Hunapocalypse 2014

, Hunapocalypse 2014

As many of us who work in the craft beer industry know, beer festivals seldom come off without a hitch. No matter how well planned, something can always go wrong. Event planners often over-sell tickets and under-order beer. Unfortunately it’s the understaffed and over-worked brewery employees and volunteers that generally get the brunt of an angry mob when something goes wrong, as was the case last Saturday at one of Florida’s most popular and important craft beer events. What happened at the 2014 Hunahpu’s Day was about as bad as it gets – but no one could have foreseen the rampant duplication of tickets – and no one feels more badly about it than Cigar City‘s Joey Redner.

, Hunapocalypse 2014I had a feeling something might be amiss a few days before the event. There were people posting their Eventbrite tickets with captions like: “Hey! Whoever prints this and gets in first wins!” I thought of all the poor schlubs so desperate to print out that ticket with hopes of getting in, but thought their chances were slim at best and that they would most likely be turned away.

Here’s what we do know. Tickets were sold through Eventbrite in 3 categories: El Catador members (a Cigar City membership), in-person customers, and those who purchased their tickets online. Unfortunately, selling the tickets in this way created the need to treat each ticket category as a separate event, causing three lines to form at the gate. And each Eventbrite ticket had to be scanned through the app on 3 separate phones, adding delay to confusion.

A nightmare…right? It gets worse.

“We had no idea how fast the Eventbrite app would chew up the battery life,” said CCB Owner Joey Redner. Early on, the ability to scan people’s tickets died along with the phones and the CCB staff really had no choice but to let everyone in. “We just couldn’t turn them away,” said Joey. “People were near tears and adamant that their ticket was legit. How can you just turn them away?”  

So how rampant was the ticket duplication? Evidently pretty damn rampant.

, Hunapocalypse 2014“We purchased 6,000 glasses, figuring that there would be people wanting to purchase extras and just general breakage. We have 288 left,” said Joey. “It breaks my heart because I thought we got it right this year. I’m just literally sick over it.”

The extra 2,000 or so “guests” depleted the Hunahpu bottle supply very quickly, leaving a lot of attendees empty handed. When the Hunahpu was gone and the hangar doors closed, all bets were off and things got pretty hairy. Luckily the police on hand dispersed the crowd with no incident of note, with the exception of some very shaken brewery employees.

Within hours of the event, Cigar City took to Facebook and Twitter to offer their mea culpas:

So, today did not go as expected. We realize that there were a lot of issues with duplicate tickets, way too long waits in lines, and all of that. We can promise 100% that we are going to make it right, whether it be refund, or whether we brew a batch of beer that we will bottle and make completely free to all attendees that had issues today. We’re completely sorry for all issues that happened today. It really sucked. We completely understand how much it sucked and hate how much it sucked. We don’t want it to suck ever again. We will do what we can to make it right. As we figure out how to make up for the nightmare that happened today, we’d line (sic) to start with this mea culpa: all draft beer in the tasting room tomorrow will be FREE. We will not charge a dime for any beers served in the tasting room tomorrow. We are going to try and tap all of the remaining kegs leftover from today, too.

, Hunapocalypse 2014Cigar City poured an estimated $9,000 worth of beer on Sunday. And if that wasn’t enough, Cigar City is also refunding everyone who purchased through Eventbrite – to the tune of $175,000.

“There’s a level of ugliness that is new to the craft beer industry surrounding limited releases,” said Joey. “When people are looking at craft beer as a commodity, not as a personal purchase, they are often willing to do anything.” Considering the bottles of Hunahpu on websites such as Reddit and Craigslist going for up to $250 a pop today, I have to agree with Joey. Therefore, MY refunded money is going to be spent right back at Cigar City.

So, for now, all we can say is RIP to Hunahpu Day… The beer will be going straight into distribution in 2015. In spite of the crowds, my experience was great. I got to enjoy some great beers and spent the day with amazing friends.

I can only hope that one day, there will be another Hunahpu’s Day. It’s the pinnacle and a fitting ending to Tampa Bay Beer Week – and with a bit of ticketing, tweaking, and maybe a larger location in which to enjoy the legendary Hunahpu (as well as the 200+ great beers that were showcased) – this event can return in all its glory and be exactly what it deserves to be….A festival fit for Hun Hunahpu himself.

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