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Last night, over several plates of very good food and a few equally fine beers, I participated in a volunteer brainstorming session dedicated to finding direction for a fledgling, 1-year-old beer fest held at a Toronto attraction called Black Creek Pioneer Village.

We batted around several ideas, many of them keyed towards illustrating the contrast between the ales of old and today’s modern brews, but in the end, I was left with the same question I asked myself at the outset:

What makes for a good beer festival?

It’s a query that on the surface seems easy to answer. Want a good beer fest, then get a lot of good beers, right? But think about all the fests you have attended or heard about and it quickly becomes apparent that the quantity or even general quality of the beer is not necessarily going to be the determining factor. After all, why should I care that there’s 1,500 beers available for tasting when I can only conceivably get to a few dozen? And what does it matter that the big breweries are present with all of their bland and boring fare, if sandwiched between the Goliaths are a dozen or more small but excellent Davids?

No, as counterintuitive as it may seem, there’s definitely a lot more to a beer festival than just beer. But since that horse is already out of the barn, let’s use it as a starting point.

I am generally unimpressed with beer fests that boast massive numbers of brands on offer. As noted above, if there is no way I can possibly sample even a fraction of them, what’s the point of adding hundreds and hundreds more beers to an already stacked listing? Selection counts, of course, as does a range of styles — save for at style-specific events like the Toronado’s annual barleywine fest in San Francisco, of course — but beyond a few hundred brands, I fail to see the benefit of piling on the numbers. The Great British Beer Festival usually features up to 400 or so cask-conditioned ales, which strikes me as quite sufficient, although I’ve also been quite satisfied with the six or seven dozen beers on offer at the Oregon Brewers Festival.

Where size does matter is in the serving, and here I must reiterate my oft-voiced complaint that it’s bloody difficult, if not downright impossible, to properly taste a beer in a single ounce portion. Sip (and spit, if you wish) mini-portions of your wines and spirits, by all means, but when it comes to beer, with its generally less intense and concentrated character, I beg you for three or four ounces, at least, so that I can properly taste the thing. The famed Belgian beer event, the Zythos Bier Festival, serves 15 centiliters, or about five ounces, which seems to me about right, even shareable.

So there, that’s about it for beer — selection and size, what more is there? Oh yes, quality. Make sure you’ve got some of that, most definitely, and don’t be afraid to get a little inventive. Years ago, I attended a now-defunct beer fest that featured a "Czech Lager B.B.," which back in the day was the only way to legally refer to the beer we now know as Czechvar on this side of the pond. On a disparate, but tangentially related note, one of the more interesting ideas raised last night was the presentation of the exact same beer dispensed in different ways: from a wooden barrel by way of gravity, from a modern cask via handpump, as a gas-pushed draught and in the bottle or can. Don’t know about you, but that’s something I’d go out of my way to experience.

Ambiance is naturally quite important, too, and could even rate higher than the beer on some scales. It will also, of course, vary according to attendee, with some wanting live music and others blessed silence, for instance, and those who love the crowded frenzy of a nightclub disagreeing with them what crave the conversation-friendly atmosphere of a pub. Still, a few constants will seem to hold true regardless.

Number one is crowding, as in avoid it. It goes without saying organizers should always make certain their crowds adhere to the legal limits of the venue, but it amazes me how many times at beer festivals I am expected to traverse insanely narrow aisles, bumping intimates with several hundred of my new closest friends. Some may get off on that kind of thing, but my guess is those folk aren’t really the target audience for most fests.

Also high on the ambiance list is music. Some will love it and others despise it, but if there is going to be a live band, let’s all be sure the acoustics of the hall can accommodate the sound. Nobody likes a band you can’t hear.

Food beyond the standard sausage and burgers is nice, but for me has never been a make or break proposition since I tend to plan my eating outside of the festival hours. Distractions from the beer, on the other hand, are great for adding scope to an event and giving people something to do beyond drinking beer, be they games, magazine stands, information booths or tutored tastings. And a little atmosphere beyond the "converted hockey arena" look is, to my mind, a blessing, as are clean and adequately numerous bathrooms.

Most importantly, I think it’s vital that festival organizers listen to their fans and critics and react accordingly. It’s how several prominent fests have become as good as they are — step forward OBF and Mondial, among others — and a stellar idea in any business. In some cases, I’d say it’s even a key to survival.