Atlantic City Weekly

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Some endeavors that began super successfully later lost their allure due to complacency, but that’s not likely something the Atlantic City Beer Festival has to worry about. There’s an overriding sense that profit takes a back seat to customer satisfaction at the annual event, evidenced by the fact that the most popular of its three sessions — Saturday from 6-10:30pm — regularly sells out well in advance. That was the case nearly two weeks before the scheduled start of the fifth “Celebration of the Suds,” slated for March 20-21 at the A.C. Convention Center.

“I must give Jon [Henderson] and the guys from [event promoter] Unsuited Entertainment credit,” says Gary Monterosso, who will conduct a half-hour seminar called “Beer 101” during each of the three sessions. “They honestly sat back at the end of each of the first four shows and looked at things very objectively, asking themselves what did we do right, what did we do wrong, and what can be improved? And there’s always room for improvement.

“They’ve gone from a smaller room to a larger room, they’ve increased security, and one big issue was a long line of people waiting to enter the hall that was really rectified tremendously last year.”

Bringing in hundreds of products and over 80 brewers from around the world, including about a half-dozen newcomers this year, is only part of the event’s appeal. There will be pipes-and-drums music by the Founders, the Animal House-like antics of the Toga Party Band, off-the-wall entertainment by the Olde City Sideshow, mechanical bull riding, a creation by master sand sculptor Matt Dieberg, cooking-with-beer demos by Rocky Fino and Sheila Stepkin, and a “mustache lounge” that requires all who enter to be mustachioed.

“If you decide to draw one on or wear a fake one, great,” says Henderson. “I actually ordered about 500 fake mustaches just for that.”

Along with fine-tuning the festival’s floor plan to give attendees a bit more walking-around room, everything including the culinary options have been expanded. Several local restaurants will have vending stations offering such delectables as sausage-and-peppers, crab cakes and more. Tony Boloney’s A.C. Pizzeria will be serving several beer-inspired pizzas at the festival. “The creation process was tough,” says Mario Dorazio of Tony Boloney’s. “It included going out to the bar with fellow co-workers, having 10 pizzas show-up, tasting them all, then drinking more. Just my kind of tough if you know what I mean.”

“There’s so many different options for people this year, we had to really spread it out,” says Henderson. “It isn’t just a chance to sample new brews without having to buy a six-pack to find out if you’ll like it or not; it’s an entire entertainment weekend. What we [the producers] did was say, ‘Alright, let’s get some of the personalities behind the beers to show people how it’s done and answer questions, and let’s add lots of entertaining components to create a fun time.’ People have a hard time being a jerk when everybody’s having fun. When a lot of people are having a good time, hey, people end up getting married here.”

That’s precisely what occurred among past festival attendees Chris Warwick and Erin Neary.

“I have a place in Margate, and two of my daughters were down [from Palmyra] for the weekend to attend the beer festival,” says Kevin Neary, Erin’s father. “My younger daughter met up with [Chris], whose dad used to coach her in soccer, and they eventually wound up getting married.”

Brewers new to the festival this year include Ithaca (ithacabeer.com), Great Lakes (greatlakesbrewing.com), High and Mighty (highandmightybeer.com), Yards (yardsbrewing.com) and Cape Ann (capeannbrewing.com). Monterosso, producer of the Web site stillcrazyafterallthesebeers.com, will inform attendees of the essential differences between the two most popular types of beers — lagers and ales — during his free seminars.

“Most of the craft breweries turn out exclusively ales, and the logic behind that is that you can get one out on the street in about 10 days to two weeks,” says Monterosso. “Lagers, which comes from the German word ‘lagern’ meaning ‘to store,’ take about four to six months to produce. So from the standpoint of where some of these craft breweries are coming from — many of which are small mom-and-pop organizations — they want to get their product out on the street as quickly as possible, ergo you produce mostly ales. Yuengling is a powerhouse [located in Pennsylvania] known for their lagers, and now most of the breweries are starting to dabble in producing at least one lager to include in their portfolio.”

Last year corporate executives from Michelob, an Anheuser-Busch subsidiary, introduced some of the brand’s experimental beers at the Atlantic City festival in an effort to get a handle on consumer preference.

“Let’s face it, there are numerous beer festivals throughout the year and throughout the country — probably one going on every week somewhere,” says Monterosso, “and Anheuser-Busch has really thrown their support behind the one in Atlantic City. That’s the respect they have for a show like the one we have here.

“Bringing in varying aspects of entertainment is an important element,” adds Monterosso. “Jon likes to put on shows and he’s very good at it. He’s good at finding and creating various types of entertainment and meshing them together. He’s definitely an asset to Atlantic City, and fits in to the culture here perfectly.”

5th annual Atlantic City Beer Festival
Where: Atlantic City Convention Center, 1 Convention Blvd., A.C.
When: Saturday & Sunday, March 20-21
How Much: $50 at the door, $43 per session in advance (through ticketmaster.com or celebrationofthesuds.com). Group tickets: 10-19 people $38 per person, 20-30 people $35 per person.
Details: Session 1 is Sat. noon-4:30pm (doors open 11:30am with advanced tickets); Session 2 is Sat. (sold out) 6-10:30pm (doors open 5:30pm); Session 3 is Sun. 1-5:30pm (doors open 12:30pm). Attendees must be at least 21 with valid ID. Designated driver tickets are available.