Chocolate & Beer Festival

The beer is expensive and the bands are meh. You can’t take beer outside even though that’s the best area to hang out.

Come earlier; by 3 o’clock, many of the beer companies were out. Find the booths that let you sample all flavors of chocolate for a token. Don’t forget to play beer pong!

My friend and I got a Livingsocial deal for this and checked it out last weekend. We had a really fun time!
My first recommendation is to keep your eyes out for a deal on Livingsocial or another site like that. For $ 29, our deal came with:
–Admission
–VIP Parking
–Commemorative Glass and Poster
–Two Full-​Size Beers
–Two Chocolate Samples
I think having a glass was especially helpful since it was about 4 ounces bigger than the plastic cups people got if they didn’t purchase the deal. More room = bigger pours!
The event started at noon and we got there at 1pm. At that time it was still pretty empty — we were able to easily browse through the stalls and find a place to sit and eat. After a couple of hours the place filled up and it was harder to find seats, so get here early if you want a little extra room to walk around!
The venue was really nice as well — right near the water and ton of windows everywhere — you could see sailboats gliding by as you sipped your beer.
The amount of chocolate vendors they had was fantastic! I even spotted Theo Chocolate from Seattle — my favorite! I definitely would have liked to see more beer vendors though — I think there were about 6 in total. I also would have liked it if more of the beer vendors offered small tastes. I ended up just asking if I could try a couple before making a decision on what I wanted a full glass of, but I think just openly offering samples would have been really nice.
Overall, the Chocolate & Beer festival was a great way to spend the day and I’d recommend checking it out next year!
Pros:
— Stunning location — right on the water!
— Tons of chocolate vendors
— Nice, open space. If you get there early, you’ll have plenty of space to walk around and find a table to eat lunch.
Cons:
— Does get a little crowded later in the day
— Few beer vendors — would have liked to see more. I did taste a nice stout from Drakes that was pretty delicious though :)
— Would have liked to see more food options. There was one vendor selling ribs and chili which was great but people would have bought more food if there had been more options!

Fun and informative! The vendors are always available to answer questions! Come early though because by 3 o’clock majority of the beer vendors were packed up and done! Such a waste! But the chocolate vendors stayed til the end! My fave was Claires Squares!
Lots of seating! Play beer pong, listen to music, participate in contests! There’s lots to do! Even face painting!

This was a pricey event. Luckily, we got our tickets for super cheap from living social ($ 9 for VIP!) so the price wasn’t too bad, but I feel sorry for the people who had to pay full price. The admission was $ 15 – 25 and didn’t include any beer or chocolate tasting. They had a VIP package for $ 60 that included admission, a beer glass, 2 chocolate samples, 2 beer samples, parking and a poster. Additional beer samples were $ 6 and chocalate samples were $ 2 – 4. I think the beer glass was $ 10 if you didn’t get the package. They filled the glasses (16oz) up if you had them or else you’d get beer in a plastic cup (12oz). There was an area set up for beer pong, a staging area for music and a bunch of benches in the middle.
There was double the amount of chocolate vendors to beer vendors. The stand outs were tea infused chocolate, chocolate covered brittle, and quinoa bonbons. My favorite beer was a locally brewed Indian beer that’s only served in Thai and Indian restaurants. I wish i could have bought a 6 pack of that! Sadly the only chocolate stout there was just meh.
I liked that there was a lot of space and no ridiculously long lines. Apparently the event was a clusterf**k last year. Overall It was fun and a great way to try out some local breweries and chocolatiers. I would go again next year, but definitely not at full price.

First things first, the event started at 12:00 and I didn’t arrive until 4:00. The experience of those who arrived earlier probably had a different experience but don’t have an event from 12 – 6:00 you can’t support the same experience over that length of time.
I came for the beer and by the time I got there, there wasn’t much selection. Drakes was there but they had run out of a few of their choices. My friend got a beer from a microbrew (I can’t rememebr which one) which was ok but a taste was all I needed. Trumer Pils were there and were really friendly and the beer was great. And that was the selection.
There’s more selection at your average bar and you don’t have to pay $ 15 (or $ 25 at the door) to drink at your local bar. Oh, and the beers were $ 6 each. It didn’t say that on the website.
There was a nice selection of chocolate and people in my party enjoyed that aspect of the festival very much. Tastings were $ 2 each. This was also not listed on the website.
The Craneway is always awesome and we had a good time speaking with other beer lovers.
I’m glad I went but I did feel a bit cheated with with the limited selection and the hidden costs.
With the knowledge of the extra costs, I still would have gone.
Just don’t hide them. It pisses people off.

**I bumped it up to 3 stars because it is during SF Beer Week, where most vendors were super busy elsewhere, and it would be tough to get a better beer lineup.
It was ok. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great. This was my first time coming to this event, but I’ve been to a lot of different events and seen both the best and worst they can do.
At $ 25 at the door, plus another $ 10 for parking if you drove, AND pricey drink/​food tasting tickets on top of it, they asked a lot right through the gate. Then, once inside, there really wasn’t a lot to it.
I counted a total of maybe six breweries present. If the point was for them to be all local, it’s forgivable, but at least one was from as far as Portland. If you’re going to have a big, day-​long event even half dedicated to beer, that seems a lackluster showing. The star of the day for me was the Trumer Pils — it was hot in that event hall, and a good pilsner really hit the spot.
The chocolate, on the other hand, was well represented and had a solid group of vendors. I had some truly delicious chocolates to go with my beer!
There were definitely positive notes. The event was well staffed, well informed employees, good signage and directions — all good. They had seating/​eating tables, and they even had setups for guests to play beer pong (which personally I thought was a fun touch). There was a good crowd, enough people to make use of the space without being too full or making the lines unreasonable. People were all friendly and seemed to be having a really good time. There was also live music going, a raffle, and a solid event announcer putting on a good show during the thing.
The location was also excellent. A bit off the beaten path, but overlooking a truly gorgeous day over the bay. There was a steady stream of sailboats going by the giant glass windows throughout the event, and there was a pier-​type outdoor area to catch some fresh air.
All in all, it was ok. It was fun, and I would go again — but I would hope for a much stronger showing from the brewery contingent, and hopefully a drop in the parking price, if not the rest.

I have to say that I just loved the location of this event! The Craneway Pavillion is breath-​taking! There is so much light, so much space… And, the boardwalk was just what everyone needed after tasting a few craft brews. With the sun beating down and the crisp air, it was so relaxing.
Although I do enjoy the Craneway Pavillion, it seemed to be such a grand space for the Chocolate & Beer Festival. I spoke with a few guests who actually pointed this out as something that pleased them, so it might just be my taste of small, intimate gatherings. There was so much space in between the beer and chocolate!!! And, there seemed to be quite a bit more chocolate booths than beer selections.
The Chocolate Nut brew was my top pick, for sure. Everyone was super friendly and social! I LOVED tasting the various brews and chocolates!
From the chocolate side of things, I enjoyed quite a few chocolates. First, I am always a fan of Galaxy! I tried their chocolate cups of fluffy mousse at La Soirée – just delightful! Landru had some fruit jellies AND chocolate! Clarine’s Florentines brought some snazziness with their sliced almond brittle on bittersweet chocolate, for sure. There were many others as well! The chocolate was such a nice sweetly loved snack, but it did leave me craving something more…
Since it was a beer and chocolate festival, I understand that there would only be beer and chocolate (plus, food and wine for sale). However, I felt people dropping off the taster map as they had a drink or two. Beer pong was fun! That was definitely the fun crowd.
I felt a bit of confusion surrounding the tokens and the tickets in my party and in the crowd. Some guests were under the impression that tastings were included in the price of the ticket, not that they would need to purchase extra tokens to taste. This could have been more clearly stated.
Overall, it was a very enjoyable day. The band was entertaining and fun, Chloe and Rob were easy to find and super informative! The sound was a bit difficult to hear in the back, but if you were hanging out near the stage, all the speakers were knowledgeable and interesting as well.

First time attendee.
Presenters very informative, friendly and accommodating to «newbies» to chocolate and brewing worlds.
Will attend next year.