It should be noted the BNA9 party was nothing short of amazing this year. So enjoyable I'm still smiling.
Really? I was a little bummed about my experience. We left early.
The venue was great and really spread out. Lots of fun activities for sure. I had a VIP ticket and the music was decent up in the VIP area.... and not crazy loud due to the openness of the patio it was on. You had easy access to water, food, etc during the party. This was great.
There were not very many beers to be had and many of them started running out by about 9:30.
There were a few more beers in the VIP area... but it was so far removed from the rest of the event that we were not up there except at the start and at the very end (~10 when we left) when they only had 2 beers left. The beers in the VIP area were not as 'rare' as they have been in the past parties I've gone to. The food in the VIP area seemed to be the same as everyone else could get.. With the exception of a few desert items. For all the extra money I paid for the VIP ticket I was left feeling a bit screwed. Maybe I would have been 'ok' with the regular ticket though...
One other thing that might have made it a bit 'blah' for me was I had had most of the beers that were served there before. Which is likely just due to geographical issues. I guess looking back I have always enjoyed the BNA parties for all the beers that I just have no access to. I had thought of this ahead of time and that is why I got the VIP ticket. I really thought they would have some more beers that were harder to get. Even if they were just some of the many many delicious Michigan beers.