Brew con london - a home brewing conference and expo

[Soton]

�£15, fifteen pounds! FIFTEEN POUNDS, you can get a grain mill on Amazon for �£9.99 :whistle:

 

[The Idiot]

I wish them well and all, but when I read through the bumph it just leaves me cold. It feels a bit like they didn't want to commit, but now that others have covered the start-up costs they'll ride the gravy train as hard as they can.

Really successful events start because of a vision that is pushed along on a wave of passion, no matter how naff or poorly organised it starts out. Those of a similar mind add to that wave and contribute freely, because no one runs it as a business. Then inertia carries it forward and it develops a life of its own, and at this point someone has to grab hold of the reins and steer it to a point of business-like operation. Beer Con seems to be coming the other way to me, and despite having been a life-long brewer I'm not that excited by it or its goals.

Maybe it's just me, but I'd rather be in my brewery...

 

[jceg316]

The email sent round about it being on one day was because it would be too expensive for the exhibitors to be there the weekend as they will need to book hotels etc. Bearing in mind the home brew industry is still pretty small there probably aren't enough companies to fill the venue for 2 days with different companies on different days, and maybe there are more exhibitors as the cost is lower which = a better exhibition. There is also a refund available if Sunday isn't good for you.

 

[YeastFace]

Just got my eTicket through, anyone else going to this?

 

[Crystal_Ball]

Just got my eTicket through, anyone else going to this?

Yep got mine and plan on going.

 

[DethApostle]

Got my ticket sorted yesterday so i'll be there! Just need to get the beers sent off for the World Series competition now!

DA

 

[Simonh82]

Got a ticket straight away for the main event and also nabbed one for the club night on Saturday (club night, as in half a dozen hombrew clubs poring their best beers, rather than lots of sweaty homebrewers raving it up at a dingy warehouse party). This, I'm really excited about as it seems to be a free event with lots of free booze (it isn't going to end well is it?). I think the tickets to that are all gone now though.

 

[Crystal_Ball]

Quite looking forward to this tomorrow. Looks like a comprehensive day.
https://www.brewconlondon.com

 

[Simonh82]

It was a good event but the sound for the talks sucked. They needed to be in a separate room so you could hear what they were saying.

I picked up a free yeast slope from Brew Labs and about 3Kg of malt from Muntons.

 

[RichardM]

It was a good event but the sound for the talks sucked. They needed to be in a separate room so you could hear what they were saying.

I picked up a free yeast slope from Brew Labs and about 3Kg of malt from Muntons.

I wasn't impressed by it. The facilities for the talks were awful. They were late opening, leaving a queue of people stood in the cold for half an hour. There weren't many exhibitors and the bar was charging £5 a pint

 

[Crystal_Ball]

Seeing as it was the first time organising it I thought it was pretty good. Not sure what to expect but overall acceptable. They were never going to get everything right first time round.
The reason they were late opening I heard was to do with problems with the bar if that's true I don't know. They were never going to be charging Wetherspoon prices!
I too picked up a couple free yeasts from brewlab.
Picked up a couple of tips and ideas from the talks too. As I said overall a good day!

 

[Simonh82]

£5 a pint for craft beer in London is fairly standard. There were at least some interesting beers there.

I didn't arrive until about 2 so missed any queues.

I was impressed by the numbers of people there so hopefully there will be more people/exhibitors next year and hopefully they will sort out a proper space for the talks.

 

[Simonh82]

The club night on Saturday was great. You can't argue with a free event with all the free beer you can drink. It did make it hard to get up for the main event today though.

I got lots of ideas for different beers from trying out all the offerings and talking to people. The whisky oak aged Russia imperial stout was a highlight, also a great Belgian single.

 

[JonBrew]

I think on the whole it was a good and generally well organised event. I wasn't bothered by the prices at the bar. The biggest let down for me, however, was, as others have mentioned, the sound quality of the talks which was in general very poor. If they commit to having the talks in separate rooms next time I'd definitely go again next year.

 

[DethApostle]

I agree, for the first time out I think it was a success.
Definitely some tweaking to be done for next year with the presentation spaces/setup but more positives than negatives on the whole.
£5 a pint was not a shock for London prices (it was £5.2 in a pub round the corner) and the selection of beers on offer was very good so I didn't begrudge paying that at all!