While I enjoyed myself, this event was a shit show for the following reasons.
1. False advertising: "Guests will receive unlimited craft beer tastings & pizza tastings from 50+ of the top restaurants and breweries in the country." More like 20 breweries and five pizza restaurants. Don't advertise numbers if you can't deliver (pizza pun unintended).
2. "Unlimited" pizza: If you define unlimited pizza as running out of pizza within 30 minutes of the event starting, then you need a new dictionary. Some pizza was replenished at certain times during the event, but that naturally disappeared instantly.
3. Awful layout: The layout was poorly done. The walkway was always packed and lines were confusing because there was never a good way to organize a queue without clogging the walkway. Instead of using the whole pavilion and spacing things out towards the outer concrete walkway at the top of the hill, they kept everything under the tents. I realize that lines are an inherent part of a beer festival, but there are ways to organize an event so that the lines don't inhibit the experience.
4. "Ticketing" at entry: The logistics were so bad that nobody got their tickets checked at the entrance. They checked IDs to make sure you're over 21, but you could've walked in having not purchased a ticket.
This event has potential and if the issues are addressed for next year it'll be a solid beer festival. I'll give it 2 stars because I only paid the super early bird rate of $29 plus Eventbrite ticketing fees. I feel sorry for whoever paid the general admission price of $49.