Rock Star Beer Festival — Local services in Tustin

Their themed beer festivals are the worst events I have ever been to in my life. I am not sure who they are for. They definitely aren’t for craft beer fans, and they’re really not for people who attend these events to get plastered as hard-alcohol drinks cost extra. Do not waste your money on their poorly planned events!

A co-worker had tickets to the Game of Thrones event in Fullerton on 5/24/19. I decided to buy them from her despite my misgivings after she forwarded me an email from Rock Star about the event. It was filled with misspellings and grammar errors, which goes to show how much they care about their events.

On the day of the event, we arrived early and got in about 30 min early. I entered the main beer vendor area and just about cried. Kona, Ace Cider, Elysian (serving Space Dust IPA whoop-dee-do) and a bunch of other macrobrews. Hardly any local craft breweries. And there were only about 12 vendors for the entire event! I’m sorry, but only an idiot (yes, that’s me) would pay $45 per person to drink SPACE DUST and KONA LONGBOARD!!!

The other major disappointment was the sheer lack of Game of Thrones-inspired things that had been promised but were sorely lacking. Like, the Direwolf? Unless you count a picture of a Direwolf that you could take a pic with. The event was also obviously over capacity and crammed with people while music blared from the terrible DJ. The food option (not options plural) was a mac n cheese vendor. So, if you’re lactose intolerant like my hubby is, tough luck!

While at the event, I posted on Facebook about what a disappointing event it was and was told that my post was “pending review by an administrator.” Rock Star doesn’t want people to know how awful their events are and blocks negative reviews on social media.

If you are a true craft beer fan, you’re better off frequenting your local craft beer locales. If you want to get drunk, you’re better off taking your $45 and buying several cocktails at your favorite dive bar. Because Kona Longboard isn’t gonna get you there. Some of the vendors ran out of beer (probably because vendors were giving full pours) so you’d better...

Update- after contacting the festival organizer through eventbrite they reactivated the links for me, and very quickly I might add! Adding a star back. Not 5 stars because the beer selection was a little underwhelming and some parts of the videos weren't for me. But overall I appreciate the effort that went into doing an online beer festival and the quick response after I contacted them.

Did the "Digital Edition" online/virtual beer festival. A good idea- in concept. In 2 hours there were 10 "beers" (one was cider, one was seltzer). I could in no way finish the beers in the amount of time given. I thought I could pause and start at my own pace but that was only the case during the 2 hours given (the videos were taken down after the 2 hours were up). It is a real shame that it has to be organized this way. The videos (as far as I made it- through the first 3 beers...) were a mix of interesting discussions with the brewers about the beer, some okay skits or attempts at entertainment, some musical interludes, and random and somewhat annoying clips of people chugging beers or doing other similar...

I’ve done about a half dozen of the Virtual Fests and they’re a very solid spend. If there’s two of you just get one box. The breweries each make videos for their product, and that quality varies. The beers I’ve found are pretty well selected too although I wish they had more porters or stouts but is is summer after all.

But the beer comes to your door and you get to ignore the sales pitch if you like and there’s no awkwardness, so if you’re an introvert you are really missing out on this format. I do wish the “in between” videos were better but those are the East important after the beer and the brewery. As noted elsewhere, their customer service is pretty quick about turnaround time, and I find the communication good as well. Purchase with confidence, I’m on my...