Pig and Whiskey

Stopped by Scene’s first ever Pig and Whiskey fest in downtown Willoughby on Saturday afternoon. We got there pretty early and there wasn’t much of a crowd although some people were hanging around the Browns tent for meet and greets with some of the players. I think these sessions were $ 50 apiece, you couldn’t just walk in and get an autograph. Bands took the stage later on – Uncle Kracker was the big draw but that wasn’t until Sunday .
I like the idea of this festival, but overall there are some kinks to work out. On the food side, they had a solid offering of BBQ vendors — Smoke Ring, Old Carolina, The Proper Pig, Over the Moon. I was very excited about the Smoked Mac & Cheese from Smoke Ring but disappointed in the portion size. It was basically a large handful’s worth of food for $ 5. The bacon on a stick from the Proper Pig was definitely the highlight — also $ 5, but it was the thickest, juiciest slice of bacon I’ve ever had the pleasure of devouring. That is one food truck I would definitely chase down if I happen to spot them on the road.
The main problem, then, was the booze. Drink tickets were 5 for $ 5. I believe all the beers were 5 tickets apiece, but there was a serious lack of local beers. When we were there they had a few different brews from Goose Island and Shock Top on tap. Considering Willoughby Brewing was literally right next door it seemed like they could have made more of an effort to get Cleveland beers here — it’s not like we’ve got a beer shortage in this city.
«Whiskey Row» was the center of the confusion, however. Each vendor had a menu displaying what kinds of liquor they were offering and they number of tickets each costs. They ranged from 5 to 11 tickets (there might have been a 12 ticket whiskey, I can’t quite remember) and you basically got a shot’s worth. Or maybe a little more. Every tent had different sized serving cups, so we really had no idea what we were supposed to be getting. Now, why would someone who isn’t familiar with a whiskey (or any whiskies, which I think was probably the case with a lot of guests) want to pay $ 11 for a glass of something they aren’t sure if they like? I know entrance was free, but how much money did they think people were going to drop on whiskey? The point of going to food/​drink festivals is being able to sample a bunch of stuff you wouldn’t normally be exposed to, or want to pay full price for in a restaurant/​bar. That was not the case here.
At a few of the tents, we asked to pay less for a smaller amount — like 2 or 3 tickets for a smaller taste. A lot of the volunteers weren’t really sure what the policy was, so we got a way with a few, and then others refused. So that needs to be clarified, and hopefully next year they’ll do sample pours. Obviously a pour of 10-​year aged whiskey is worth more than a pour of Bacardi (um, why bother, btw?) but it just made deciding on what to a drink a hassle when every single thing was priced differently. If people want full-​size pours, fine, but just make everything the same number of tickets so people don’t have to mill around trying to figure out what’s what.
Also, most of the whiskey offered was bourbon, which is cool because yay America — but the even among the bourbon selections there were only a handful I hadn’t seen before. People can walk into any bar and try Jim Beam if they wanted to. It would’ve been nice to see a few more small-​batch brands and international whiskies. But the pig was fabulous!