
This was also the first year I was able to get there early. There is a crowd early, but it’s very manageable. The crowd thickens around 7:30−8PM. You can still navigate through it, but you might have some issues with a group of people.
On the food front, it seemed that there were many more local options to choose from. I decided to go with Over the 9… a meatball slider & pork/​cucumber skewers? Yes please! It was perfect! Light & satisfying! With that being said there were plenty of other things to choose from… Boombozz, Farm to Fork, Joella’s, Khalil’s, Shack in the Back, & Comfy Cow just to name a few.
Cheap admission (5 dollars). Beer samples are 1 ticket each (1 dollar) & full pours are 4 tickets each (4 dollars). No matter how into beer you are, this event is the perfect way to try many different types/​varieties/​brands without breaking the bank.
As the craft beer scene continues to grow… I hope this event grows & stays around for years to come!

I had an awesome time at the 7^th Annual Brew Fest located at Slugger Fields. Every one hosting a booth was friendly and explained their beers, wines, and bourbons thoroughly and with a lot of passion. The packages were inexpensive and actually made sense. I got the $ 15.00 package which included admission, ten tickets (that’s ten tastings!), and a plastic mug (I did end up getting ten more tickets by the end of the day, still got off cheap to me.).
I discovered a lot of awesome new flavors that would have probably taken me years to discover. Who would have thought cream ales were so good, or bourbon barrel wines (502 Winery)? They even had a rotating tap on site, about every thirty minutes they exchanged one tap for another, all local. It was located in a great mingling spot with lots of seats, too!
The food offered was amazing, Over the 9, Joella’s Hot Chicken, BoomBozz pizza, and more. At an event like this you’d expect the food prices to be outrageous. Nope, three bucks for a big ol’ slice of BoomBozz supreme.
Everything was perfectly spaced out, most of it was under cover from the drizzle (didn’t spoil anyone’s fun though!), and had enough brews to go around for hours.
All in all, I had a great time, I got to discover an amazing winery, Smith-​Berry Winery, which has won countless awards for their stunning sparkling wines and my absolute favorite thing there, their ridiculously delicious blackberry wine. I also thoroughly enjoyed all of the 502 wines that I got to try, along with Goodwood’s wine ale. I think I might have a wine problem…
I can’t wait for next year, rain or shine, I’ll be there!

I am trying to teach myself to like beer… and the best way to do that is to do something like this where there a SO MANY BEERS to try for a relatively low price (and often accidentally generous pours). I love local goods, I love drinking, and I love hanging out with cool people and people watching. This is a great way to do all those things at once!
Besides some great beer (can anyone tell me who made the Ginger Saison? Because I LOVED that one…) there was also some awesome food, local wine and yes… even Bourbon!
I’ve been to the event several times and have loved it each time. Keep it up!

Ok, so I’m writing my review based off of this years Brewfest only, even though I’ve been to one for the past four years. This event is AWESOME! Normally my rating would be five stars, but this is why I’m only giving it four. I found it a bit difficult to identify the breweries and beers this year because the signs were so low. You almost had to fight through the crowd in order to just read a sign. I preferred the way they displayed things in past years. Up high so everyone can get a clear easy view! It was great to see new breweries join us in Louisville this year. I also love how they spread the booths around the ball field to keep the crowd flowing. Nice!
One other thing that caused me to decrease my rating was the lack of attention from several of the workers/​volunteers. If I come up and ask you a question or you are waiting on me… PUT THE CELL PHONES DOWN! I had a couple experiences where I would be in the middle of a conversation with a worker and their cell phone would go off. Instead of waiting until we were finished they would interrupt me, pick up their phone, bury their face in it, and ignore everything else. In my book that’s rude and total negative representation for the Louisville Brewfest.
With that being said though, I always have a great time at the Brewfest and will continue to go in future years! Where else can you drink great local beers from around the area, munch on yummy local vittles, mingle with other fellow brew lovers, hear awesome music, and experience the real Louisville. Fun! Eclectic! Beer! Oh yeah!!!

We bought VIP tickets this year to enjoy the fun even more than the last! Great wine and breweries everywhere. Plus, Brewfest brought in Joella’s and Manny + Merle for food! Definitely can’t go wrong there.
I’m loving the freebies, Old 502 Winery and even won a shot glass at Unilocal pong! Lots of fun to be had at this event and plenty of new beers and wine to try.
My only criticism for this year is that the pours seem a little more regulated and the VIP section didn’t have overly great food. I liked the idea of tamales and Cuban sandwiches but not the execution! Thankfully we haven’t had to wait in line, and the Instagram feed on the big screen is so fun!
Can’t wait to continue socializing, drinking and having an awesome Friday night. Brew on!

How can you go wrong when you put brewery’s all around a ballpark then pack in a few thousand fellow beer drinkers and start making the rounds? Its like the ultimate Americana experience. Had some really good times at Brewfest and looking forward to more. Highly recommend a visit to this truly unique experience

This is one of my favorite events in this town (and believe me, there are A LOT)! It’s always fun people and great brews. Hope to see you there!

I really enjoyed the brew fest. It was a sunny warm day in Louisville and all the craft beer guys came out to show off there wares.
A 3 oz taste was just a dollar while a 12 oz pour was 4. This made it possible to try a few with out getting plastered. It’s a long cab ride home to Lawrenceburg.
After a couple however it is hard to distinguish too much. The craft guys seem to compete on who can cram the most hops into there beer.
Lots of food choices. I had a pork belly with kimchi taco. Not bad. Would have liked the pork cooked a little harder. The sauce kind of overwhelmed everything.
All in all a nice late afternoon at the ballpark. I look forward to next year.

I love beer festivals when you get to try lots of new beers in a short amount of time. The thing is, every beer here is easily and readily available at area bars. I love the beers in Louisville and this region, but i can and do drink them all the time. If I’m going to pay $ 5 to get into a beer festival, give me something special, something I cant easily find at a bar or store here, IE, from a different part of the country/​world. On top of an unimpressive collection, the lines for beer were long. When you got one beer you had to drink it while waiting inline for your next beer.

Great venue. Lessons learned from previous years. It’s very walkable and very enjoyable. Lots of beer, wine, bourbon and food selections.