Brew HaHa 2016 Event Recap

One of my favorite annual events to produce is Brew HaHa. This year we celebrated Brew HaHa’s 21^st birthday. The beer tasting event is a fan favorite for beer enthusiasts in Reno and all over the west coast. With 76 breweries pouring 3-4 types of beer you should easily be able to find some new favorites. Many breweries launch or market test new beers at the event. The variety and different styles of beer poured at Brew HaHa gives fans something to look forward to every January.

This is truly a community event. All of the beer at Brew HaHa is donated by breweries and local distributors. Beer comes from all over the country. Highlights from this year’s event included a raffle with more beer swag than anyone could imagine, live music by Whitney Myer, and the extremely impressive Artist Village. The Artist Village featured 40 artists. It is fun to see guests at the event interacting with the artists and buying art directly from the artist. The event gives artists an opportunity to network and share their art with the community while also helping Sierra Arts raise funds to support arts programs.

Sierra Arts Foundation Check Presentation 2016

This year Brew HaHa 2016 was an enormous success!  We raised $38,752 for Sierra Arts Foundation. The event is the biggest fundraiser of the year for Sierra Arts. The funds will support Sierra Arts community arts programs, such as the Elder Care Concert Series, the Arts Integrations Project, and my personal favorite Arts in Education program.

This is one of my favorite events because it is so unique. There are a lot of beer events, but Brew HaHa is special because it has its own vibe and unique atmosphere. Everyone that works the event is fabulous! I have fun working with the brewers and distributors to make sure all the beer makes it to the event and everything goes well. The Sierra Arts Foundation employees and volunteers are top-notch. We have so much fun working together it doesn’t even feel like work.

I absolutely love this event! What’s not to love? We work closely with the Sierra Arts team to throw the biggest kegger in northern Nevada. Finally all those skills I developed having parties in my youth are paying off. I’m now using those skills to raise funds to support the arts community, and that is something to be proud of.

The next Brew HaHa is scheduled for Friday, January 27, 2017 at Nugget Casino Resort.

Like what you’ve seen? Subscribe to Mad About Events Blog by adding your email address to the form on the right. You’ll be the first to read about local events and get behind-scenes-stories about my life as a special events and entertainment director.

Brews & Boos Beer Fest – Brewery List

Craft beer is incredibly popular right now, and so are tribute bands. So we decided in honor of Halloween this year we would put them together and give Reno an unforgettable experience at Nugget Brews & Boos Beer Fest.

The event will be held on Friday, October 30^th in the Nugget Ballroom. The rock show starts at 8:00 p.m. when Snake Oil Sinners band takes the stage. The band will perform everyone’s favorite big hair rock, melodic rock, metal and classic rock songs. This is no regular band, and you won’t want to miss a minute of their show when they perform hits from Def Leppard, Queen, Ozzy, Aerosmith, Guns & Roses, Journey and more.

There are 45 breweries participating in Brews & Boos Beer Fest as of right now. The number is subject to change up until the day of the event. There are different varieties of brew and a lot of brewers submitted fall and winter ales in hopes of winning the People’s Choice award. This time of year the Ciders are also a big fan favorite.  Check out the event promo video and the list below to see if your favorite brewery will be featured at this year’s inaugural Brews & Boos Beer Fest.

Kudos to Nugget Special Event Coordinator Adam Varahachaikol for creating the promo video.

• 21 Amendment
• Alaskan Brewing Co.
• American River Brewing Company
• Anchor Brewing
• Anderson Valley Brewing Co.
• Boulder Beer
• Brewer’s Cabinet
• Brooklyn Brewing Co.
• Carlsberg Breweries
• Common Cider Company
• Coronado Brewing Company
• Corona and Modelo (Constellation Brand Beer)
• Deschutes Brewery
• Drake’s Brewing Company
• Grand Teton Brewing Company
• Great Basin Brewery
• Guinness
• Hangar24 Craft Brewery
• High Sierra Brewing
• Kronenbourg Brewery
• Lagunitas Brewing Company
• Lake Tahoe Brewing Co
• Leinenkugel Brewing Company
• Lost Coast Brewery
• Mammoth Brewing Company
• Left Hand Brewing – Milk Stout Nitro
• Ninkasi Brewing
• North American Breweries
• Paulaner / Hacker Pschorr
• Pizza Port Brewing Company
• Rekorderlig Cider
• Rogue Ales
• Rubicon Brewing Co.
• Ruby Mountain Brewing Company
• Sam Adams
• Schilling Cider
• Sierra Nevada
• Stoneyhead Brewing
• Tieton Cider Works · American Craft Cider
• Track 7 Brewing Co.
• Two Bald Guys Beverage Company
• Under the Rose Brewing Co.
• Vermont Hard Cider Co.
• Warsteiner
• Wasatch Brewery

Purchase your tickets today at NuggetCasinoResort.com and get fired up for a new Halloween experience at Brews & Boos Beer Fest!

Things to know if you go…

Nugget Brews & Boos Beer Festival
Friday, October 30, 2015
Nugget Ballroom
VIP: $65 (allows guests to enter the event an hour early to have more time networking with brewers)
General Admission: $50
Doors Open: 7pm for VIP, 8pm for General Admission
Book a room by calling reservations at 775-356-3300
Buy tickets at NuggetCasinoResort.com

Brew HaHa 2015 Interview Mashup

This is our 2015 Brew HaHa Interview Mashup video. The clips essentially tell the story of Brew HaHa in less than 14 minutes. Special thanks to the local media that let us come on their shows, talk about Brew HaHa, give out free tickets, and share our beer! We couldn’t make this event a success without you!

Warning: The video doesn’t have the best sound or video quality. It was shot and edited on an iPad. You can watch the full interview videos on the Event Videos & Interviews Page of Mad About Events Blog.
Special thanks to… Stacey Spain, Sierra Arts Foundation; Breanna Reinhardt, Nugget Casino Resort; Wilson, Pigeon Head Brewery; Charlie Johnson, Brewer’s Cabinet; Jim Brant, New West Distributing; Mark and Two Bald Guys; Fran, Common Cider; Matt Weaver, Morrey Distribting; KTHX 100.1; Wild 102.9; KBUL 98.;1 KOH 780; KNEV 95.5; KOZZ Max Volume; The Bandit 92.9; The Wolf 94.5; KNEWS Radio; KTVN 2; KRXI Fox 11 KOLO 8 Good Morning Reno; The Daily Sparks Tribune; Reno News & Review; and Reno Gazette Journal

Like what you’ve seen? Subscribe to Mad About Events Blog by adding your email address to the form on the right. You’ll be the first to read about local events and get behind-scenes-stories from event professionals.

Image Credit

Matt Weaver’s Brew HaHa Interview

I’ve always thought my job would be perfect for a reality show, as long as I could remain anonymous and they would somehow protect the guilty parties that make my job insane.

I have a fascinating job! I kick-off the year with a big New Year’s party on the casino floor, then host one of the biggest beer events on the west coast, plan a country concert music series in June, set off fireworks over the 4th of July, celebrate classic cars in August, and then I’m in charge of the biggest rib festival in the country over Labor Day weekend.

The craziest things happen when you produce events. When I interview potential interns I ask them how well they handle random people and situations, because that is the life of an event producer. For the last few years I’ve been trying to figure out a way to capture some of the fun and document the craziness, without making a deal with Bravo TV of course, so I decided to buy an iPad and find a way to document my life as an event manager on my own. If I get enough video views I might just have to upgrade to a real camcorder.

This was the first interview I’ve taken since I bought the iPad. The interview was taken at Brew HaHa, the annual Sierra Arts Foundation Fundraiser that was held this year on Friday, February 13 at the Nugget Casino Resort. My friend Matt Weaver from Morrey Distributing was a good sport and let me interview him.

Here are a few lessons I learned from my first interview…

1. I need to buy microphones. Sorry the audio levels are awful. We tested several locations at the event for the interview and it was just too loud. Finally we decided the entrance hallway would be best. We had to yell at each other the whole time, which was a little awkward and made me want to end the interview after two questions.

2. Try not to watch what is going on behind you and act natural. Watch out for those girls having too much fun around the 40 second mark.

3. I wanted to capture the essence of why the distributors and the brewers support this event, but I wasn’t able to do it justice because it was so loud and hard to host the interview in those conditions. I’ll have to try again next year.

4. If you are going to do interviews after working 15 hours you must add lots of eye makeup to hide the dark circles under your eyes better.

5. I need to learn how to edit video. I am using iMovie and I’m clueless! I look forward to developing iMovie skills as I develop Mad About Events Blog. Until I develop more skills I better try to do one take interviews. Editing may not be an option for a while.

If you enjoyed this video make sure to follow Lisa Jansen’s YouTube Channel. I will be uploading more interviews and video taken at events.

Special thanks to the lovely Bre Reinhardt for being the iPad camera operator.
Image Credit

Two Bald Guys – Right Place, Right Time

West Coast India Pale Ale and Rye Pale Ale

Sometimes you get lucky and your brand gets a spotlight opportunity because of being in the right place, at the right time. That is exactly what happened to brewers Two Bald Guys this week when I appeared on Channel 8’s morning show and was able to promote their beer being launched at Brew HaHa.

We promoted Brew HaHa on the radio and local television news stations last week and focused on new local products being launched at the event. It is always a good idea to highlight local businesses. Two Bald Guys are new local brewers that we wanted to promote as part of the event.

We took Two Bald Guys and Sierra Arts Foundation Executive Director, Stacey Spain, to Wilks Broadcasting stations 100.1 KTHX, 92.1 The Wolf, and 100.9 The Bandit to announce the launch of their new craft beer and promote Brew HaHa. After the interviews were over they gave me a case of their India Pale Ale and a case of Rye Pale Ale so I could take pictures for social media. Giving me two cases of their brand new product was extremely generous.

I had a last minute interview scheduled for the next morning at 5:30am with KOLO 8 Good Morning Reno. I was a little scared to say yes to the interview because that meant I might have a 21 hour work day since it was the same day as the event. I never want to waste an opportunity though, so I jumped at the chance. I wanted to bring beer with me to the interview as a visual aid. I was in luck! The two cases of Two Bald Guys brew was still in my car. I took the brew with me to the interview and gave them a nice shout out on air for launching their product at Brew HaHa. I found out later that day that their investors were watching and they were thrilled to see the interview. Marketing Score! This all happened because they gave me the cases.

There were so many great marketing and PR lessons from our Two Bald Guys promotion but the top are…

1. Make it easy for others to promote your product. They taught me about their beer and then were generous enough to give me two cases, which put their product in the right place, at the right time.

2. Think about what the viewers and listeners want when you are trying to promote your event. Knowing your audience is incredibly important!

3. Always say yes to the 5:30am interview. After the interview my cell phone started ringing off the hook. It is amazing how many people saw the interview. The investors saw the interview, and so did my coworkers, business associates, and friends. It was totally worth the early wake up call, and all the makeup to cover the bags under my eyes.

Click here for more information about Two Bald Guys
“Beers as smooth as, well…our heads.” – The Two Bald Guys

Brew HaHa – The best beer event in Reno!

Looking for something fun to do Friday night?

The 20th Annual Brew HaHa is the place to be on Friday, February 13th. As the Director of Special Events at Nugget Casino Resort, I am lucky enough to be on the planning committee for Brew HaHa. My main responsibilities for this event are inviting brewers and distributors to participate, set-up / logistics, and public relations. I will share some behind the scenes stories and photos after the event, so stay tuned to Mad About Events Blog!

Proceeds from Brew HaHa benefit one of my favorite charities, Sierra Arts Foundation. The funds raised benefit the foundation and help them provide support for area artists and community programs. Last year the event raised approximately $44,000 to support local art programs such as the Elder Care Concert Series and Arts in Education.

So what is Brew HaHa? It is an all-you-can-responsibly-enjoy beer tasting event. For the price of admission you can try beers from all over the country and enjoy a great concert. This year the event will feature roughly 120 different types of beer. The bands Jelly Bread and Mojo Green will be providing live music to keep the party going through the evening. We are excited to feature these bands because of their local roots, and because they know how to bring the funk. Good luck staying off the dance floor when these bands play!

Brew HaHa is an opportunity to try a wide variety of beers , including the newest microbrews and ciders. This event is well-known on the west coast, and often taken for granted by locals in the Reno-Sparks area because they don’t realize the significance of the event to the brewers and distributors. As Renoites, we are lucky to have this event in our town. Many brewers use Brew HaHa as an opportunity to test out new products and launch new brands. They donate all the brew for the event – 100%. At the event brewers build relationships and interact directly with their customers. The event is great for brand recognition and marketing. It is also a bit of an industry networking event for the brewers and distributors. This year New Moon will be launching a new brew. Long time brewers from Two Bald Guys Brewing will also be launching their brew at the event, as well as a few others. You can try it before you can buy it!

VIP ticket holders get in an hour early to talk to the brewers and see a special brewer presentation. This is a must-attend event if you’re a home brewer looking to take the next step, or a consumer looking to try new brews. If you are a beer lover or aspiring beer lover, don’t miss Brew HaHa Friday night at Nugget Casino Resort!

What you need to know to go:
• Location: Nugget Casino Resort, located at 1100 Nugget Avenue, Sparks, NV
• Tickets can be purchased at www.janugget.com
• VIP – Doors open at 7:00 p.m. ($65 ticket)
• General Admission – Doors open at 8:00 p.m. ($50 ticket)
• Ticket prices go up $10 at the door the day of the event.
• Tickets include a commemorative beer pint tumbler
• There will be a raffle featuring beer swag including a poker table, beer branded hoodies, and backyard fire pit to name a few prizes.
• Proceeds benefit charity – so come have a beer for a good cause!