Just got back from the 2nd Annual Summer Kraftbrew Beer Fest. Since there was such little information to go on before today's event, I had to learn on the fly when I got there. First, they do tickets here for beers, so cash required to exchange for tickets for beer pours. Second, the average cost of a beer pour is 3-4 tickets for a tasting portion and 5-6 tickets for a full glass. And when I say glass, I mean the 12 ounce tasting glass that they give you when you pay $5 for admission. In terms of beer, I tried two of them: the Ballast Point Sculpin IPA and the Dogfish ApriHop. This was part of the American Craft brewery selections which were the majority of the selections there today. They also had a Belgian and a German beer booth as well and the only beer that I wish I had room for, was a dark hefeweizen Dunkie Wiesse. Small bummer early on that they ran out of the Anderson Valley Summer Solstice...seriously, they ran out of it within the first hour of the event! Food wise, the Naglee Park Garage was selling corn on the cob, bratwurst, polish sausage, and pork kebabs. Harry's Hofbrau was also there selling turkey legs too. The Garage were taking tickets for food while the Hofbrau was not. Either way, this event is all about the CASH and tickets for beer. Lastly, they had an offer of $50 for a Zythophile Pass. It includes $25 in tickets, line skipping privileges, and a reusable bag. The lines weren't that bad when I was there at the beginning but who knows what it'll be like when it gets busier. Overall, a nice event with over 40 different beers from all over the world and even root beer from Devil's Canyon Brewing doing their own root beer floats. I'll definitely be back next year when this will be the hallmark event of Silicon Valley Beer Week next July. read more

Summer Kraftbrew Beer Fest - Naglee Park Garage Brat and an empty tasting glass. - Festivals Near Me - San Jose, California

San Jose Summer Kraft Beer crawl was a great summer hangout in downtown. It was held on a blocked off street off Post and 1st. It reminded me of the streets of Soho in NYC with the summer heat, tents, throngs of people, and odes of fun. The event had numerous beer vendors from within the area, which is a great way to get their name out. What I liked about the whole event was it was shaded by the buildings, had tables out, and felt like a family event. So organized and brought in lots of cool people read more

In 2012, I'm not sure how I would have rated this event: it was fun, but it was over-attended or booths were too close together or too numerous making for stifling crowds and indiscernible lines, beers were pricey at 3-4 tickets per tasting or 5-6 tickets per full pour ($1 = 1 ticket), and kegs were kicking long before the event was slated to end making use of those straggling non-refundable tickets urgent or impossible. I was a little wary... THIS YEAR the 2013 Summer Kraftbrew Beer Fest has ironed out many of its sophomore kinks and is one of my favorite San Jose events. The organizers of this event have their finger on the pulse. Whatever shortcomings or complaints people may have had in previous iterations, they've (for the most part) been addressed or anticipated this time around. The outdoor venue of Post Street between First and Market has ever been one of my favorite locales in downtown San Jose - a less-traveled quarter of storied architecture nested yards away from the Santa Clara Rd & Market St thoroughfares. It's the perfect space for the number of attendees that cropped up this year; contained enough that it felt alive but roomy enough that people weren't stepping on each other's toes or spilling beers. It's the same location as last year, but there was a little more space given by the extension of the event & and some of the booths across Market St (which I wasn't even aware of till late into the afternoon). The bicycle valet was a nice touch and consideration; downtown savvy regulars know how inconvenient or costly parking can be - a major stumbling block, if you ask me, in the way of downtown really flourishing. I rode my bike down, 1) as to not incur a DUI after the event, and 2) to work off some of those calories. Having a place to lock up that felt secure was much appreciated. Was there even entertainment last year? I can't remember. If there was, it didn't leave a lasting impression on me, but THIS year I was manically enthused to be standing mere feet away from San Jose's own Anya & The Get Down (http://www.anyakvitka.com/) and then The Inciters from Santa Cruz. I admit, I fanboy'd out over Anya... that voice, them eyes, that love of hiphop... Runnin' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xa5yTDRuDno&feature=share&list=PLc8IeeThNEHGhx7NZzGbLSyly6iU9WkjY) All the while, beer flowed and flowed and flowed, many till the very end of the event, to the exception of some of the more limited and chase kegs. Beer this year was notably and pleasantly more affordable, clocking in at ($)2 tickets for a taste and ($)4 tickets for a full pour in the commemorative glassware (10oz?). The ($)20 tickets I bought at entry (the convenience of Square/CC this year as opposed to last year's cash-only sales!) went a long way!! At these prices, some of the craftbeers available were a steal and the event truly festive & celebratory. A big, geeky, grinny THANK YOU to Abby S. for hooking me up w/ passes! Good times, good times! I biked home and slept away my Saturday night... I'll definitely be back next year... ________________________________ HUGS! And hugs! I got so many hugs from some of my favorite people! Beer makes people friendly or beer people are friendly. Either way, I likes. read more

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Went to the 2014 event this year and it was AWESOME. This is my favorite beer event in the South Bay. Highly recommend you go if you like craft beer! This year they formatted it differently from a pricing perspective ($8 entrance fee + $1/ticket) which I liked since overall it was cheaper than previous fixed prices. read more

First off, I didn't pay entrance fee since I was guestlisted but did pay $20 for 22 tickets. 2 tickets were for tasters and 4~5 for a full cup depending on the brewer. But I never did end up getting a full cup since the taster was about or more than half the cup anyways so the 22 tickets, even shared between my friend and I, was enough. It was my first time going to this Beer Fest and it was a blast! There were so many beers to try and pleasant people all around. The garlic fries and sandwiches were so good (although the fries people gave so little :( ). The art station was a lot of fun and relaxing~ The few things I REALLY think the festival set-up and management people should change for next year are: 1) MORE SHADE. I was burning from 10AM until I left... also got an awkward tan. 2) MORE FOOD. With so to drink, we need more food~ Tacos? 3) Better rinsing station. There were many times when people were just standing and waiting for people to bring water so that they could rinse their cups. 4) BREWERY TOURING. I'm not sure how to change this other than more tours and more often? At about 2PM I asked if there was a waitlist for the tours and they said the next tour was full and the next available would be at 4-somethingPM! Ugh. read more

Thanks Yelp for the free admission tickets!! This event was great. Even if I had to pay the $8 dollar fee for entrance, it would have been worth it since you get to keep the glass. For only $2 per tasting, it was actually a great deal. My girlfriend and I both got 3 tastings each and it was more than enough for the day. We went midday and it wasn't crowded at all. No long waits for any of the beer lines. Although, certain beers did run out since it was later in the day, there was still a lot of choices to choose from. I would definitely come again next year. read more

Summer Kraftbrew Beer Fest - Festivals Near Me - San Jose, California

Trying to think of why this should be 4 stars instead of 5 and having a hard time. So 5 stars it is! Great selection of beer, reasonable entry price (that included a keepsake glass), nice selection of not-cheap-but-not-horifically-priced food, and a long enough duration that there were barely any lines between 12-3. Some fun music, too. $3/taste for American brews and often those tastes are generous pours. Overall, a good deal and a laid back atmosphere with a great chance to try a lot of cool beers (including some limited releases). My only beef is that the bathrooms were not easy to find and they could've used maybe one or two more. Oh, and maybe have the beer list posted a little bit more in advance. ::shrug:: Still, Kraftbrew is one of my favorite SJ events. It was quite enjoyable. ...and probably the only time I would've hung out on Post Street in SJ for more than 2 minutes. read more

The major plus of the SKBF was that we got to skip the entry line (probably a hundred people long) as guests of Yelp. Otherwise, I agree with other reviewers, as an early-days festival they need to work out some kinks. The area did seem a bit cramped for as many people as they had, and the different vendors would dispense very different amounts of beer for the same amount of tokens. One "full glass" was barely up to the letters! Also, while the food was pretty good, there should have been more of it/more variety for the amount of people. I'm sure as the years go by they will improve! read more

Zpass is the way to go to get in 1 hour early! This year was awesome! New venue- downtown on the street and it was a much better experience. I must say though, we did the Zpass and got in early, then tasted until about 3:30, went to San Pedro Square for substantial snacks and came back...and wow-ee! There were a lot of people there!! How did y'all get any beer? To reiterate: the key is to get there early. Then find a good booth and ask for a "small little sipper taste" to make sure you like the beer, then fork over two tickets for a taster portion. iF you get there early enough you will get a nicer pour with the taster, possibly closer to a full pour :) Enjoy Belgian, German, American and many, many, many craft beers!!! read more

I really went back and forth between 3-4 stars on this review. Ideally, I would give this event a 3.5 stars and here is why! The absolute BEST 5-star beer fest I've attended was at North Star up in Tahoe. The best way - one flat fee - unlimited tastings - generous pours - great food for sale - and plenty of shade! Here is why this one fell short. It was unbearably hot, especially with the black concrete. The event took place behind the Gordon Biersch brewery and that green island effect was in FULL EFFECT. There were not enough umbrellas to provide shade for the crowd. One of the improvements for next year should be a MAJOR upgrade to the event webpage and Facebook page. The website essentially had no useful information! And if you did find the answer to your question it was after many many minutes of navigating around. The rinse stations for beer glasses ran out half way through the event. I would advocate for rinse stations at each brewery tasting table. I hate trying a new beer out of a dirty glass - a must for a good brew fest! Another thing is that I do not like the ticketing system used for the tastings. It forced you to pick and choose of the beers and sometimes you just didn't want to stand in line so you went to one with no line. The thing with unlimited tastings is that the lines are then equalized. I also wish there were more food offerings. Although I LOVED the watermelon and pickles. So because of being held to such high standards for a beer fest, my rating is explained. But here are the things I did like! The line never got too long even for entry. It was $8 in advance, $10 at the door and $1 for tasting tickets. They had a $20 for 22 ticket deal. Tastings for 2 tickets and full pours were 5. Tastings were also pretty generous, kudos! We didn't have to wait long at will call for our Yelp tickets (THANKS YELP!!) And from what I saw, it never got too long, even our friends that met up with us an hour after we got there, just walked right in and bought their admission. I liked the beer panel and bands although I didn't really pay attention to them. I definitely stopped to paint on the communal canvas and write on the diversity couch, I'm into those kind of things (nice touch!). They had a pretty good selection of beer. It was a well attended event and for the most part, I would say a successful beer fest. I probably would attend again. Still an advocate for one flat cost and unlimited tastings though! Parking wasn't too bad either, if you're comfortable with street parking. read more

Overall, this is a fun outdoor beer festival, the biggest and most organized of its kind in the South Bay. This is the second Kraftbrew festival I've been to, the other being the Winterfest. This event definitely benefited from being outside instead of in the Women's Club. It expanded a lot and made it much easier to get samples or full pours of beer. The selection was much better than the Winter version, mainly because of the "Launch Booth", where they had rare beers pouring every hour. The food was good from what I could see, but I did not have any. The music was good and not too intrusive since the stage was in its own section away from the booths. It was a bit pricey, which one should expect from an event such as this. The biggest problem I had with the event was the Z Pass, which was $50 for 25 tickests and you could skip the line at the "Launch Booth". This was a rip off, since the tickets were $1 each and the booth didn't have that long of a line whenever I wanted to get something. The beers were varied and I really liked the fact that they had certain local establishments pouring and sponsoring different booths. The selection could have been more local, though, as many local breweries were either under represented or not represented at all. That said, I really liked the Belgian selection, though I didn't like the extra dollar needed to try them. Another small gripe would be parking. We parked at a nearby lot, but they don't validate which would have helped. Next time I'm taking the light rail. I'm confident that they will make improvements next year as they did from the last festival. Hopefully they make up for these shortcomings and I'll give it 5 stars. read more

This review is from the POV of a volunteer and an attendee. I volunteered for the first shift, and then perused the booths afterwards probably from 2-4 pm. The reason that this is not a 5 star event is that their food options are somewhat limited. Naglee park garage served food, as well as a food truck just outside the venue. It is however a non-profit event. As a volunteer they do not allow any drinking in the booth. Since I was the first shift, the brewery did go through a quick tasting with us, but I'm sure later volunteers did not get any schooling on the types of beers that they were pouring. It's pretty hard to offer recommendations when you have no idea what the beers taste like. I will be going back, since it is a convenient fun event. There definitely is room for improvement, however. Mostly in the organization part of it, from behind the scenes. read more

Lame! They completely ran out of beer and food an hour and a half before it was supposed to end. Patrons had to purchase non refundable tickets for beer so we were stuck. If you're gonna use a ticket system then you shouldn't run out of beer. We won't be going back. read more