San Diego International Beer Festival

The international beer fest had more breweries from Southern California then anywhere else. Only a few international beers represented and volunteers staffed many of the booths. Although very nice, most volunteers knew nothing about the beer. Unlimited samples made the ticket price worth every penny.

Even though some longtime favorites (Green Flash, St Archer, Aztec) did not appear, there was still plenty of good beer. One HUGE improvement - no more warm beer! Pours now from the tap vs pitcher. Thanks Del Mar for that!! Will definitely go again next year!

We will definitely attend next year. The VIP tickets are the way to go!

The San Diego International Beer Festival was amazing!!! Definitely worth it to do the VIP - eat for free & skip the horrendously expensive fair food. Great Beer! Great People! Great Time!

This festival is a well run event. Over 100 beers!

$60 for a ticket to the beer fest with unlimited tastings, except that each tasting was 1 ounce, meaning you had to go to 16 vendors just to get the equivalent of one full beer, or 32 vendors for two whole beers. Such a waste of time. My friends and I were so irritated. We stayed for a little over 2 hours and probably made it to 25-30 vendors before we got sick of it and left. So we basically paid $60 for 2 beers. Such a waste of money and time. I do not recommend!!

For the money spent we expected more at the festival. Long lines to try a 1oz pour was a little crazy. We were also disappointed with the types is beer. There were only two barrel aged that we saw. Lots of bitter beers if you're into those. The Stein holding contest was fun. Bottom line, we'll probably never do it again. It wad much better when it wasn't so formal, out on the grass in front of the Paddock stage, and didn't cost so much.

Decent beer festival, although they seemed to have less breweries present and instead hired people to pour for them in their place. Plus side was that they don't oversell so you can make a few laps around the festival.

My wife and I got VIP tickets for her birthday and we couldn't have asked for more. We got into the event early which was very easy. The food in the lounge area was absolutely amazing. We met the executive chef and he was so nice tell us about the prep work and some behind the scenes details. All the vendors we so nice and willing to pour as much or little beer as we wanted.

By far this was the most enjoyable beer fest I have ever attended. There was rarely a long line for any of the tastings. The selection of beers was unbelievable. It was held in a open air horse show arena so the sun beating down on you was not an issue. You had unlimited re entry privileges. I would give it five stars but because of being inside the fair grounds you had to deal with hassle of fair crowds and traffic. Just plan ahead and this beer festival is second to none.

$50 for beer for 4 hours. in tiny shot glass portions. Considering it was an international beer festival... there were very few international beers.

I love the event, I plan on going every single year and I am gonna pre-order tickets. I loved every second of it. I just wish the sessions were longer

This event was a lot of fun! Lots of beer choices and everything was spread out well so it didn't feel so cramped.

It was a lot of fun tasting all the different beers, but our group had paid extra to have the VIP tickets and enjoy the food in the VIP area. Don't waste your time on that. We've been going the last three years to this event and the food has gotten progressively worse. Certainly not worth the extra money. Just pay for the general admission and enjoy the food and beer in that section.

1) Great food! Executive Chef Barry (CIA Alum) knows his stuff. But only 2.5 hours. Wish they serve from 3:30pm to 8pm instead of 3:30pm to 5:30pm. 2) Great selection of Beers! Wish I have more time to drink more but only had a chance to try approximately 40 beers out of God knows how many beers they serve. Also, I purchased VIP ticket on Saturday evening and there's are several beers are out BEFORE this event. They should have brought more. I gave 4 star because the food at the VIP lounge stopped at 5:30. They should have at least leave them just in case if anybody is hungry.

The beer festival was hosted by nice people, with good product, in a great venue at the Del Mar Fair. People at the event were polite and there was a lot of variety to be enjoyed.

This was my third year attending and it just keeps getting bigger and better!

Second year in a row. This time brought the wife. Had a great time. VIP Tickets added the delicious food and a place to sit and visit with friends. Will definitely do it again next year

I payed for vip tickets to BeerFest that was from 5-9pm I arrive at 6:00 and go in and make my way back to the VIP section where there was suppose to be food and snacks. I get to the section and it's just empty food trays and they said everything was gone and over. So basically I paid and extra $50 to see empty plates and boiling water! Complete waste!!

Wet dirt floor. VIP area was for vendors also. Bunch of different beers mixing in stomach made me feel weird and sick. The actual type of beer was written on a piece of paper with Sharpe - totally ghetto and you had to push people to see it, if it wasn't soaked in beer. Didn't go on rides and did not like to eat the expensive food too much. Wanted a full beer but they are $13 haha I told everyone about that. Need to explain the Fair tripper better and after you buy, we had to call someone about it.

Great Times... VIP was the BEST. The number of beers was amazing. The food provided was good. Service - Excellent

The event itself was fun. There were plenty of interesting and amusing beers and product vendors. The International component may have been a little exaggerated. The education sessions were a bit disorganized and felt haphazard. The VIP area was very well done. I enjoyed the food and the interaction with the volunteers. Being from out of town (Florida) I sometimes felt like an interloper. There is much for locals at this event to learn, but someone from far away really doesn't get the value of meeting local business owners. Still - more power to them. I did enjoy the beers even if I cannot buy most of them. The fair-tripper was a complete waste. I found virtually no information online about it (no routes, no times, nothing) I figured it must be something all the locals just assume everyone knows. Yet few people in San Diego knew what it was or how to use it - including the concierge at a major hotel. We finally figured it out. The times are limited and - even worse - our train home was over 40 minutes late - causing us to miss the last ferry to Coronado. We ended up spending nearly $100 on public transportation that did little more than frustrate us and waste our time. Also - the event is at the very far end of the fairgrounds from where the bus drops you off. Expect to walk - alot. It was even more frustrating when we got near the event and saw the back exit (entrance?) right there. The path within the fair to the event is not well marked or intuitive at all. That added even more to our frustration. It took us about 30 minutes to navigate to the event once we gained admission to the fair. All in all the value was good. I would definitely recommend upgrading to VIP, but definitely not recommend the fair tripper. Take a cab instead. hell - you could almost rent a limo for what we ended up spending.