I am pleased to announce that tickets to 16th annual Charlotte Oktoberfest went on sale today. This event will be held Sept. 27 at the N.C. Music Factory, the host for last year’s festival as well. As of this writing, over half of the VIP tickets have already been sold, costing $65 apiece (general admission $45). Over the last 16 years, this Carolina Brewmasters-run event has donated nearly $500,000 to local charitable organizations. This year’s charity benefactors include Classroom Central, Kids Rein, and Camp CARE.
I am also pleased to mention the first Charlotte Beerfest, taking place at BB&T Ballpark on Sept. 20 — the week before Oktoberfest. VIP tickets to this event are $100 (general admission $50), with proceeds benefiting Grin Kids Children’s Charity and USO.
These beer festivals are two completely unrelated events, but there has been considerable confusion between the two (not to mention online animosity). Allow me to help to clear the air.
Oktoberfest has traditionally been a wonderful educational resource for beer drinkers. There is an overwhelming local presence at Oktoberfest, with regional and Charlotte-based breweries making it a point to attend each year. It would be easier to mention which Charlotte breweries aren’t attending Oktoberfest instead of list who are — as of this writing, only newcomer Sugar Creek. Historically, up-and-coming local breweries have also used the event as a launching pad for their wares.
Beerfest, on the other hand, advertises on its website the offer of unlimited tastings of “100 craft beers” — yet few of the beers mentioned on its social media pages are actually craft. Featured brews include Guinness, Red Stripe, Newcastle, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Stella Artois, Blue Moon and Pacifico. Also, it’s much easier to mention Charlotte breweries that are attending (OMB, Sugar Creek) versus those that are sitting out.
Of course, Oktoberfest is not 100-percent craft; neither does it pretend to be. In fact, many of the Beerfest breweries mentioned above will be pouring at both events. Organizers of both events realize the importance of bringing a wide spectrum of beers for attendees to sample, but only Beerfest tries to pass their offerings as things they are not.
Both festivals offer patrons the ability to enter the festival early, with Oktoberfest charging a $20 premium for the privilege versus Beerfest’s $50 increase. At Beerfest, VIP ticket holders get to partake in select beers; general admission ticket holders will miss several offerings. Contrarily, beer offerings at Oktoberfest do not discriminate between ticket holders. (Additionally, Beerfest VIP holders also get premium seating for the live entertainment, access to the home plate and upperdeck clubs, and a T-shirt, while Oktoberfest VIP get to enjoy a guided beer tour.)
Beerfest has also announced the Charlotte Beerfest 2014 Craft Beer Week, happening Sept. 17-20; details on “great restaurant and bar specials” have yet to be announced. This is not to be confused with the Charlotte Craft Beer Week, which celebrated its 5th anniversary this past March.
There’s more than enough room in this town for multiple beer festivals and events. It’s a shame the organizers of Beerfest couldn’t book a date with more distance from an already popular beer festival. Doing so might have saved potential attendees from getting the run-around. Then again, Blues Traveler is Beerfest’s headliner.
This article appears in Jul 30 – Aug 5, 2014.
To be fair, there are going to be some excellent breweries at Beerfest that aren’t listed as attending Oktoberfest:
Troegs
Lagunitas
Great Lakes
Brooklyn
New Belgium
Southern Tier
Which one will have the most Oktoberfest/Märzen style beers?
Beer trivia: Märzen beers were traditionally brewed in March (hence the name) and fermented slowly over summer, a process which imparted their distinctive color and flavor.
Advances in brewing technology mean that Märzen style beer can be produced more quickly today, but authentic Bavarian Märzen-Oktoberfest beers must (a) be brewed in Munich (by Spaten, Löwenbräu, Augustiner-Bräu, Hofbräu-München, Paulaner or Hacker-Pschorr); and (b) be aged in lagering tanks for 12-16 weeks.
Lagunitas is the platinum sponsor for Oktoberfest. Can confirm that Troegs will be at Oktoberfest.
New Belgium, Brooklyn, and Southern Tier have been there in years past. No reason to think they won’t be there again this year.
Troegs, Lagunitas, Great Lakes, Brooklyn, New Belgium, and Southern Tier will all be at Charlotte Oktoberfest.
To be even more fair, a brewery called NoDa will not be at Beerfest. So there’s that… (They brew that little IPA you may have heard of…it won Gold at the World Beer Cup as the best IPA in the world).
I don’t think that at the end of the day, there will be in comparison at the craft beer selection between the two events. Charlotte Oktoberfest is the premier craft beer event in the South East, and it is just completely unfortunate that the beerfest folks are infringing on the branding, timing, location, and more of the non-profit Charlotte Oktoberfest to sell tickets to a for-profit event.
jmaysnc,
Your last line makes no sense. The two events have different names, are on different dates, at different venues, and the article mentions that both benefit charities.
I have no dog in this hunt as I’ve not yet looked at my calendar or at the participant lists closely enough to determine if I’ll go to either or both Fests.
Thank you for the article and helping to explain and differentiate the festivals. If you have any future questions about the 2014 Charlotte Oktoberfest please direct your questions to oktoberfest@carolinabrewmasters.com. I have a few thoughts below I would like to add.
1 – The Charlotte Oktoberfest is an event that is 100 percent planned and coordinated by a volunteer management board and festival volunteers to support craft beer and raise monies for charity.
2 – RE: Charlotte Beerfest charities’ donation
“… with proceeds benefitting Grin Kids Children’s Charity and USO.”
– this is a for profit festival so only a portion of the Beerfest proceeds go to charity. Both charities are well deserving of this assistance.
3 – Charlotte Oktoberfest’s charities’ donation
– a significant portion of our festival’s net income will be given to local charities. $75,000 last year was split with $25K going to each Project Halo, Classroom Central, and Second Harvest Foodbank of the Carolinas.
4 – RE: “Contrarily, beer offerings at Oktoberfest do not discriminate between ticket holders.”
– This year’s Premium ticket holders will have access to specialty beers before the general public. There very well could be several specialty beers which only the premium ticket holders have access to at this year’s festival.
I believe that management of both festivals believe that both sides could have handled things a little better instead of the initial bickering. In the future we plan to coordinate so that there is more time between our events.
Cheers,
Sean Murphy