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Boonville Beer Fest
Category: Food Beer, Wine & Spirits Beer, Wine & Spirits [Edit]
Mendocino County Fairgrounds14400 Hwy 128
Boonville, CA 95415
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- No
- Parking:
- Street
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
14 reviews for Boonville Beer Fest
14 reviews in English
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Review from Dave N.
Fremont, CA
Updated - 5/18/2012
Great! There were beers that I had never seen out of their native habitat (Dunsmuir, Dempsey's--both excellent), brews on the shelf at Safeway and BevMo and everything in between. What a nice way to spend the day.
I was pretty critical of the camping situation last year, and since my wife, who dislikes camping anyway, wanted to go this year, we stayed at the Boonville Hotel. I have no idea whether the portapotty situation improved, but I also heard no complaints.
See you next year!1 Previous Review: Show all »
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5/18/2011
This brew fest is among the best. The nanos, micros and grocery store breweries all represent the… Read more »
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Review from Sarah H.
Palo Alto, CA
5/15/2012
Had no idea what I was in for! Great event with a huge selection of beers. Looking forward to next year!
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Review from Erin S.
Santa Rosa, CA
5/16/2011
Pretty epic beer festival. You just can't beat the number of amazing breweries all in one place for four hours. Also with so many of them being nanobreweries, this really is the only place you can find them.
Yes, it gets busier every year, but that is just events. I was very impressed with how organized they were with check-in, bathrooms, and space. Other festivals please take a clue and ID while waiting in line for an hour instead of at the gate. It really helps the flow.
Beer didn't run out until the end, impressive. Only thing to improve is they should have dump buckets somewhere. Try to promote safe drinking, instead of throwing it on the ground. But, hey....you can camp.Listed in: IPA Journeys
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Review from Sean B.
5/19/2011
The good:
1. The beer. I had about 8 different ones, all of which were excellent.
2. The crowd. Pretty chill and fun. Good, positive vibe.
The not so good:
The food options. Prices were a bit high, but that was expected. Food quality was disappointing.
Overall it is a fun festival. I would recommend going if you live in NorCal. -
Review from Liaty Z.
5/10/2010
Prices jumped this year to $12/day for camping and $40 for the festival. They ran out of beer at least an hour before the festival ended and the Lion's Club upped the price of the tri-tip sandwich because they could. The glasses were made out of plastic, which screwed up the tasting experience for sure. The beer selection was great, but not special.
Last year, it rained and the camping grounds were barely acceptable but they were at least all right. This year, the campground bathrooms were flat out disgusting and someone managed to grab the toilet seat from one of the women's stalls. They also shut down many of the more decent bathrooms during the actual festival, which made it difficult for me to get water.
Also, the first night of camping was a loud and obnoxious frat party that I was never invited to. Getting woken up at 7am to hear someone's boom box does not sound like my idea of a great weekend.
It's too bad that they couldn't maintain an awesome event for craft beers. -
Review from miranda b.
San Francisco, CA
1/31/2011
"I was not one who participated in the camping as sleeping with a bunch of retarded drunks for 2 nights with absolutely no privacy or sound control was not my idea of fun. Thankfully I had a hotel room at the Boonville Hotel."
Sorry Creamy A, but you just don't seem to get it. The purpose of the Boonville Beer Fest is not to accommodate yuppies from San Francisco. Sound control? When have you ever had sound control while camping at a festival? Have you been to a festival besides this one? Please don't ever come to my hometown again. You're not welcome.
The Boonville Beer Festival is amazing. It's the perfect place to get away for a weekend and enjoy the simple things in life: fresh air, camping, bbq, live bands and of course, BAHL HORNIN'. If you don't know what that is, it's Boontling for "good drinkin.'" As someone who moved to San Francisco from Boonville 6 years ago, I find myself getting extremely excited about going back every year. Every single outsider who I have brought there falls in love with the tradition. It's not for the faint of heart, but who wants that kind of person at a Beer Festival anyways? The price is well worth it for 4 hours of unlimited access to the taps and camping in one of the most beautiful places in Northern California. -
Review from Creamy A.
San Francisco, CA
5/12/2010
2010 was my first year for this festival and to be honest, it will be my last.
$40 beforehand for tix and $50 at the door, so get your tix ahead of time. A few thousand dumb asses waiting in a long line to get inside 30 minutes prior to the gates opening. PLASTIC tasting glasses that you had to smash and push your way into people just to get. A cheap ass necklace that didn't hold a thing. And about 86 breweries that are all squished together underneath tents so you have to fight your way inside just to get a tasting.
I was not one who participated in the camping as sleeping with a bunch of retarded drunks for 2 nights with absolutely no privacy or sound control was not my idea of fun. Thankfully I had a hotel room at the Boonville Hotel that we found Friday night and was able to stay one night only, so we came up on Saturday morning. The campgrounds bathrooms I heard from others were pretty disgusting by the first night.
For some reason people drink prior to the festival so they end up hammered and annoying half way through. I thought one guy might have been mentally handicapped but after I saw him a second time, he was just drunk out of his mind.
Overall, this festival has gotten out of control and is just insane. By 4pm I was pretty happy, but also spilled on, stepped on, pushed and elbowed, and even witnessed some big dude break the plastic glass on the head of a girl half of his size.
Been there...done that! Boonville is a really cute town though and I really hope people stop littering all over their street and clean up after themselves. -
Review from Greg G.
Campbell, CA
5/26/2011
I'm echoing several of the comments below.
- The festival itself was wonderful. Great beer, great people, great location, wonderful variety of brews.
- The food was so-so. A couple of the vendors had good/interesting offerings. Most were typical carnival food -- expensive and greasy.
- The camping was pretty . . . rustic. The port-a-potty situation Saturday night was horrific. When you see two young ladies sobbing in front of a port-a-potty because they're just too disgusting to use, but they really have to go . . . well, it makes me question if the facility really cares about the campers. -
Review from chris b.
San Francisco, CA
5/11/2010
Alright folks here it is. THis is a BEERFEST, loud and crazy!...bring earplugs, water and TP....its a damn shame people didnt come prepared. I and my crew of 18 had a great time. Ohhhh! and it will be louder next year!
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Review from Andy S.
San Francisco, CA
5/13/2010
Best Festival Ever. Amazing roster of breweries, great setup, impressive food and a really, really good crowd of people out to have a good time without causing any trouble. All set in one of the most beautiful wooded areas of NorCal, I can't wait for next year.
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Review from Cassie L.
Arcata, CA
7/12/2006
Boonville Beer Fest is far better than the San Francisco Beer Festival, in part because the entrance fee for last year (2006) was $25, in comparison to San Francisco Beer Fest which was $50. The Boonville Beer Fest is outside, and while the food is not free you do get these nifty little glasses to sample the beers with.. Camping afterward on the Mendocino County Fairgrounds is definitely a must, but I swear what makes this festival is not only the beer but the people rock!
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Review from Melanee O.
Auburn, CA
1/28/2010
My husband and I have been making this beerfest an annual weekend getaway for a few years now, and we wouldn't miss it for anything!
We do the obligatory night before/after camp-out in the fairgrounds next door. It's half the fun!
Beerfest itself is a blast as well. I can't wrap my head around how many breweries show up! This isn't your normal "10 tastes" beerfest either- you get the full 3 (4?) hours to drink, drink, drink from your tasting glass. I really love being able to taste so many new beers without committing to a full six pack. Since I am a picky beer drinker I really appreciate being able to sample to my heart's content so that I know later on what I want to commit a six pack to.
Afterwards there is basically a party at the campground. People playing baseball, frisbee, campfires, wandering and meeting other people. It's a blast :) -
Review from Jacki W.
Napa, CA
5/10/2010
We have made a weekend out of this for the past two years and it's AWESOME! Great beers, awesome people and good times!
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Review from Margaret p.
San Jose, CA
8/7/2008
I have been making the annual trip to the boonville beer festival for 5 years now, and each year, it gets a little.... worse. That's right. it gets worse. However it used to be really something special Therefore I am basing this review on the early years. First of all, when we first starting coming on friday nights, it was a ghost town. We got our pick of campsites, and it would be really chill the first night. On Saturday, the crowd would pick up a little, but there was still way more beer than we could ever finish, and I would get to try everything, pick up plenty of free swag..etc...for one low entrance price of $25 + $7 a night to camp. That is all the beer you can drink (yep. no tasting tickets. all you can handle...or not as the case may be) and a place to crawl back to so you can pass out. As the years passed, the prices jumped ($10 per night + $35 in advance, $50 at the gate...still good in the long run for all you can drink), so did the # of attendees. This meant less space to camp, less beer to drink, and more drunk assholes running around. It used to be fun and good feelings. Now there are too many frat boy types from the yay area running around...meh....and as I said, worst of all, less beer!!! The brews now run dry long before the 6 pm tap shut off time...booooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's still awesome, and I continue to attend in the hopes of it returning to it's once former glory....I really think they should cap the number of attendees @ 2,000. Good for me, I always buy my tickets way in advance...too bad for last minute laggers!
