The Beer Dabbler – Winter Carnival

A bunch of complaining wusses giving low ratings because of weather? WEATHER? Don’t hate the player, y’all. Hate the closeted weatherman.
Grow a pair and beer up, there are over 150 breweries to choose from! A great old time with food, live music, snowbound activities and fun loving beer loving folks. You want a warm place to drink average beer? Stay home, stupid.

My much delayed review for the 2014 dabbler. Where to start.
This is an outdoor event. In MN. In January. We all know what that means, right? THEN WHY ON EARTH WERE HALF THE *&^^&$#$## BEER LINES FROZEN IN LESS THAN AN HOUR FROM OPENING???
Seriously. Let’s use some logistical prowess here. It wasn’t *THAT* cold.
What else.
The beer that did pour — most vendors pour you ½ to ²⁄₃ of your little dinky glass. Gee thanks. Fill the damn thing full, please.
Too many vendors that are anything but beer.
You call those bonfires? I’ve had fires in my kitchen that put out more heat.
I got there at 3:15, beer started freezing… errr…serving at 3:30. I left at 4:20. Frustrated. As we left, there was a HUGE line of people at the gate. Apparently they had ran out/​misplaced/​whatever the beer dabbler glasses. Mind blowing.

(This review is for the 2014 Winter Beer Dabbler.)
This was quite possibly one of the most poorly planned events I’ve ever had the misfortune of attending (rivaling even the abysmal 2013 beer-​related Social Science). My expectations were pretty modest: the only thing they had to do to satisfy me was make it possible for me to sample enough beers to be worth the $ 35 each tickets, and they failed miserably to do even that. So many of the beer lines were frozen that we didn’t get to try most of the breweries we wanted to, and all the closed booths resulted in longer lines at the few that were open.
The problem is not that it was cold. The problem is that they completely failed to prepare for the effects cold can have on an event that inherently depends upon liquid staying liquid, at least long enough for me to drink a tiny sample glass of it.
It’s one thing to leave all your paying customers freezing because of your dubious decision to plan a four-​hour outdoor event in Minnesota in January; we all went to the event knowing that was going to happen, and most of us dressed in layers, brought hand-​warmers, and made the best of it. It’s another thing entirely to not even bother to heat the islands of sample tents enough that the beer stays liquid for most of the event. And it’s a whole new level of arrogant to then make the kinds of FB posts they did during and after the event (one showed a picture of a decorative torch and claimed that «anyone who said it was cold was lying») when so many of your customers are furious at how the mismanagement ruined an event they had been looking forward to.
I prepared for the cold, Dabbler. Why didn’t you?

Well — an updated review… I’ve been going to the Dabbler every year since it started back at Mears Park… and since that terrible event, it’s gotten a little better every year. The upgrade to the Farmers market, and well the upgrade to the State Fair grounds has been awesome… However it seems every year the organizers get blindsided by something as simple as glasses.
What was great:
Location
The amount of space
Outhouses
Snowboard event
Weather — loved it!
what was not great:
beer lines freezing
taxi service — from what I was told
running out of glasses — rookie mistake
bonfires — but again I can’t imagine drunken people around a bonfire, I’m guessing the gates are more of an insurance/​safety issue.
Other comments:
The weather — you can’t plan for it, and you can’t change it. So to those that complain that it was too cold and should be inside instead… well — don’t buy tickets. This is marketed as an Outdoor beer event. It needs to stay that way.
This year I was on the other side pouring beer for a local brewery and got to see it from the vendor side. And yes we had some issues with the beer lines, we managed to get them flowing, but again we learned some things.
We needed to bypass the jockey boxes and run draft lines from kegs to faucet, and going into next year, doing something even easier with a simple party pump and draft kit. bypassing all the fancy Co2 and get the beer flowing. Again — learning curve for the vendors as well, and every year we get better and better. But in the end, an outdoor beer event in MN in January = fun.
2015 should be even better!

This was my first Beer Dabbler exeperience and I was very excited to have sun stupid fun in this Stupid Minnesota winter weather… but things just got plain stupid when arriving. I had on PLENTY of layers on and still had to cry out «Woman Down! Woman Down!» and abort the Beer Dabbler.
1. The entrance was a cluster*ck when it came to finding an ID checker, it was a hog pile and race to beat the other person with your ID.
2. RUNNING OUT OF GLASSES at the major gate? Seriously? We had to walk through the entire event to the other gate near Dan Patch for glasses.
3. Did the Event organizers or the Beer vendors not realize it was FIVE DEGREES w/​a windchill of –11? Because I’m pretty sure they should have guessed sh*t’s gonna freeze and they should keep their taps/​kegs warmed up. Thank god there were some geniuses who served out of their growlers and pitchers.
4. For the love of God… I get it, we live in MN we should prepare for an outdoor event, but to have tiny little 5-​logged fires barricaded by fencing is seriously ridiculous. Why can’t they build large bonfires, then barricade and guard the larger fires. That way more heat is being produced. Not even a heat lamp anywhere. It’s 5 degrees and I know of a lot of people who left because of the cold temps and the lack of shelter at all. This was at a State Fairgrounds and not ONE building could be used as a warming shelter?
I’d love to go next year but probably only if it stays in the teens and 20 degree temps. This was just a plain stupid idea on a stupid cold day! #stupidcold #frostbite

This was my first visit to Beer Dabbler (Jan 2014).
We took the bus there, which was easy and free since free bus passes were provided to ticket holders. The selection of beverages was good, there was good music, and here were enough porta-​potties. The positives stop there.
Upon arriving, it was a freaking MESS. There was no people or signs directing attendees where to get bracelets and people just crowded the entrance. Glasses were broken and you couldn’t even move. The crowding continued in the beer lines. Some of the beer tents had the name of the brewery on their tent, so you could see where things were, but most of the tents you had to get up close to to see the sign on the tables or taps… thus the crowding.
It was frigid cold and there should have been several more fires than there were. People were cold and only lasted an hour or two. We lasted a couple and decided to get out of there by hopping one of the bar-​provided shuttles. Well, they never came! We finally started walking down the street to catch a cab and we saw one and they let us on. It immediately filled up… this is blocks before the actual pickup location, so there were all these people waiting for shuttles at the pickup location for who knows how long out in the freezing cold and drunk!
This could potentially have gotten four stars. All demotions were due to the planning fails of not making adjustments for the weather, not requiring the beer tents to have signs visible from afar (crowding) and not herding people into goddamn lines! It could have just been understaffed because there are too few people who are crazy enough to work in that weather. Who knows?!

Super fun event but BRRRR. Wear long johns, two pairs of socks and three shirts at least. Most importantly bring those hand warmer packs. Stick them everywhere, no shame. I wish I had thought to put them in all my pants pockets and by my toes in my boots. The samples are only 2 oz, so you don’t want the cold to be so sobering that you can’t enjoy yourself while waiting in line for your next pour.
I really enjoyed the entertainment available. The stunt snow boarding area was so cool, I’ve never seen anything like it. The live music and Red Bull DJ truck provided just the right amout of pump you up, let’s get drunk music. The food trucks were everywhere, but I wasn’t thrilled with the selection. I would have adored some Rusty Taco or Hot Indian food to go with my beer belly, but Natedogs did the trick.
Word to the wise — you can’t get really wasted, so have someone drive and take it easy rather than take a cab all the way from Minneapolis.

This review is for the 2014 Beer Dabbler held at the Fairgrounds-​midway. Tickets for general admission were 35.00. I am not sure what I was thinking buying four of these tickets only to have to wear ski pants hats and jackets to stand in line to get a few ounces of beer but I did it…
This would have been more enjoyable had the beer been spread out so large crowds did not congregate around some of the more popular beer places and you could access how largethe line was for people actually waiting in line vs. just standing there talking.
The «fires» they had were inadequate… metal gates around a pile of logs burning with three to four security people around it. Come on… why not enclosed fire pits or how about those large free standing heaters that run on propane… and a place to sit around the warmth.
We arrived at start of pour and were ready to roll within the hour… I did not want to work that hard and freeze while doing it to get a beer. Half of the vendors did not educate or have much to say about their product and a lot of them had frozen taps. I like to hear about the beer and brewery but the weather and the crowd just did not lend itself to much of that.
I am not sure why this could not be placed in one of the building on the fair grounds even if it wasn’t heated it would certainly have been more enjoyable.
I guess I should have just signed up for a beer dinner or organized my own little brewery tour. I love events and happy that this is offered but hope they take the feedback from this year and improve upon it…

My recommendation is to not skimp on the layers. At the 2013 Beer Dabbler, it was around 10−15‘F and when you are outside for hours you get really cold. I had two pairs wool socks, lined boots, long johns, jeans, several shirts and a thick jacket with a hat and gloves. And I was cold. I would recommend those hand warmers and feet warmers — and bring extras. Maybe wear a couple.
That being said, I did have a good time. You can make it worth the cost by drinking a lot, but it is hard to drink enough to get drunk enough to be warm. It’s worth pre-​gaming a little. There are lots of port-​a-​potties, but the lines are long because people have to take so much time un-​layering and re-​layering. I also liked the large varieties of beers.
All-​in-​all, I had a good time, and it was a fun winter activity here in MN.

I think if I had to summarize this event into one sentence it would be as follows. I could not drink enough beer to be warm. Had it been a little warmer, things would have been a lot more enjoyable. We here in the frosty north like our beer in the winter because we don’t have to go outside to enjoy it, but nevertheless we must show our Minnesota credentials by thwarting winter in the polar plunge of beer.
That said if you do plan on going to the next one then heed some advice. If you have another layer available, wear it. I don’t care how stupid or not cute you will look. It will simply not matter after four hours of being outside in Minnesota January weather. Also plan on staying to the outside booths where lines are shorter if you don’t want to wait around a lot. I found many really good bears on the outskirts of the event. Lastly, the only thing that will matter is the beer since you will probably be too cold in the end to care about any of the other pizzazz like the music.
So dress to stay warm and try drink away the cold your clothes can’t stop.

So i dropped it 2 stars from last year. this one was a disappointment. The place did not have as much heating locations as last year and it was colder. The beer seemed to run out lots faster and it seemed more disorganized. Lines to the bathrooms were long like last year. Would make sense to get more bathrooms but noooo.

In general, I enjoyed the Winter Carnival Beer Dabbler this year. People are usually so friendly, there’s a great sense of camaraderie at this event. There were more food truck options this year and the line to get in went really smoothly.
There were a few things that could be improved for next year:
1. I wish this could be a non-​smoking event. Or a smoking-​allowed in designated areas event. I get that we’re outside, but if I’m stuck in line next to someone smoking a cigarette (or worse, a cigar…) it is really unpleasant. I have asthma and being around cigarette smoke makes me struggle to breathe. And I’ll admit the fire pits didn’t help in this regard but I was able to avoid them, whereas people who were smoking were spread out in the crowd. I feel like if I’m paying to go to an event, I should be able to avoid being exposed to cigarette smoke.
2. Why were all the MN beers off in that weird alley area? It was hard to get to, not well lit and seemed very strange. If someone hasn’t pointed it out to us, we would have missed that area completely. I really think MN beers should be a more central and celebrated part of the beer fest. By the time we figured out that area existed, most of the vendors in that area had run out of beer already. Also, many of the people that staffed the out of state beers had no info about the the product they were serving — a few of them didn’t know what state the beer they were serving was from. It felt impersonal.
3. Water. I try to balance my beer drinking with water drinking and I couldn’t find any water in the beer tent areas…
4. Many vendors seemed to run out of beer around 6pm…
That being said, we still had a nice time and will probably go again next year.

The getting there, parking and entering were much easier than I anticipated. Not only could you get wrist bands at listed bars, but they smartly had scanner-​wielding people on street corners.
The fire pits were warm, burning good wood– not smokey, crappy wood that smells like a tire fire.
Unilocal table was staffed by happy ladies, as was every vendor booth. People were cheerful to the nth degree.
Beer selection was great. Lots of standbys and tried many new favorites.
Most revelers in the crowd were happy and struck up conversation with the joy of kids at Christmas.
Food was fabulous and served quickly, Everyone must have eaten before attending because the food trucks were often devoid of customers– I was surprised!
Church of Cash played great faithful renditions of the Man in Black.
Now the bad–
The area for the local brewers was off to the side. It was the best place to drain some beer bathroom-​wise, but the worst place to get beer. It was icy, sloped and narrow. You were funneled into an increasingly narrow alley. The lines here were awful. People at this area were impatient, not as nice and line cutting by hammered patrons became really annoying.
Back to the main area now–
Bathrooms here were crazy busy. I felt badly for the ladies standing in a 20 foot line. They should just have a 50 yard long pee trough for men against a wall. Men don’t care and it would sure make the lines better for women.
Some vendors were out of beer by 6PM. Really?
By 6 the lines were
huge at some and nearly non-​existent at others; if you don’t follow the sheep, you could zip in and out of empty, quality beer vendors.
At this point, with buzzes going, some younger folks (guys mostly) showed how not to hold their liquor and acted like spoiled frat boys. Good time to leave.
My suggestions–
The afore-​mentioned 50 yard long pee trough.
Larger tables for vendors staffed with more pourers.
Larger venue or selling less tickets. Adding an ancillary area was nice, but it didn’t come close to spreading out an additional 2500 people.
Do it on Harriet Island and shuttle busses for crossing the bridge would be great.
Better lighting– as darkness grew, people were tripping over things that they couldn’t see.

Many improvements made this year over last year, kudos to those planning the event.
— The site selection at the Farmers Market was much better than Mears Park.
— Number of bathrooms was adequate. I did not have to wait more than 5 minutes all night compared to the half hour + last year.
— The admission line went pretty quick for how many people there were. They did a great job getting people wrist bands ahead of time to allow the lines to move fast once the gates opened.
— The beer lines for the most part were pretty short.
— Numerous fire pits to help warm up a little bit.
— The beer vendors were mostly the same as the other Dabblers and Beerfest, but several bring a new seasonal option which helps to create some differentiation in beer between the events.
Although there were several improvements the site was probably still too small for the number of people. If they plan to increase the size again next year they will need a bigger site, probably like Mpls Beerfest where it occupied two square blocks. There was also a lack of international presence compared to last year.
Overall it was another good Dabbler and I look forward to Highland Fest

Fun times at the beer dabbler winter carnival!
They had good selection, the bands were decent and a cheese stand!
Bathrooms were ample and didn’t have to wait in line if you knew where to go!
The downsides of it — long lines to get in — very long, longer lines for beer than other beer festivals I have gone to. We go in around 445pm, got in line around 415 or so.
From what i understand it was much better organized and run than it was last year, but I still think that they oversold it.
It was a good experience overall, but I’m not sure I would go again.
They were selling pretzel necklaces and water — water was typically free at other festivals i have gone to — and they have stations set up all over.

New year, new location and better organization definitely turned this event around for 2012. Given that they sold 5,000 tickets to this event, I have to give the organizers credit for wedging that many thirsty people into essentially one city block. Yes, it still took about 20 minutes to get in, but certainly understandable given the crowd size.
The beer selection was quite good, with many options available for both the casual beer drinker as well as those continuously on the hunt for something new. There were a few firkins thrown in for good measure as well. Many breweries had staff on site to chat about their beer, which is always appreciated.
The live music was also a nice touch, there were plenty of fires/​torches going to warm up by in case your liquid jacket wasn’t thick enough, and the handful of food trucks that made it out were icing on the cake.
Well done Dabbler folks, a very big improvement from last year.

This event is a great way to get out of the house and have some fun in the cold winter Minnesota months. Went last year for the first time and had a blast. Tasted a ton of great beers, played some games, listened to some good music… overall just had a great time! We found out about it late so it was already sold out, but they were releasing an additional 200 tickets (I think) the morning of, so we went there early in the day, saw the St. Paul Carnival Parade and made a fun day out of it. Bar hopped until the event started and then stuck around after and went up to Rice Park to see the ice sculptures and more. We’ve already bought our tickets for this year!
I highly recommend attending, just make sure you dress warm. If you do get cold you can warm up in a restaurant/​bar right down there and the Skyway is open to get you around downtown and lowertown.

Unlike other reviewers, I loved the snow at this outdoor «winter» beer fest. I wore boots and am a 5 foot 3 inch female. The snow was awesome, and the heaters were a bonus. The beer stayed cold and I had no trouble sampling the beers I wanted.
The only downside (and the reason for 4 stars and not 5) is that there were not enough porta-​potties for the size of the crowd. I hope they increase the number for next year, and don’t cave to the wimps who went to an outdoor winter beer fest in Minnesota and then complained they had to walk through some snow. It was awesome.

Oh dear. I hate being negative but this was one badly organized event. We arrived just after 3:30 but didn’t get in until around 4:45.
Once in there were no maps to show which stalls were where. I had to rely on my memory to find the stalls I wanted to see. My memory isn’t good at the best of times and after a few drinks disappears entirely.
The snow hadn’t been cleared so you spent most of the time trying to wade through several inches of snow which wasn’t fun with a sprained ankle. Also why was the space behind the stalls cleared but not the space in front? That was crazy.
Finally I don’t understand why an event as busy as this only had half the park open. I suppose some of the space was for the fireworks but why did we need fireworks at a beer festival?
In summary get more entrances, ditch the fireworks and buy a fecking snow blower.

This event seemed to be 1) extremely poorly organized 2) oversold.
Gates should have opened 2 hours before beer service started, as we arrived at 3:30 and did not get in to the park until after 5:00!
The beer selection was great, but by the time we got to some tents they were already out of some brews.
Not plowing snow in front of HALF of the booths was RIDICULOUS!
The group I went with still made the most of it and we enjoyed ourselves, but I would hope if they do this for a 3^rd year they have a MUCH better organization plan, and only sell a limited number of tickets.