Made me laugh, thanks, I needed that.

What you seem to be saying in effect is that the people of Knoxville need more protection from themselves courtesy of city hall than the people of other cities. I understand the liability issues. But if that is the concern, why sell beer at all? Water would have been great because it was so hot. But, I did not see any water available.

And two beer taps for three or four thousand people? At that capacity, I estimate it would take 16 or 17 hours to serve each person just one beer. This is obviously designed to control the flow of beer at these events. What are the promoters and city officials so worried about? Has there been some past rioting or something I didn�t know about?

And the procedures of standing in one line to present ID, another to purchase tokens, and yet another to actually purchase a beer seem excessive. Actually standing in line for 45 minutes is excessive, but after a while, you just have keep on going all the way as a point of honor and duty and to not have wasted all that time and money. Well, actually I ended up wasting money by paying $12 for two beers. By the time my SO (who thought I had been arrested or something because I was gone so long) and I had obtained one each and finished it, the taps were shut off and I was stuck with two useless tokens.

Ando how does this procedure keep a teenager from obtaining beer and wrapping his or her car around a phone pole? Why are they more likely to get beer at an event than at the convenience store or one of the bars on either side of the event? Why can�t the people serving the beer be trusted to check ID and collect the money? Oh wait, I think that might be one part of the answer. Somebody must not trust them to handle the money.

Or does it have to do with being licensed? If so, why not issue permits to vendors who are already licensed to serve alcohol and let them serve whatever they want within the same operating rules they have for their bars or restaurants or whatever? That�s how some other cities do it.

Anyway, my scathing satire is not directed at the fine folks who organize and work these events. I sympathize with them because they probably have to put up with a lot of hostility and abuse. I don�t blame them because I assume they are working under rules set up by our illustrious and oh so paternalistic city leaders. And yes, there are a lot worse things than standing in line in the hot sun without water for 45 minutes for a $6 beer. But to me, this is just one small symptom of the problems Knoxville will have to overcome to be taken seriously as a thriving, progressive community.

First of all, I realize that the system of getting ID'ed, buying beer tickets, and then getting your beer may seem a bit tedious, but generally it works. It was "borrowed" from a number of other events, some of which are in what I might imagine you would call "progressive" cities.
When the system works, one only has to be ID'ed once, rather than every time you purchase a beer. And the ID isn't being checked by a person who is busily trying to take care of something else. The ID bracelets also provide a certain amount of visual check for officers and security.
Also, with tickets, you don't have the problems of folks having to make change at the beer trucks (not to mention soggy money).
There is no system that is completely foolproof, but this one seems to work best. We're certainly open to suggestions.

It's unfortunate that there was such a back up at the beer truck this past Saturday. There were several reasons, none of which are related to the beer ticket system.

For one thing, the event this year was enormously more successful than last. There were a LOT more people. The ribs folks ran out of food very early in the evening, and the beer truck ran out of beer early in the evening. They were able to get some more, but it wasn't easy, and it slowed things down.

The big slow down, however, occurred with two defective kegs, which were spewing foam rather than beer. This was what really messed things up and slowed things to a stop for a while.

When the truck ultimately did run out of beer at around 9:15 p.m., anyone holding tickets was offered the opportunity to redeem them at the bar at Barley's.

There were four taps not two (but that wasn't enough) and water was readily available with the other drinks at the "soft drink" stand, where there was no line to speak of.

It's hard to predict how many people are going to show up at a free event. The surprise turnout and some equipment malfunctions, however, were the major causes of your experience, not some poor misguided nazis trying to stand in the way of your enjoyment of a beer.

Ashley

Two questions:

Did it cost money?

Was it unfiltered Knoxville tap water?