Brew At The Zoo

I’m so sorry to see that others had a bad time at Brew at the Zoo! Full disclosure, this was my first year attending, and I was working for a distributer, so my experience was probably a lot different from those that purchased general admission tickets or VIP passes. That being said, I had such a great time at this event, and I already want to attend again next year!
I arrived at the event early for set up, so I got there at 3:00 p.m. VIP entrance opened at 4:00 p.m. and general admission opened at 5:00 p.m. — I wasn’t outside at any point, so I can’t offer an opinion on the entrance process. Looking at other reviews it appears many people had to wait a prolonged period of time to get into the event. That definitely seems like an issue. In my opinion tickets to this event are a bit pricey, so easy/​quick entrance seems like a given. Hopefully Brew at the Zoo staff will be able to fix the entrance issues next year!
I worked in the wine tent, and during the VIP hour we didn’t have many people approach our table. It seemed there weren’t many VIP’s in the zoo at all, but I know those tickets sold out, so I’m not sure where all of those people were. My supervisor let me walk around during this time, because we were so slow, so I got to try several different beers and walk through the food tent and get some delicious bites. I also took that opportunity to do a quick walk through the zoo/​tasting path, so that I could see the entire event. Towards the end of my walk things were definitely starting to pick up and lines at the beer tables were getting longer, so I headed back to my post.
I stayed in the wine tent most of the night, and things definitely got busy! But, no one in our line ever had to wait more than 10 minutes maximum, and I would say most people waited much less time than that. We ran out of wine around 7:30 p.m. We had previously been told the event actually ended at 9:00, but at that point we had no more product, so we had to pack up.
As I was leaving I did another quick walk through the lawn and lines were so long I didn’t even attempt to get another beer. Some lines appeared to have 50+ people in them, so I headed out.
As I said, my experience was much different than those that bought tickets to attend, but I loved the event. It’s so cool to get to walk through the zoo while enjoying some tasty food and drinks. I definitely want to go back next year!

I had a blast at this event! I had never been before, so I had no expectations, maybe that is why the lines didn’t bother me as much as others.
We arrived a little after five and the line to get in was moving crazy fast. We didn’t have our wristbands yet and it took like 2 seconds for a Zoo volunteer to give them to us.
The lines for beer were already long, so we skipped the first few, but decided to stay in one eventually. We then line hopped for a bit. Get a beer, go to the next line. It seemed from other reviews that others didn’t care for this, I just assumed that’s how it worked. We made friends with our line buddies and had nice conversation with each other.
When it got too crowded to move, we set off to find where their wasn’t a swarm of people. We found a little pocket of beer by the snakes, hit all of those then headed to the Oasis area. There was a good hour in the Oasis tent that wasn’t horribly crowded. We got lots of beer and some food, too.
This review turned into a play-​by-​play, but I want others to know for next year what to hit first on the map. Definitely don’t come before 5. Seems like that’s what got everyone peeved from the start.
We decided for next year we will go Oasis tent, make the rounds though the zoo before they close, then go back to the tent. ‘Strategery.’ –Will Ferrell
Oh, and the beer was great.

While this event has always been fun in the past, this year the zoo got greedy and sold tickets that far exceeded the resources they had available. People were left waiting to get in long after the start of the event only to find that vendors were running out of beer and food before they ever got in. Lines were extremely long taking 30 minutes or longer to try a 1 – 2 ounce sample often running out while I was waiting in line. I managed to try about 12 ounces or less worth of beer samples and 3 very small food samples over the 3hours I attended with all that time being spent standing in lines. I actually brought friends and was quite embarrassed after recommending this. If I hadn’t paid for the tickets, $ 55 plus fees a piece, I would have felt obligated to refund their money. Many paid twice that to get entry an hour earlier but had just as bad of an experience. Obviously the Louisville Zoo doesn’t feel the same conviction. They haven’t even offered an apology for their very poor planning. Will never attend again!

From what I hear, it was quite different this year than in the past. The gates opened at 5 for brew at the zoo ticket holders. Half the breweries were set up throughout the zoo. The other half were set up in the back of the zoo in a common area. The stations set up in the zoo closed at 7. The ones in the common area closed at 9. The line to get in the zoo literally wrapped around the zoo parking lot. It was over a half mile long, but not a mile long. By the time we got in the zoo it was already 5:35. The lines at the stations in the zoo were already extremely long. We had time for 3 3oz beers before those stations closed down. Between waiting for in line for beer, we were scouting for food stations that had equally long lines and were running out of food continuously. We hurried to the common area where the other brewery stations stayed open until 9. We beat most of the traffic so had a few shorter lines. The basic idea of the night was to stand in line while you drank your beer only to get a refill and go stand in the next line. Lines for a 3oz pour were approximately 20 minutes or so. If half of the brewery stations didnt close down by 7, then the lines would not have been so long and the experience would be much more enjoyable. We were able to get maybe 8 3oz pours or about 24 oz of beer. The tickets were $ 55. It worked out to about $ 27.50 for a 12oz beer. The beer was great and everyone was enjoyable. The concert was entertaining as well. Tailspin Alefest and Louisville Brewfest did not have the same sort of lines and were a better overall experience.