This is a good idea and, frankly, would be the second annual as I held the first annual in my basement this summer with four attendees. I countered in his comments with a few ideas of how such a thing could work:
- Do not hold it around one event in one venue. Too compressed. Too manic. Not family friendly.
- Tell people to get to a particular beery city / region with their families during a given week/long weekend. Aim at booking houses through craigslist rather than hotel rooms.
- Have a couple of fixed events for all: maybe booking a craft beer bar, putting a band and catered BBQ in a community hall and hold an afternoon of presentations from just the attendees.
- Have sponsors cover costs of fixed events. Otherwise no real "fee" for attending other than covering own costs.
- Go to the beach. Go to minor league baseball games where pre-arranged cask ale supply has been set up. Arrange backyard BBQs at houses people rent.
- Otherwise, just hang out in various groups in a somewhat relaxed manner to discuss beer and beer blogging.
I see it as something a little more like stacking the deck of a summer vacation with enhanced beery opportunities. Less pressure to pound the four ounce samples like at a regular beer fest and more time to get to know each other and the beers that one can find in a city. More time to mini-putt.
I nominate Portland, Maine as the first site of this sort of holi-fest. I suspect Lew would have no issue with that choice.