The Big Grill Festival Festival

Dietsquirt

Was debating whether to put this in 'After Hours', anyway here we go.

Just saw this advertised on FB, I love craft beer and I love BBQs.

The price for the event is (incl fee) €16.65 per person on Saturday. There will be a some good restaurants and micro-breweries from around the country setting up stalls etc... They will be charging of course, if it's anything like Taste of Dublin it'll be €5 a pint and the plates/servings of food will be between €4-10 each.

I'm not a miser and I don't think i'm tight when it comes to spending money.

Does anyone else think that this is a rip-off?

€16.65 to pay to go and drink beer/food that is virtually the same price outside of the 'festival'.

In my opinion these events should be there to promote their products, particularly the micro-breweries. There are so many great Irish beers and this is a fantastic opportunity for the breweries to showcase them.

Would selling them for €3 a pint not be a better choice.

And don't get me started with the 'Smokin tokens' you have to buy first to use for buying food/drink.

I'd appreciate some of your opinions.


http://www.eventbrite.ie/e/the-big-grill-bbq-craft-beer-festival-tickets-11808358117

RasTa

Yeah it's a rip off, not going. Will be going to the craft-beer fest in the RDS instead.

Also no Big Green Egg means it's not a proper BBQ festival

The Mig

Bought a group ticket(6 adults) for the Saturday a few weeks ago and it's working out at €7.50 per head.

Beers and Ciders will be between 2.5-5 Smokins. Food between 4-10 tokens. Couple of food challenges, food demos, a good few DJ's playing and plenty of eating stalls.

Have to say I'm looking forward to it!

MonkstownHoop

I'm looking forward to it myself, bit of an over reaction here, won't be any more expensive than other beer/food festival

dudara

I've also seen in an email that Wine Online will have a stand there. Bought a weekend ticket a while ago on the Early Bird deal, looking forward to attending.

BeerNut

Dietsquirt wrote: »

I'd appreciate some of your opinions.

The things that you would like are not financially practical, for a variety of reasons. That's why they don't happen in real life. No brewery will be coming away from this or any similar event with money in their pocket.

oblivious

RasTa wrote: »

Also no Big Green Egg means it's not a proper BBQ festival

Have you see what some cook on in the US? it can be along way from a green egg but savage BBQ

Dietsquirt

The Mig wrote: »

Bought a group ticket(6 adults) for the Saturday a few weeks ago and it's working out at €7.50 per head.

Beers and Ciders will be between 2.5-5 Smokins. Food between 4-10 tokens. Couple of food challenges, food demos, a good few DJ's playing and plenty of eating stalls.

Have to say I'm looking forward to it!

If you got an adult ticket for the Saturday for €7.50 then that is very reasonable.

I think you're being very optimistic if you think there'll be pints/long necks of beer/cider on sale for as little as €2.50.

Dietsquirt

BeerNut wrote: »

The things that you would like are not financially practical, for a variety of reasons. That's why they don't happen in real life. No brewery will be coming away from this or any similar event with money in their pocket.

I'm well aware of that, a friend of mine runs a Garden Centre and breaks - even every time 'Bloom' is on.

I still can't see how a brewery from Kildare can't sell pints for €3, getting the name out there will certainly encourage people to buy their product the next time they're in Tesco.

I'm not denying that the event will be fun, it sounds great. I just primarily have an issue with the €16.65 cover charge

drumswan

Theres discounts with you Beoir membership.

Was going to wander around on the Sunday but dont think Ill bother at those prices tbh, there wont be a single beer there I havent already tried.

drumswan

Dietsquirt wrote: »

I still can't see how a brewery from Kildare can't sell pints for €3

Why would they sell beer for €3 when people will happily pay €5 for it? Breweries are running a business, not operating charitable co-ops.

BeerNut

Dietsquirt wrote: »

I still can't see how a brewery from Kildare can't sell pints for €3, getting the name out there will certainly encourage people to buy their product the next time they're in Tesco.

It's because the money they would lose on the event would not justify the potential rewards from added custom. They've done the maths. They have to.

Dietsquirt wrote: »

I just primarily have an issue with the €16.65 cover charge

That's just how much it costs. There are 51 other weekends available for anyone who wants to set up a cheaper barbecue festival in Herbert Park to undercut this one.

Toto Wolfcastle

Living Social has Sunday tickets for €10 at the moment and thediningroom.ie has Friday tickets for €7.50 and Sunday tickets for €10.

schemingbohemia

Pigsback also now have them for €7.50 for Friday and €10 for Sunday

symbolic

I've no idea on the costs on such an event, but I live beside it and they have been setting up the site since Tuesday.

Fencing. Tents. Toilets etc.

I booked my Friday ticket with the Beoir discount so it was very reasonable.

Hopefully they get some good weather and it all runs well for them.

blueshed

the Central Bar Navan are having a beer festival this Saturday, its €20 entry and you get 5 "samples" and bbq.

tempted to go but would hope the samples are half pints and not shot size.

Lainey_b01

Made plans to head meet mates ere but just found out Saturday is sold out! Boo

Creamy Goodness

blueshed wrote: »

the Central Bar Navan are having a beer festival this Saturday, its €20 entry and you get 5 "samples" and bbq.

tempted to go but would hope the samples are half pints and not shot size.

Since when have samples ever been half pints? Do the math.

Let's say a half pint is €2.50 I'm sure they're more expensive depending on the beer.

Samples 2.50 * 5 = 12.50
BBQ 10 * 1 = 10.00

That's 22.50 and the ticket price is 20. I've seen photos and the samples aren't shot glasses but they're the normal tasting glasses you get on paddles.

I think that's good value and also hoping the pub make a bit on that as they are operating a business and don't have to put on events like these.

JJ

Has anybody here been yet? What's it like? Is anybody offering growlers? I'm going on Sunday.

symbolic

JJ wrote: »

Has anybody here been yet? What's it like? Is anybody offering growlers? I'm going on Sunday.

I went it was grrrrrrand... Early Friday evening so wasn't crazy busy.

Had some Brown Paper Bag, the Trouble Brewing black IPA and the Saison. Enjoyed them. Watched some cooking demonstrations, had some hot dogs and diep.

Queues at certain foodstalls were getting quite long.. Imagine it could be annoying at capacity.

Bodytonic have a stage with some djs on.

Be interested to hear reports from sold out Saturday.

ckencleary

Does anyone have tickets they would be willing to sell for Saturday? We plan to go this evening, but it is already sold out.

Toto Wolfcastle

Looks incredibly busy from the photo Diep at Home posted on Facebook.

sammyb

I have just come back from the big grill and craft beer fest.
Enjiyable evening. Nice crowd. Handy location. Some good variety of stalls.
Though - paid €22.0 for 2 tickets in.
Then you have to buy "tokens' to get good, etc.
to buy a burger or a pulled pork food it was €10. Queues were mad long.
Then was waiting for the competition there - still waiting for it 40 mins after it was due to start.. They didn't communicate with the crowd. Which they should have. Great idea. Just they need to build on the amount of competitions. Like to see how it develops.

solomafioso

I'd actually suggest something. Ban kids / buggies.

Went on the Saturday, long queues and overpriced food but the atmosphere was good and it seemed to be well run.

MonkstownHoop

solomafioso wrote: »

I'd actually suggest something. Ban kids / buggies.

Went on the Saturday, long queues and overpriced food but the atmosphere was good and it seemed to be well run.

Ha, i thought when i seen a kids area they'd be caged in there :pac:
Also alot of the beer at the international bar ran out, seeing as saturday was sold out they could have forecast that.

Good day out though and i can see it lasting

solomafioso

MonkstownHoop wrote: »

Ha, i thought when i seen a kids area they'd be caged in there :pac:
Also alot of the beer at the international bar ran out, seeing as saturday was sold out they could have forecast that.

Good day out though and i can see it lasting

Yeah, the 8 degrees bar was closed for a few hours on Saturday too! (I think they ran out / went to get more kegs). Also 5e for cans was a little over board, I stuck with a couple of pints.

Found it false advertising on the Porterhouse's part that they had a placard up of all their beers and when I got up to the bar they were only selling three! Suppose with the length of queues / pull-time, they couldn't feasibly sell their stouts.

Place was chock full of hipsters too. :pac:

nmg_ire

Got 6 tickets on groupon which worked out at €7:50 each for Sunday, 2 pulled out but we sold them within 20seconds of landing on Sunday. About 20 people standing outside as it was sold out. Totally what i expected, family day out with loads of kids. But saying that we had a great time (2 couples). Great food and good selection of drinks to try and a great atmosphere about. Yes it was a bit pricey but i expected nothing less. It being its first year I would say it'll only get better. Congrats to all involved.

The Nal

Anyone planning to go this year. Lasted about 3 hours last year until myself and the missus went through about 100 euro and decided we were being thoroughly ripped off.

Are prices the same this year? What was it? 5-6 quid for a tiny glass of wine?

Also I cant see Pitt Bros anywhere? Which is a good thing.

BeerNut

The Nal wrote: »

Anyone planning to go this year.

Yeah, I got a couple of freebies so will be going along.

If you don't think it's worth it, just don't go.

Hootanany

BeerNut wrote: »

Yeah, I got a couple of freebies so will be going along.

If you don't think it's worth it, just don't go.

Shame it such a rip off😭

toffeeshel

Living Social have Thurs and Fri tickets for 7 euro.

Blut2

I got free tickets so will probably go along, depending on the weather at the time. I enjoyed it last year - it was something a bit different.

It is awfully expensive though. 17.70eur (including booking fee) to go along somewhere to pay over full price for drinks. I think I remember it being 6eur ish a beer, plus you'd almost certainly have unused tokens at the end further adding to the cost. Basically if you wanna go along and have some food, and maybe 2 beers, you're looking at 40eur+ not including any transport costs. Pricey for a quiet night.

I think if they made it more like the RDS Craft Beer festival, and they gave you 10eur of tokens with your entry fee or something, it'd get more casual punters going along for a only a couple of beers or just some food. Instead of the situation now where you really have to be going 'for the day' to make it worthwhile.

The Nal

BeerNut wrote: »

Yeah, I got a couple of freebies so will be going along.

If you don't think it's worth it, just don't go.

Im not sure either way. Hence the questions I asked.

BeerNut

The Nal wrote: »

Im not sure either way. Hence the questions I asked.

Really? You actually wanted us to quote you the 2015 Big Grill rate for "a tiny glass of wine"? Are you sure it wasn't just a complaint dressed up as a question?

The Nal

BeerNut wrote: »

Really? You actually wanted us to quote you the 2015 Big Grill rate for "a tiny glass of wine"? Are you sure it wasn't just a complaint dressed up as a question?

Bit of both yeah but as others have said, its pricey. So I was hoping someone may have some inside info about this year before I decide.

testaccount123

Blut2 wrote: »

I think if they made it more like the RDS Craft Beer festival, and they gave you 10eur of tokens with your entry fee or something, it'd get more casual punters going along for a only a couple of beers or just some food.

They dont need more casual punters, it sold out last year. Every event thread here has people moaning about prices, yet the events are always full.

50 or 60 quid is not expensive for a day out in Dublin with food, drink & entertainment. People who think this is expensive should realise that these events are not really aimed at them.

fret_wimp2

big grill was a total ripoff last year.

- entry fee entitled you to nothing except entering the field, no free drink or sample.
-you had to purchase special books of tokens to buy food, and these were non refundable.
-many of the books of tokens were short. i.e. cost 20 quid but only 18 quid of tokens in the book. On reporting this it took them over 30 mins to give me my extra tokens. found this issue with 3 books between 3 people so I have to assume it was widespread.

-samples were massive. I expected that for 3-5 euro you could get a sample of each of the 15+ vendors. no, they all served full portions at 10 quid a go. so you could never sample everyone there.

-they ran out of cider by 1pm leaving only one or two largers.


All in all, the way they rip you off by issuing itchy & scratchy land dollars, , no refunds, screwing people by not having correct amount in the fake money books, running out of beer I wont be returning.

The Nal

testaccount123 wrote: »

50 or 60 quid is not expensive for a day out in Dublin with food, drink & entertainment. People who think this is expensive should realise that these events are not really aimed at them.

I was there for a few hours early last year - before the crazy queues - and ate a portion of ribs and a few glasses of wine and spent well over the 40 quid people are mentioning. Its a bizarre business model and a relic of the Celtic Tiger ingrained in our culture. Paying well over the odds in order to be sold to. And BBQ food at that, the cheapest of all food.

A big BBQ/beer day out is a great idea but its just so expensive it sucks all the fun out of it.

Tickets €16
Food €10 (1 portion)
Wine/Beer (not a big glass/pint) €6 x (lets say) 5 drinks

56 quid. A very conservative estimate too. So 112 quid between me and the missus. And thats if I only have 5 drinks and 1 portion of food which I wont!

No thanks. I recently booked return flights to Berlin for the two of us for that.

Edit, must add, the beer price is standard really. Craft beer is the current hilarious rip off that people don't seem to notice. Its the new bottled water.

pink_polkadot

The Nal wrote: »

Edit, must add, the beer price is standard really. Craft beer is the current hilarious rip off that people don't seem to notice. Its the new bottled water.

The answer to this...The dreaded Witherspoons!
I kid, i friggin love witherspoons.

Beers no more than 3.25. some 2.50. Can get specials as low as 2 euro.
We've been taken for a ride for some time by Irish Pubs and expect beer to be expensive.

The Nal

pink_polkadot wrote: »

The answer to this...The dreaded Witherspoons!
I kid, i friggin love witherspoons.

Beers no more than 3.25. some 2.50. Can get specials as low as 2 euro.
We've been taken for a ride for some time by Irish Pubs and expect beer to be expensive.

The one in Camden Street is going to clean up. Diceys sh1tting themselves.

quadrifoglio verde

BeerNut wrote: »

Yeah, I got a couple of freebies so will be going along.

If you don't think it's worth it, just don't go.

Really I don't see what I'm getting for my money.
If I want bbq food I can head to my meat wagon, from there head to either Mulligan grocer or black sheep and then onto the porterhouse.
I don't see what I get for paying in, other than the opportunity to overpay for said beer and bbq.

If you can convince me as to why I'm better of going please do.

Krusty_Clown

quadrifoglio verde wrote: »

If you can convince me as to why I'm better of going please do.

I think you should stay home. Sure you'd only be moaning if you did go.

odyssey06

Am going along in Friday with work social club, looking fwd to it but wouldn't be going on my bat given the prices... the DCC website says the entrance to the event is via the Donnybrook gate, but I can't see this on a map anywhere.

I'll be coming on DART so not sure what stop and route is best?

Any tips appreciated... location-wise and otherwise!
Cheers.

oblivious

odyssey06 wrote: »

Am going along in Friday with work social club, looking fwd to it but wouldn't be going on my bat given the prices... the DCC website says the entrance to the event is via the Donnybrook gate, but I can't see this on a map anywhere.

I'll be coming on DART so not sure what stop and route is best?

Any tips appreciated... location-wise and otherwise!
Cheers.

Sandymount is probably the handiest, here is a google maps route from the station to the Park

https://www.google.ie/maps/place/Sandymount/@53.3278588,-6.2232017,16z/data=!4m20!1m17!4m16!1m3!2m2!1d-6.235008!2d53.3277264!1m6!1m2!1s0x48670edad7511adb:0xf4b1a3d996145c20!2sSandymount,+Co.+Dublin!2m2!1d-6.22141!2d53.32826!3e2!6m3!1i0!2i0!3i3!3m1!1s0x48670edad7511adb:0xf4b1a3d996145c20

n97 mini

oblivious wrote: »

Sandymount is probably the handiest, here is a google maps route from the station to the Park

Landsdowne Rd is a few minutes closer, it's also a bit closer to RDS Hall 4.

Sugar Free

I'll be going to this as I got a freebie and a guarantee of some tokens to get me started. Trying to expand my beer palate - would anyone be willing to give me a few recommendations from the breweries attending please?

http://www.biggrillfestival.com/

symbolic

Sugar Free wrote: »

I'll be going to this as I got a freebie and a guarantee of some tokens to get me started. Trying to expand my beer palate - would anyone be willing to give me a few recommendations from the breweries attending please?

http://www.biggrillfestival.com/

From the list I would be hitting, in order ha,:

Eight Degrees
Trouble
Metalman
Blacks of Kinsale
Kinnegar

nxbyveromdwjpg

Debating going to this Friday or Saturday, Saturday seems to have way more on.. but Friday last year gets a better review for less queues and stuff.

Any recommendations?

I don't like the sound of the 10er food token thing, surely that defeats the point of a food tasting event thingie.

BaZmO*

Sugar Free wrote: »

I'll be going to this as I got a freebie and a guarantee of some tokens to get me started. Trying to expand my beer palate - would anyone be willing to give me a few recommendations from the breweries attending please?

http://www.biggrillfestival.com/

The Nal

Selah Old Type wrote: »

Debating going to this Friday or Saturday, Saturday seems to have way more on.. but Friday last year gets a better review for less queues and stuff.

Any recommendations?

I went on Saturday last year and left at about 5pm as the queues were crazy for all stalls. 20 minute queues.

Selah Old Type wrote: »

I don't like the sound of the 10er food token thing, surely that defeats the point of a food tasting event thingie.

Yeah minimum is about 8 quid for a tiny portion. Otherwise its a full meal.

Its not a food tasting event really.

nxbyveromdwjpg

The Nal wrote: »

Yeah minimum is about 8 quid for a tiny portion. Otherwise its a full meal.

Its not a food tasting event really.

Looks like they've sorted that. From the faq -

How much will food and drink be?
We are adding heaps of sample sized BBQ dishes so you can try as many different items as possible. They will start from around 4 smokins'.

Still looks expensive though. Getting nothing but your entrance for €16 is a terrible start.