It was my least favorite part of the conference. Doesn't bother me at all that it's gone. Especially since the beers will still be available in a better format.
It was my MOST favorite part of the conference when the conference was not well attended. Now that the conference is many thousand gassy homebrewers the pro brewer's night just isn't as much fun.
That's kinda what I was getting at. I'm just not up for standing in line for 1/2 an hour with thousands of other people in order to get a sample of a beer, no matter how good the beer is.
So how do you feel about Club Night?
Honestly, I prefer club night and have for a while. There are a few reasons. First, there is not a long line for just a few booths, everything is pretty even. It seems less crowded, maybe because many of the brewers are behind the booth serving beer, maybe because of the lines. Everyone is happy to talk to everyone else about their beers, rather than all of the homebrewers trying to talk to a limited number of pros - even if there are the same number of booths, each pro booth has one or two people to talk to instead of 2-40. The beer is at least more interesting, if not better on club night. People seem more involved with the event, maybe because of the club themes.
Don't get me wrong, I've loved pro night over the years, but I feel like it has been getting less fun than it used to be.