We had a good time with friends and enjoyed the beautiful weather/outdoor setting at this annual festival. Beer fests seem to be a dime a dozen these days. And, while Southend Hops wasn't the best we've ever been to, it was far from the worst! I'll tackle the highs and lows list style...
Pros:
- Lots of local, NC breweries each with a couple offerings.
- Dog friendly! We had a blast seeing all the pups.
- Fun vendors. Slightly overkill on the apartment stalls, but we'll get to that in the cons.
- Great food truck offerings.
- Favor was onsite giving away free pizza!!
- Loved the number of light, summer beers available. Hefeweizen galore!
- Beautiful weather.
- Free tickets from Yelp! Hooray!!
Cons:
- Despite being advertised as a 2pm-6pm event, most breweries were out of beer and long gone by 5pm. Some were done by 4:30/4:45.
- While I appreciated a wide variety of vendors, I think the 10 or so hipster apartment complexes giving away... wait for it... koozies and bottle openers were a little overkill. And, for the love. No! I don't want a spinal assessment, annoying chiropractors.
- Not enough bathroom options. The line took @ 30 minutes to get through and portajohns are never my first choice. Not to mention, why no female/male options?? Nothing is worse than following a dude into a portapotty. Bleh.
- None of the breweries had any special beers. You could find everything they were pouring in their tap rooms.