I have to say my timing over the weekend was spot on.
I picked up the last beer I needed at last orders with my last token
at Borefts and at Kaapse. And I didn’t miss a single beer through it having run out before I got to it.
So massive hats off to Menno & John for making sure there was enough beer to last the distance despite the increase in numbers attending. Unlike some other (ticketed) festivals I can think of. |
My thoughts on my 6th Borefts festival.
I’ll start with laying my cards on the table, I think this is the best beer festival in Europe.
Can’t talk about others I haven’t been to, but for me this has been and remains the best.
There are 4 main things that make it so and were particularly highlighted this year.
1. The organisation - it seems so effortless, but it’s just so well run. The volunteers are fantastic, and special thanks have to go this year to Edo for getting us taxis on both evenings. There is clearly a whole load of work that goes on before, during and after the festival that makes actually attending the thing so simple and such a pleasure. That requires planning, skill and dedication
2. The place - ok so it takes me 6 trains and 6 hours to get to Bodegraven, but that is also a sense of achievement. It makes it feel like I’ve made an effort to get there and yet it doesn’t feel that far away. I love the fact that Bodegraven seems to have just 1 hotel, 1 ATM, 1 supermarket and 3 taxis (the one with iron bars on the back doors to keep me, Ken and Colin in seemed particularly apt).
I love the windmill, the view of the flat fields and the cows that produce such wonderful milk that is turned into such exquisite cheese. Queuing at the drive thru mcdonalds by The Tulip Hotel as a
pedestrian is also hilariously funny.
3. The beer - without this, I wouldn’t come. The choice of breweries, the quality of the beers. I can hand on heart say that I didn’t have a bad beer all weekend from the breweries at the festival. From the IPAs from Evil Twin, to the Kaggen Raspberry from Narke as my first beer, to the amazing imperial stouts from De Molen, to the wonderful Italian beers, the lovely British beers on offer and then for me the tops, to have Tilquin and Cantillon. Palate a bit bored? Have a Fou’foune. Forgotten why you love beer? Have a Tilquin Squared.
4. The people - just everyone who is everyone is there. The familiar UK gang, the homeland Dutch, the Belgians, the Americans, the Scandanavians, the Germans, the Israeli, the new, the old, the people I have forgotten, the vaguely familiar, the people who you say hello to cos you’ve seen them at so many festivals and yet have no idea who they are. And they are just all so nice. The tasting in Colin and mine’s hotel room til 3.30 in the morning was amazing, as was trying to walk in a straight line to breakfast just 6 hours later.
And then there is the planning of my Sunday return. It started as having a couple of beers on the train that I happened to pick up at the De Molen shop. Now, it’s a treat. Saturday I’ll get some
of my favourite De Molen imperial stouts (no rates, just fun), Sunday morning up bright and early and catch the trains to Rotterdam and Roosendaal which is where the drinking day starts. A couple of impy stouts (coffee one first of course) to wake you up before hitting Brussels by midday. Then various bars (always some Girardin Kriekenlambic) before getting a couple of Trappist bottles at the Carrefour Extra in the Midi station, a quick sip of Stella in the Eurostar lounge and then the train back to Ashford with the last of the De Molen stouts and a Westmalle Dubbel.
It’s like my birthday, Christmas and New Year all in one 3 day weekend. |
Originally posted by chriso
Originally posted by madmitch76
I do wonder how much longer it can go un-ticketed on Saturdays, especially as the number of people is steadily up, year on year.
Advance ticketing brings its own problems. An unseemly rush to get tickets as soon as they go on sale, the risk of missing out, purchases by people who have no way of knowing far in advance whether they will actually be able to attend and the inevitable secondary market that develops - partly due to those people and partly to out and out scalpers.
I think advance ticketing would change the nature of the festival for the worse but I agree it may be unavoidable.
The Kaapse venue on Sunday was great by the way and, if they could use the whole place plus the dockside around, would be far bigger than the De Molen site.
Um, as usual, Chris has said what I wanted to say in much more clear and precise terms. I agree with everything he says above. I don’t want advance ticketing, I didn’t think it was too busy, I like the ebb and flow as the locals come and go, I would prefer moving to a bigger site rather than tickets.
I’d also point out that the largest of the crowds were mid Saturday afternoon for perhaps 2-3 hours and certainly not all over the 2 days. Which meant waiting at some bars for 90 seconds to get served, at some just walking up and getting a beer.
Moving around the festival was a little slower, but then that’s what
happens when you get a successful festival. Dover BF in February has lost a lot of atmosphere since it started restricting the numbers. It may be good for ticking beers, but not all beer festivals are made for Ratebeerians. If De Molen ends up like some of the stories I’ve heard about Copenhagen this year, I would really consider whether I want to attend such an event. Not everyone wants to get every single beer in as short a time as possible. For those who do, I suggest calming down a bit. It won’t hurt you. |
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I have -half joking half serious- suggested they should make it a 3 day festival where the Friday is RB only and Saturday and Sunday is open to everyone ;)
That said, Friday was not the "problem" so I guess it won’t really work after all. |
Err no! Moving around the festival on Saturday.afternoon was much too like a problem on the Northern Line underground.at Rush hour. If you are happy to edge and squeeze past loads of people to queue 6 deep.at a bar - well I admire your patience.
Yep this is a far better and well run fest than CBC (and possibly a lot less commercial) and if you plan properly, ie do 90% of your ticks on Friday. Then all is well.
My point is Saturday.afternoon is a bit much now, it’s not the relaxed thing it was back in Borefts 2 and 3 and too some extent 4.
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Originally posted by madmitch76
Err no! Moving around the festival on Saturday.afternoon was much too like a problem on the Northern Line underground.at Rush hour. If you are happy to edge and squeeze past loads of people to queue 6 deep.at a bar - well I admire your patience.
Perhaps I was too drunk to realise how terrible it was after downing the 2 eisbocks in single shots. But I can’t say the number of people adversely affected my enjoyment of the festival.
I seem to remember that you could get to the Rocket bar opposite our table without squeezing past the 900,000 people who use the Northern Line every day (I looked the number up on Google so it must be true) and not queue to get a beer. OK, so maybe it wasn’t the beer you wanted, but you could get a beer without pushing through crowds and not queuing. That is not the picture you are putting across. Yes busy, but not impossible. |
We only ever go on the Friday so I guess miss out on the very busy Saturday afternoon session, that said I was surprised at the length of the queue when we turned up on Friday. I hope it remains the same, I like the way its organised and set up, but I guess it could become a victim of its own success. |
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The Eisbocks ’down in one’ were as impressive as they were (perhaps) unwise! However please don’t let this long tradition of enthusiastic quaffing of super high abv beers (remember Messy?) die out! Always impressive and always very memorable!
Yes - perhaps a few stands were as accesible as you describe on a Saturday afternoon, but frankly if you were only waiting 90 seconds to access De Molen, Narke, Evil Twin, Mont Saleve, Magic Rock and many others then I can only assume you were parachuting in with a large pink banner marked ’priority’ attached somewhere secure! And this alleged 90 seconds, does not include the not inconsiderable amount of time to reach the bars not adjacent to our hard won and jealously guarded seats.
It was too busy Saturday afternoon. Simple as! The fact that we still had a great time was despite this fact, not because of.
I love Borefts, totally agree the best fest in Europe and Mikkeller really should have a long hard look for CBC. I just hope it’s perceived status stays that way and does not collapse under it’s own success and weight.
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Originally posted by harrisoni
Originally posted by madmitch76
Err no! Moving around the festival on Saturday.afternoon was much too like a problem on the Northern Line underground.at Rush hour. If you are happy to edge and squeeze past loads of people to queue 6 deep.at a bar - well I admire your patience.
Perhaps I was too drunk to realise how terrible it was after downing the 2 eisbocks in single shots. But I can’t say the number of people adversely affected my enjoyment of the festival.
I seem to remember that you could get to the Rocket bar opposite our table without squeezing past the 900,000 people who use the Northern Line every day (I looked the number up on Google so it must be true) and not queue to get a beer. OK, so maybe it wasn’t the beer you wanted, but you could get a beer without pushing through crowds and not queuing. That is not the picture you are putting across. Yes busy, but not impossible.
That’s the way I remember it too Ian. I don’t recall ever having a problem getting a beer I wanted without too much of a wait. And, as I said earlier, I managed to clean up at the festival without too much difficulty. And I’d say nearly half of my ticks were on the Saturday. It was actually pretty easy late on Saturday when many had left. |
Didn’t say impossible, just unpleasantly difficult. Also said afternoon and not evening. Must have missed out on the Rose Tinted Spectacles beer, perhaps next time. |
