Vegan Oktoberfest

Great event! Lines were moderate, however a bit more of entertainment would be nice. Got to try some good vegan food and beer.

First time doing Oktoberfest, and I had a blast!
Awesome food, interesting new beers and some nice music.
I will definitely be a repeat-​customer.

I came here on their second year and can say this year it rocked. I was skeptical of a vegan Oktoberfest concept, but it works! The lines were long towards the end of the day, so don’t be lazy and get up when they open and lines are short. The participating breweries were all super patient and thoughtful.
Pro Tips:
Bring a designated driver or get someone to pick you up.
The food area is good, but for the most part does not soak up alcohol as well as something not-​vegan. I recommend The Clean South and hope they’re back in 2016.

Thanks to Groupon, I paid $ 25 dollars to come to this event to get soused. What a bargain. UNLIMITED tastes — and the «tastes» were generous, like almost a ½ glass. Ticket included 3 full pours, which I didn’t even get around to using. I’m not a beer aficionado, so I can’t speak to the quality — but the variety was there. As well as at least 3 ciders (more my speed).
Fun music, fun atmosphere. Just enough people to feel lively, not so many that it felt overcrowded. Really great event.
As an aside — one of the most popular booths provided a breathalyzer test to find out your BAC. They gave you a sticker that you put on your back that displayed the time and your BAC. These were definitely worn with pride… the woman in front of me in line had done the test a few times — her most recent BAC somewhere around .12. I had never taken a breathalyzer test before, and was guessing what it might be. Legal limit is .08, and I DEFINITELY didn’t think I was fit to drive. OTOH, I know I’m a lightweight. So I guessed I’d be at around a .06-.07. My test came in at .03! I was legally OK to drive??? That was alarming.
No worries though — I took über.

If the funnest activity at a beer festival is getting in long eternal lines for a breathalyzer… somethings wrong. I did have fun, but the –2 stars are for the time limit… they shouldn’t cut off 30min b4 kicking u out, should be 1 hr to sober up. & there should be at least 4 breathalyzers & have an express lane for all repeats. Only because of the Groupon 4pk price I would repeat next year. There wasn’t beer quality, just quantity.

This event should be every weekend :-) ok… in my world, with me cooking all the food, it does happen every weekend! hahahaha But, seriously, it’s a great time… good food and good beers! Vegan Oktoberfest should be a restaurant. Yep.

There’s only one thing I can say about this event… I’ll be back next year! I came w/​a few of my non-​vegan co-​workers and they had so much fun. We are already planning for next years event and have added more people to our group. I can’t wait. It was awesome having unlimited and extremely generous pours from all the breweries. I didn’t even have to use all my beer tickets. The food trucks were also a huge plus, i mean the grill cheese truck with an all vegan menu? Hell yeah. I ate so much guys i literally rolled out of there. I attended the first day and it wasn’t as crowded and the lines weren’t too long.

5 stars all the way and I’m even a Vegan. I went with my Vegan friends. They are trying to convert me. I’m a Meatan. But I love vegetables and beer as a side dish.
I had a blast. Good food and unlimited beer. You get you cup as soon as you walk in with you prepaid ticket. Note that tickets are purchased online.
Location was a huge spacious venue. Huge eating area. Friendly people working the booth and serving up the beer. I really enjoy Angel City Octoberfest and Samuel Adams Octoberfest beer. The gingerbeer was awesome but I’m not sure it had sufficient alcohol in it.
The beer was ice cold and delicious. I was so buzzed. Great live music and those cute German women and men walking around in authentic German gear.
I had an awesome time and will be back next year.

Wow! Just keeps getting better and better! I had a blast! So happy that I attended and can not wait until next year!
Had lots of non vegan friends attend as well and had a great time! Great food and tons of drink options.
I’ll be back next year with my crew!

This was my first time attending the Vegan Oktoberfest.
It was incredible! I had such a fantastic time.
The staff was so nice and welcoming.
The booths were great too.
It’s wonderful to see so many beer tents and so many food trucks.
I loved the LA center studios location because you can sit anywhere and not get tired of the same spot.
I seriously can’t wait for next year’s to come again.
I totally recommend this event especially if you’re vegan. I been to some other beer festivals and wasn’t that impressed.

Another wonderful year drinking with friends, making new ones and having a blast dancing the afternoon away and celebrating the vegan lifestyle with others

This was awesome. A great idea to celebrate and have some fun with like minded individuals and others who are interested. Got to get out and have fun sometimes, so Cheers to veganism. I hope this event continues to grow. Looking foward to next year.

I think I lucked out with my experience at Vegan Oktoberfest because:
— I got a kickass discount buying my tix on groupon
— the weather was overcast and cool so we wouldn’t have to be outdoors in the direct sunlight
— it wasn’t as crowded or cramped as I expected it to be and the layout was pretty widespread and dispersed at Los Angeles Center Studios
— lines were short for the most part with the exception of 101 Cider House or the last hour for all breweries
— the unlimited sample pours were so generous that I didn’t feel the need to use all three of my full sized beer tickets
— towards the end of the day, many food vendors discounted their prices
We attended day two of this 2-​day event. Tasted drinks from Lagunitas Brewing Co., Angel City Brewery, Wandering Aengus Anthem Ciders, 101 Cider House, and Eel River Brewing Co. But the only drinks I truly enjoyed were the Pumpkin Cider and the Pineapple Cider from Ace Ciders.
Now let’s talk about the REAL reason I attended Vegan Oktoberfest: To gain a bunch of weight eating lots and lots of vegan food!!! I mean, how often do I get to attend a food event where every single option is vegan friendly??? Although I just weighed myself and as it turns out, I didn’t gain very much weight. So I guess I kinda failed on the fat challenge ;P
Here’s a list of foods and vendors that I stuffed my face with:
— Crispy Not Dog (chipotle flavor) from Make Vegan food truck
— samples of the Gardein Chik’n Sliders from Follow Your Heart
— Vegan Cheese plate from Blöde Kuh which features Obazda (paprika beer cheese), Caraway Cashew Cheese Wedge, and Kräuterquark (an Herbie Vore cream cheese) which also came with potato salad, and rye and wheat bread
Major props to Blöde Kuh for cutting the price in half during the last hour of the event :)
Side note: My friend won a mini jar of Chipotle Veganaise from Follow Your Heart. I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I’m a little jelly.
Here’s a list of foods I bought to take home for later consumption:
— MBP (mango, berry, peach) Cobbler from Cobblermania
— Berliner Jelly Donut from The Ridiculous Baking Co.
— Two cashew cheese flavors (Smoked Buddha Gouda and Golden Road Pub Cheese) from Nary Dairy
— Fried «Chicken», Vegan Bacon Mac n Cheese, and Cole Slaw from Clean South
Shoutout to Cobblermania and Nary Dairy for holding onto my purchases until the end of the event. So convenient to pick it up when I was ready to leave. Cobblermania included a $ 2 coupon and Nary Dairy threw in some extra cashew cheeses when I went to pick up my purchase. Scored me some Sriracha Kimcheese and Freaky Feta. They even gave me some pretzel sticks. This was Nary Dairy’s last event before stopping production. So sad to hear that but I’m glad I finally got to check them out. Those cashew cheeses are GOOD!!!
Even though I didn’t partake in Donut Friend awesomeness, my friend totally got her Bacon 182 on
.
As for entertainment, it wouldn’t be Oktoberfest without the Chicken Dance. However I was more entertained by this oompah band cover of The Proclaimers. I posted a video but I think you can only view it through the Unilocal mobile app.
BTW, the Happy Cow mascot tried to get fresh with me! All in good fun I’m sure but it totally caught me off guard o_​O
Overall, I had fun! I didn’t spring for the VIP tix (early entry) but considering all that I experienced, I don’t think I really needed it. Not sure if I’m willing to pay full price for a ticket (they run $ 45 — $ 55 or $ 20 for non-​alcohol tix) but if I caught another discount deal, I’d totally be on that. Prost!

Well planned and thought through. Nice event. Good job to all the planning folks. I will be back next year for sure. Thanks!

Awesome event… lot of fun… lines aren’t too terrible… great beer… less crowded than last year

I love that there is a vegan Oktoberfest (and the vegan brewfest at the rosebowl) and overall I think it was a great event. Lots of awesome food and drink options, including ginger beer and cold brew coffee. The food choices were great too (donut friend and the broke hungry vegan kraut and seitan sausage were favorites, and our friend also got buffalo cauliflower wings which were delicious). My only complaint was that several vendors ran out of beer on the early side, and the layout was a bit odd. But it was fun, worth the $ 45, and I’d go again next year.

My friends and I felt like we definitely got our money’s worth.
— very spacious
— a lot of variety
— good food
— friendly people
— lots of porta potties
Friends and I had a great time, they aren’t even vegetarian/​vegan and they talked about how fun and delicious this event was. We just wish the music was more traditional than what was playing. I mean, it’s great bands played American stuff for us to dance to, but it’s Oktoberfest! Where’s the German music?
I would definitely recommend this event! We’re excited to come back next year! I just hope it’ll actually feel like fall next year around this time… Cuz it was hot, and the lack of shade had us feeling nasty

Lucky and Hannah from Unilocal are the super most greatest folks. 2015 Vegan Oktoberfest is fun and filled with the friendliest people. Enjoyed ALL the food and ALL the brews! If you haven’t come out to enjoy the festivities then you need to get out here and see what a healthier side of life is all about. The new location is a great upgrade from where it started in Santa Monica. Love the fun and look forward to next year!

The event was really awesome. We got there at 1:30 and there was plenty of options. I really like it and consider going back next year.
I think next time they should consider the time factor. It was really hot and hard to stay under the sun that much.

So overall I’ll give them pretty solid marks for an awesome event. There was an over abundance of food options as well as beer vendors. This was my first year going but from what I’ve read, they’ve really acted on the feedback that they received. For $ 45 you got admission and unlimited beer. It was pretty legit considering you got three beer tickets to get three full glasses of beer and you got unlimited «half» fills so you could taste many different beers. They had a band playing on the stage the entire time so that was fun to keep the energy going. Just a few things I hope they’ll work on next year.
–Shade — seriously look at the pic I posted. There were tons of tables but none of them were in the shade. All of the natural shade is where the beer vendors were… They have tents. They don’t need shade.
-$ 20 non-​drinking admission — look I get it that you need to make money, but how come for $ 45 I get unlimited beer, but my designated driver has to pay $ 20 and gets nada?!? Add some bottled water or craft sodas or something to make the $ 20 worth it.
–Announce last call well in advance. It’s pretty lame when you’ve been waiting in a line to get your last pour at an event that ends at 5pm. Then at 4:35pm a guy on a megaphone makes and announcement that beer service will end in 2 minutes… You start your stop watch concerned about your line and one minute later… That’s right ONE minute later the same guy announces that beer service is closed! LAME!
–Sample Sizes — there is so much good food that it would be awesome if you required each of the vendors to offer a sample size of their items (for sale of course). I wanted to try the fried chicken and he buffalo chicken wings but didn’t really need a full order of both.
Other than those suggestions I’d say it’s a solid event and I’m glad we went! Look forward to checking it out next year.