Brewfest

Brewfest is a holiday loosely based on the Bavarian. It contains quests and novelty things such as outfits, kegs, and riding rams. The main events are just outside of Ironforge and Orgrimmar, although there are also beer gardens set up outside of all the major cities. The only small exception to this is Shattrath; its beer garden is between the Aldor/Scryer elevators, likely so the city's sanctuary status would continue to be easily maintained. (There are even Teldrassil Pink Elekk to be seen within this area by the inebriated.)


 * Celebrated by both the Horde and the Alliance, the Brewfest is a time to enjoy the fermented fruits of the harvest: pretzels, cheese, and booze! The competing breweries Thunderbrew, Barleybrew, and the Ogres, all come together outside of all the major cities in a bid to outdo each other with their special ales, meads, and beers. Brave adventurers are invited to sit back, take a pull, and sample the finest wares these brewers have to offer!

In patch 5.4.0, Brewmaster Tsing and Brewmaster Tao set up a tent at the Brewfest Grounds outside Ironforge and Orgrimmar respectively, offering drinks created by pandaren brewmasters from across Pandaria. These brews are regularly sold only on the Timeless Isle.

In patch 8.2.0, Brewfest was updated to include many more races, including recently-released allied races such as Kul Tiran humans, void elves, Zandalari trolls and such.

Campground Chaos
Every thirty minutes, one group of either Coren Direbrew's lackeys, Mischevious Alementals, or hozen attack the festivities. Fend them off by drinking an Alcohol-Free Brewfest Sampler (or eighteen) and bonking the attackers on their heads with the empty bottles. Defeat all of the invaders and they will leave behind an object on the ground that can be looted once a day and turned in for 10x Brewfest Prize Token. In contrast to previous years, the humanoid invaders (but not the alementals) can also be attacked and damaged like normal mobs.
 * Contained Alemental (quest)
 * Direbrew Cog (quest)
 * Hozen Totem (quest)

Only one of these three quests can be completed a day. Even if players fend off different types of attackers, only one of the quests will be offered.

Brewfest Chowdown
Four players compete in an eating contest to clean ten plates of brats the fastest without choking. Each brat adds ~25% to the player's 'fullness' bar, which slowly goes down on its own, or players can take a drink to knock off 50% of the bar. Don't let the bar fill or the player will choke for three seconds, preventing all actions. Each plate has a random amount of brats to be eaten (from two to four), and after clearing a plate players must manually call for another.

The first time players participate for the quest Brewfest Chowdown, they will acquire 25x Brewfest Prize Token. Winning will award players a Chowdown Champion Token. Trade in five champion tokens for a Brewfest Chowdown Trophy. Well-played games take two minutes to complete, and after the contest players are debuffed with Full Stomach, preventing them from competing again for three minutes.

Brew For Brewfest
What good is Brewfest without brew? The organizers have opted to rope participants into the work by having them run kegs from a nearby town in exchange for 2x Brewfest Prize Token each run. Before doing the run, players are taught the mechanics in one-off quests Now This is Ram Racing... Almost. to learn the four mount speeds, and There and Back Again to learn the route and location of the apple barrels (and pick up 10 tokens).

After learning the route, players will be given the daily quest Brew For Brewfest. Completing the quest instantly starts the minigame, and plants players on the mount. If not ready to start the game, don't complete the quest! The mount buff lasts for four minutes, and thirty seconds are added to the buff with each run, so good runners can clear north of fifteen runs (worth 30 tokens) each day, as efficient runs take roughly 45 seconds to complete. Dismounting will end the run for the day.

For more details and tips, see the racing ram tips section.

Coren Direbrew
Level 20+ players can queue for the Coren Direbrew encounter in Blackrock Depths. The first time players kill him, he drops Direbrew's Dire Brew, which starts Direbrew's Dire Brew (quest). Killing Coren also awards the achievement Direbrewfest.

Once a day, he will drop a Keg-Shaped Treasure Box for players level 20-109 or a Keg-Shaped Treasure Chest for players level 110+, which contains 10-15x Brewfest Prize Token, and a rare chance of some of the following:
 * Great Brewfest Kodo (110+ only)
 * Swift Brewfest Ram (110+ only)
 * Direbrew's Remote
 * Direbrew's Bloodied Shanker
 * Terrific Tankard O' Terror
 * Tremendous Tankard O' Terror

Direbrew also directly drops trinkets, which for max level players are at item level 425:
 * Bitterest Balebrew Charm
 * Brawler's Statue
 * Bubbliest Brightbrew Charm
 * Coren's Cold Chromium Coaster
 * Mithril Wristwatch
 * Thousand-Year Pickled Egg

Barking for Brews
Players can choose to bark for one of two competing breweries each day using a loaned racing ram (just like on the keg runs). The wrinkle is that there are no apple barrels to clear the ram's exhaustion bar, so players will need to pace their rams. Players will earn 15x Brewfest Prize Token each day by completing one of the following quests:
 * Bark for the Barleybrews! or Bark for the Thunderbrews!
 * Bark for Drohn's Distillery! or Bark for T'chali's Voodoo Brewery!

One-off quests
When Brewfest begins, players will get a breadcrumb to the festivities from commoners in capital cities, in the form of the quest Brewfest!. Should players skip the breadcrumb, Welcome to Brewfest! is offered instead. Both quests offer a free drink.

First-time revelers will be offered the quest A New Supplier of Souvenirs, which rewards the Overflowing Purple Brewfest Stein.

Players can learn how to fend off invasions by drinking beers and chucking the empties at a S.T.O.U.T. for 10x Brewfest Prize Token in the quest Chug and Chuck!.

At the event grounds, should players find themselves drunk (whether from alcohol or the Synthebrew Goggles), they will be able to see wolpertingers. Capture five for Catch the Wild Wolpertinger! to earn the Wolpertinger's Tankard battle pet, awarding the achievement Does Your Wolpertinger Linger?.

Continuing the drunk escapades, players are asked to go on a world tour in Pink Elekks On Parade, using their provided Elekk Dispersion Ray to dispel three elekks outside other capital cities. This is worth 40x Brewfest Prize Token!

The Tapping of the Keg
At a little past 6:10 AM and 6:10 PM region time (CEST or PDT), representatives from the breweries arrive at their faction's respective Brewfest camp to give a short speech and just before 6:15, tap the small keg on the stand at the Brewfest grounds. Characters attending this ceremony receive a Brewfest Enthusiast buff granting 10% extra experience for two hours. If a character still has the buff from an earlier Tapping, the duration will not be refreshed, so players should be sure to cancel their existing buff before trying to get a new two hour one. This buff does persist through death.


 * Alliance
 * yell
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 * say
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 * Horde
 * yell
 * say
 * say
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 * say
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 * say
 * say
 * yell
 * yell
 * yell
 * yell
 * yell
 * say
 * say

Collectables and rewards
Brewfest offers many rewards for players who participate, most of which are available for purchase using the event currency: Brewfest Prize Token. Players can earn roughly 70 tokens a day:
 * from daily invasion and barking quests
 * from Coren Direbrew's first defeat of the day
 * per run from the Brew For Brewfest daily, which can be worth north of 30 tokens if played well.

Mounts
Two mounts are rarely contained in the Keg-Shaped Treasure Chest, which drops from Coren Direbrew once a day for players level 110 and above:
 * Great Brewfest Kodo
 * Swift Brewfest Ram

Should players manage to loot one they will earn the achievement A Brew-FAST Mount.

Pets
One pet is a quest reward:
 * Wolpertinger's Tankard

Three pets can be purchased for each:
 * Pint-Sized Pink Pachyderm
 * Stout Alemental
 * Wolpertinger's Tankard

Toys
Six toys are available for purchase from the token redemption vendors Blix Fixwidget and Belbi Quikswitch:
 * Pandaren Brewpack
 * Brewfest Keg Pony
 * Brewfest Pony Keg
 * Steamworks Sausage Grill
 * Brewfest Banner
 * Brewfest Reveler's Hearthstone

One toy is available for purchase from the sausage vendors Keiran Donoghue and Bron:
 * Gravil Goldbraid's Famous Sausage Hat

One toy is a reward for winning the Brewfest Chowdown five times:
 * Brewfest Chowdown Trophy

Transmog

 * Disturbing the Peace
 * Blue Brewfest Hat
 * Brown Brewfest Hat
 * Green Brewfest Hat
 * Purple Brewfest Hat
 * Brewfest Dress
 * Brewfest Regalia
 * Brewfest Slippers
 * Brewfest Boots
 * Bottomless Brewfest Stein
 * Garland of Grain
 * Tabard of Brew
 * Belbi's Eyesight Enhancing Romance Goggles, Alliance only
 * Blix's Eyesight Enhancing Romance Goggles, Horde only
 * Synthebrew Goggles XL

Other

 * Have Keg, Will Travel
 * Fresh Goblin Brewfest Hops, Alliance only
 * Fresh Dwarven Brewfest Hops, Horde only
 * Fresh Brewfest Hops
 * Preserved Brewfest Hops
 * Brewhelm
 * "Brew of the Month" Club Membership Form --> Brew of the Month and Brew of the Year
 * Angry Brewfest Letter
 * Ancient Heirloom Scabbard
 * Timeworn Heirloom Scabbard
 * Weathered Heirloom Scabbard
 * Battle-Hardened Heirloom Scabbard

Food and drink
Many vendors sell themed food and drink from their faction. Sampling a sufficient variety of food and drink will award the achievements Strange Brew (Alliance)/Strange Brew (Horde) and The Brewfest Diet. They are also eligible for the general achievements Tastes Like Chicken and It's Happy Hour Somewhere.

History
The origin of Brewfest is recounted in the graphic novel Pearl of Pandaria.

Shortly before traveling to Kalimdor and meeting the halfbreed Rexxar, the famous pandaren brewmaster Chen Stormstout, having been overwhelmingly recommended to try Thunderbrew beer, found his way to Dun Morogh and Grimbooze Thunderbrew at Thunderbrew Distillery, challenging the dwarf to a drinking contest to decide who was the better brewer. In the end, when the two were nearly passed out, Chen declared Grimbooze to be superior. However, Grimbooze liked Chen's beer more. After a brief and lighthearted argument, the two decided to hold a contest in Dun Morogh for all dwarves to taste their drinks and decide. Coren Direbrew whined his way into getting a position in the contest as well. In the end, Chen and Grimbooze were neck-in-neck while Coren only had two votes, one from himself and one from Chen out of pity. The Dark Iron attacked them in anger, and Chen fought him off. Grimbooze's brew was declared the victor by a single vote.

The festival continued annually, with the Gordok ogres replacing Coren and the Barleybrew dwarves replacing Chen, eventually evolving into the modern Brewfest. Coren Direbrew, never forgetting his humiliation, has led attacks on the festival every year since.

It's a shame that Direbrew couldn't keep his temper in check, for while his brew at the time may have been substandard, his current Dire Brew could have been the talk of Brewfest... if he hadn't gotten himself uninvited all those years ago.

Brewfest now holds appeal among all the races of Azeroth and beyond, serving as a celebration of both Azerothian and brew culture. Mag'har orcs lead the celebrations on the side of the Horde. Being a contrarian, Coren Direbrew kept attacking the Alliance festivities despite the Dark Iron clan formally joining them before.

Grimbooze's son Ragnar co-hosts the tapping of the keg with Maeve Barleybrew, but while giving their speech, claimed that it was his father that founded the festival, without mentioning Chen at all.

Brew and buffs
Brewfest is about brew, and the brew is good, and is cheap or free.

There are three brew vending stalls in the Brewfest celebrations, selling brews for various levels. Two sell faction-specific brew selections, and both celebrations have neutral ogre brew vendors. The brews vended by the brewers are both alcoholic (inebriating), refresh mana like a drink, and provide a well fed buff, similar to the Rumsey Rums. The brewers have representatives at other cities vending the same brews. There are three vendors vending three kinds of brew each, several tiered by level allowed to drink and a few high-end brews with different buffs. The prices are good relative to similar mana refreshments. Beware, these Brewfest libation items, labeled "requires Brewfest", disappear when Brewfest ends.

Note that Shattrath City has a small celebration with three brew vendors. Whereas the other cities' vendors are strictly faction specific, not counting the ogre vendors common to both factions, one of the vendors in Shattrath is a neutral goblin wearing a dwarf mask selling dwarven Thunderbrews. The third vendor in Shattrath is an Orc selling Drohn's brews, who will not sell to Alliance characters.

There are also four smaller stalls, three selling food, a bread vendor, a cheese vendor, and a sausage vendor, and one wine vendor selling other normally available inebriating drinks. The food vendors sell both special Brewfest items and normal vended food. The specific Brewfest foods have a well-fed buff and cost half as much as similar level vendor food that do not provide a buff. Beware, these Brewfest repast items, labeled "requires Brewfest", also disappear when Brewfest ends. These vendors are at the main celebrations only. These vendors will not sell cross-faction, but the same Brewfest food is available from both factions vendors.

There is an achievement, Strange Brew (Alliance), Strange Brew (Horde) to sample each purchasable Brewfest brew, and an achievement, The Brewfest Diet, to sample each purchasable Brewfest food. These food and drink items also count toward the Tastes Like Chicken and It's Happy Hour Somewhere achievements.

One sample, a choice of three, is given as a reward by the lead-in quest to find the Brewfest. This includes an option for the lowest brew that anyone can drink, thus, all can participate. This sample is the same item as you would purchase from one of the brew vendors, and counts toward the drinking achievements.

Brewfest Steins

 * 2007's Stein: Yellow Brewfest Stein
 * 2008's Stein: Blue Brewfest Stein
 * 2009/2010's Stein: Green Brewfest Stein
 * 2011 and onward: Overflowing Purple Brewfest Stein

A Brewfest Stein is awarded for the completing an easy Souvenir quest (see Quests below) which will allow you to drink a few of these selections for free. These are used to collect a drink from the sample kegs, of which there are three available, one for each vendor. One of these is again the lowest brew that anyone can drink. The sample kegs are available at the main celebrations and at the city celebrations, but note that the ogre's samples at the city celebrations look like a wagon full of smaller kegs, not like a huge keg. These samples have the name of the purchasable brew and cause inebriation, but do not count toward the drinking achievements.

You can use the Brewfest Stein to collect a sample of brew that is above your level. Drinking this will cause you to vomit shortly afterward.

You can also collect samples of brews of the other faction from their sample kegs. These will act as normal for a brew of their level of your own faction. Drinking a cross-faction sample does not count for any achievement.

The complementary sample brews used to pelt the Dark Iron dwarves are now non-alcoholic, and so actively participating in the defense will no longer get you plastered. These also do not count toward the drinking achievements.

Other than the brewers there are many Brewfest Revelers around getting drunk, cheering, and dancing. Having a /drink with one of the Brewfest Revelers will reward you with a 15 stamina buff for 30 minutes.

For those who want to control their impairment, a pair of Synthebrew Goggles are available for the asking from or. These goggles give a "buff" that simulates inebriation for the purposes of Brewfest and can be removed quickly by removing the goggles (normal inebriation requires time to dissipate).

Brewfest mounts
Two holiday mounts, the Swift Brewfest Ram and the Great Brewfest Kodo, are available as rare loot from defeating the holiday boss encounter, Coren Direbrew. Once per day after queueing for and defeating him using the Dungeon Finder tool, players will receive a Keg-Shaped Treasure Chest that has a low chance to contain either mount. Despite being clearly Alliance- and Horde-themed, either mount is an equally likely drop for any player regardless of faction.

In the first Brewfest in 2007, Brewfest Ram and Swift Brewfest Ram were purchased, not looted. The "Honorary Brewer" Hand Stamp was sold for 600, which started a quick quest that allowed the player to purchase the mounts with gold. Any player who has completed the quest can still purchase the rams, but the Hand Stamp itself is no longer obtainable. Therefore, the Brewfest Ram is only available to those players. Note that both factions offered Rams for purchase; the Kodo was introduced later.

Token redemption
There are several items you can get from redeeming. To redeem your tokens, or turn 2007's into tokens, visit
 * at the Alliance Brewfest grounds outside Ironforge
 * in the Stonefire Tavern in Ironforge.
 * at the Horde Brewfest grounds outside Orgrimmar
 * in the Valley of Spirits in Orgrimmar

Larkin Thunderbrew and Ray'ma remain available all year round and will vend to you if you have Brewfest Prize Tokens, but as of Brewfest 2009, it is no longer possible to buy from them after Brewfest since the Tokens now disappear the moment Brewfest ends. (For Brewfest 2008 they redeemed Brewfest Prize Tokens for some time after Brewfest 2008 ended (as long as your tokens had not expired, several days, depending on when you earned them.) They did not offer to vend after Brewfest unless you were carrying at least one Brewfest Prize Token. It was, for instance, possible in 2008 to purchase a Wolpertinger from them for cash as long as you were carrying a Brewfest Token.)

Since 2007's prize tickets do not expire, it is best not to convert them into tokens until you want to use them to make a purchase.

Note that any item labeled 'requires Brewfest' disappears when Brewfest ends. The hops, in particular, come in multiple varieties (only three per faction), but only the Preserved Brewfest Hops remains after Brewfest. (The buff from a hops to change your mount remains in force when Brewfest ends, for the duration of the buff.)

Quests

 * Brewfest! from Commoners found in every major city.
 * Welcome to Brewfest!
 * Direbrew's Dire Brew (quest) from Direbrew's Dire Brew
 * Chug and Chuck!
 * This One Time, When I Was Drunk...
 * Now This is Ram Racing... Almost.
 * There and Back Again
 * - didn't quite follow regular quest mechanics, but was the repeatable Racing Ram delivery run. It was not a daily, but rather a kind of repeatable quest that refreshed every 18 hours (see Bugs below). In 2011, this was formalized into the daily:
 * Brew For Brewfest
 * Bark for the Barleybrews! or Bark for the Thunderbrews!
 * Bark for Drohn's Distillery! or Bark for T'chali's Voodoo Brewery!
 * Did Someone Say "Souvenir?" 2007 only
 * Say, There Wouldn't Happen to be a Souvenir This Year, Would There? 2008 only
 * Another Year, Another Souvenir. 2009, 2010 only
 * A New Supplier of Souvenirs 2011 onward
 * Brew of the Month Club (quest) from "Brew of the Month" Club Membership Form
 * Catch the Wild Wolpertinger! (Rewards Wolpertinger's Tankard)
 * Pink Elekks On Parade
 * Brewfest Chowdown

Continuing to help out Brewfest
After completing the quest "There and Back Again" by your respective faction, you will unlock the quest the previous two were training you for: Brew_For_Brewfest from your faction's. There is a unique daily to help out by delivering more ale from the village/crash site to the. Once accepted, this quest will automatically complete itself; the amount of tokens that are rewarded is completely up to you and your ram racing skill.

Just as the previous quests, this quest gives you a Rental Racing Ram for four minutes. If the Rental Racing Ram buff is dispelled or canceled, you cannot restore it; you simply have to wait for dailies to reset. If you accidentally Blink yourself off the ram, you will have consumed your attempt. If you are shapeshifted, you will be unable to mount the ram, but you will have consumed your attempt. When the mechanic is started, you will be given Ram Racing Reins, however, you can also request them from the neighboring NPC to get a head start, usually to place the reins in a favorable action bar slot.

The quest mechanic works the same as the There and Back Again quest, except that for each successful delivery, you are awarded an extra 30 seconds on your Rental Racing Ram buff and.

The maximum number of tokens that can be obtained is debatable. It is known that the ram racing buff will last a maximum of 15 minutes, regardless of all other factors (including any time the buff shows). However, within that limit, the number of potential runs is limited by the time it takes to deliver each barrel:


 * Number of runs = 210 seconds / (run time in seconds - 30 seconds)

Ignore any remainder on the number of runs - partial runs do not count. Remember that each run gives, so for example, if you have 6 successful runs you will receive. Multiple contributors have reported several runs of 23 rounds, which is just over 39 seconds on average (remembering the first round is slower), and hits the 15 minute maximum duration for the buff.

Invasions
As of patch 8.2.0, the enemies that invade Brewfest camps are hozen, alementals, and Dark Iron dwarves. Alcohol-Free Brewfest Samplers come in handy.

Direbrew's lackies
When Direbrew Invaders attack, they need to be knocked out by mugs. Once the attacks are repelled, Direbrew Cog (quest) can be picked from Direbrew Cog.


 * Start
 * yell


 * Victory
 * yell


 * Defeat
 * yell

Hozen
During hozen attacks, Hozen Raiders and Hozen Flyers need to be knocked out. Once the attacks are repelled, Hozen Totem (quest) can be picked from Hozen Totem.


 * Start
 * yell


 * Victory
 * yell

Alementals
During alemental attacks, Mischevious Alementals need to be knocked out. After the alementals are defeated, Contained Alemental (quest) can be picked from Contained Alemental


 * Start
 * yell


 * Defeat (after 5 min)
 * yell

Dark Iron attacks pre-8.2
Every half hour, a party of Dark Iron Guzzlers will crash the party at the main Brewfest grounds outside Ironforge and Orgrimmar. Hitting these dwarves with a beer mug will knock them out cold, thus 'killing' them and stopping them from stealing the free brew. Here's how you can participate in saving the free brew for the invited guests:

Pick up a Alcohol-Free Brewfest Sampler from any one of the square tables. Using this item will cause you to quickly drink it and throw the empty mug. Staying in range (roughly 40 yards) of the NPCs that represent each brewery around the area while using a complementary brew sampler will cause the Barkers and Brewmaidens to toss you another sample. If you need to, you can always manually loot another one from the table.

If there are Dark Irons close enough and in front of the player, the mug you throw will likely hit one of them in the head and knock them out. It is a random chance and does not depend on character level. This is a somewhat unique battle in WoW where a low-level character can contribute as much as a high-level character. It is useful to bind the mug to a hotkey in order to drink and throw rapidly. The mug works even with no Dark Irons around; it will either hit your target or if you have no target it just lands on the ground.

It is not useful to chase the Dark Irons. The empty mugs travel quite far, and moving interrupts throwing. In addition, the Dark Irons have a brawling move that throws player characters away from them and interrupts throwing mugs, so keeping your distance allows you to attack more often. Standing behind a keg you are defending prevents the Dark Irons from reaching you. The mugs have an adequate range, but you may find that you need to move forward if you've eliminated all of your targets.

Frequently, Super Brew Stein‎, which are large silver mugs, will be placed on the ground. Walking through one of these mugs will give the player a whirlwind attack buff for several seconds. When one such mug is placed on the ground, a Barker/Brewmaiden will yell out "say". If you get the buff, aim yourself at large groups of Dark Irons to stun them en mass. Note that this ONLY stuns them, it does not kill them off - but this may be more effective; the stun time appears to be longer than the replacement time, and the replacement rate seems to target a fixed number of Dark Irons invading. In general, stunning groups of dark irons will turn them into sitting ducks, allowing other players enough time to pick off individuals, then take out the stationary groups.

Super Brew Steins can also be ridden over with a mount. Using a mount with a 'tall footprint' such as gnome Mechanostrider mounts, troll Raptor mounts or blood elf Hawkstrider mounts should allow you to view the red trail easier. You will gain the Drunken Master buff while being able to speed around on a mount. Being mounted will also let you get to the Steins much faster and allow other players to focus on defense. If you are level 60, you can use your flying mount. Oddly, the Steins can be taken by combat pets, and even stranger, the Blingtron 4000 can also receive the buff. On the very rare occasion, a Barker/Brewmaiden can spawn the mug right in front of themselves and end up with the buff instead.

Beating the waves of Dark Irons is a group effort: there are too many and the drink and toss rate is too low for any one character to do this by themselves. Your assistance is always welcome by other defenders, but if you are setting aside time to do this for the quest tokens, do it at a time when the server, particularly PvP servers, is busy so that you will be part of a heavily defended Brewfest celebration. On the other hand, surprisingly few people can succeed at this defense.

The Dark Iron Mole Machine Wreckage, a large cog, only spawns if the Dark Irons are defeated, which is accomplished by defending the free beer kegs for five minutes. It will offer the quest This One Time, When I Was Drunk... so you can get your tokens. One way to tell that things are going well is if the Dark Iron Song is sung all the way through, which is five minutes. If at least one keg survives the attack, the players win.

You do not have to take part in the defense in order to collect this quest. The cog is available for anyone to loot if the defenders are successful. You can log several characters out near the cog and rapidly switch and loot the cog when it appears. The cog will remain for 15 minutes.

The Chug and Chuck! quest is training for how to throw the mugs to do the defense, but you do not have to complete the Chug and Chuck! quest first. You do have to loot a sample mug from a table in order to participate, and the sample mugs behave like conjured items; they disappear when you log out, and you will have to loot another one to participate in a defense. The Chug and Chuck! mugs are the same lootable mugs as the defense mugs and can be used for the defense.

You can defend against the Dark Iron attack at the opposing faction's Brewfest celebration, but you will not have replacement mugs tossed to you, you will have to loot them from the tables, and you will not be able to loot the Dark Iron cog for the daily quest if successful. (It doesn't make sense that the cog would know your faction, but it does make sense that neither faction's quest end point will reward you for the defense.) If you attempt this, it is helpful to stand on or near one of the tables.

The defeated Dark Irons running toward their exit point can still be attacked and will still knock you back. Stunned Dark Irons who revive late can occasionally be seen running to the despawn point after their conveyance has departed.

If you need to clear a bag slot quickly (see ram racing below), the lootable defense mug is a good item to toss, since it can be easily replaced.

During the first Brewfest event in 2007, a stacking mark buff was awarded to individual players based on how many Dark Irons they had knocked out, which could then be turned into tickets. However, this system was chaotic and unreliable at best, and the attacks had to be disabled for the rest of the holiday. For 2008 the Dark Iron Mole Machine Wreckage was implemented instead.

It used to be that the event was harder to do if you have good graphics. With poor graphics, you did not get the full effect of inebriation from the alcoholic Complimentary Brewfest Sampler, and could still see your targets. With good graphics, as the defense progresses, you became plastered, your screen blurs, and your targets will be vague blobs. The mechanics of the defense do not require you to see your targets to hit them, but it is useful to be able to see where defense is needed, and that part gets harder. Many players simply decided to disable the effect. To disable the visual effect of inebriation, type the following command (without the quote marks) into your game chat window: "/console ffxGlow 0". (If you desire to re-enable the effect, simply change the zero into a one, like so: "/console ffxGlow 1".)

Dark Iron Song, sung by the unseen Dark Iron Herald during the event:


 * say
 * say
 * say
 * say


 * say
 * say
 * say
 * say


 * say
 * say
 * say
 * say


 * say
 * say
 * say
 * say


 * say
 * say
 * say
 * say


 * Dark Irons win
 * yell


 * Alliance wins:
 * yell


 * Horde wins:
 * yell

Racing ram tips
Several of the quests involve the racing rams, including the barking runs and the keg delivery. The ram racing event mechanics do not depend on character level.

The rams have 5 speeds, accessed through the special button (Giddyup!) that appears above your action bar. Using Giddyup! "encourages" the ram to speed up; encourage it enough times and its speed increases (see the speed table below). It takes a few clicks to go up to the next speed and you have to click on a regular basis to stay in a speed range. Clicking faster than the maintenance rate will speed up the pace, while not clicking for a while will slow down. Binding your reins to a hot key will give you an easier method to more easily and precisely control your use of your reins. The first ram practice quest that teaches you how to achieve the speeds.

If you get into Canter and Gallop speeds, you get a stacking debuff called Ram Fatigue which tracks your ram's fatigue. If this debuff stacks to 100, your ram becomes exhausted and slows almost to a crawl for 15 seconds. It is essential that you manage your ram's fatigue, and the two repeatable ram racing events, delivery and barking, provide two different means for doing so.

Starting the keg delivery quest (but not the barking quests) will place the Ram Racing Reins in your bag. Players can use the item to perform the same effect as the Giddyup! special button. The easiest way to do this is to place the item on the action bar and hit the corresponding key. The item can also be obtained by talking to a nearby NPC. While using the special button may be simpler for some, it is far more restrictive, since players must regularly click the button with the mouse while also steering at the same time. Players aiming to optimise the ease and longevity of their ram riding may therefore wish to make use of the Reins item instead; alternatively it is possible to make a macro with " ", performing the same function.

Keg delivery
Ramstein's Swift Work Ram lasts for a total of 4 minutes. During the keg delivery daily quest, the time limit for the ram is increased by 30 seconds for each keg delivered. However, the buff has a maximum duration of 15 minutes. Even if you deliver the 23rd keg successfully, which increases the duration to 15m30s, you will be dismounted at the 15m mark. If you gallop the whole way, a single keg trip can easily take as little as 40–60 seconds, earning you 2, meaning that expert ram riders can stretch out the 4-minute keg run to 10 minutes or more, getting more than 20 Brewfest Prize Tokens (down from 50 in the beginning of the event in 2007: this was only a deliberate increase to make up for the Dark Iron attacks being disabled).

For the keg deliveries, there are apple barrels which, if you ride by closely enough, will remove the Ram Fatigue debuff entirely and allow it to start at zero again. This is very important to maximize token gain from the keg delivery daily quest, allowing you to gallop at full speed throughout the event. (The apple barrels work on any ram, and there are some barrels near the barker quest NPCs, but the barking run does not have barrels along the barking route.)

Players with lag may find that riding past the barrels does not always dispel the debuff. If this happens to you, compensate by ramming the barrels for a half second or so and then slide around them. An alternate method is to make an arching, banana shaped path around the barrel resulting in a longer path through the barrel's trigger radius without having to actually pause the forward movement of the ram. Jumping in the proximity of the barrel seems to give you a fraction of a second longer for the fatigue dispel to proc. This extra time in proximity to the barrel will reduce the chance that you will miss your reset and exhaust your ram. In the 2007 Brewfest you could stop (by pressing the key that would normally cause you to back up) momentarily, again creating extra time in proximity to the barrel, but this is no longer.

You should keep tabs on the fatigue debuff and watch for the red flash when it dispels, but beware, the red flash is an unreliable indication, check that the debuff reset to zero. If the debuff fails to dispel, it is much more expedient to return to the barrel than to allow the Exhausted Ram to proc.

Picking up a keg will result in an emote and notification that the keg item has been acquired, as well as a special sound. However, these do not occur until around a second after the pickup has in fact been triggered. Even later, the NPC can be seen to throw the keg to you; the keg itself will travel slowly through the air, usually reaching the ram a few seconds later. Turning in a keg similarly provides an emote, notification and sound, again around a second after the turn-in has actually been triggered. The keg and tokens will also appear in the player's inventory.

Note that the process of both picking up a keg and returning one are triggered while still at a significant distance from the related NPC (especially the former). Because of this, with practice, you can turn back from the NPC around a second before confirmation of the hand-off has been received. Use visual landmarks, such as the distance from the nearest fence, to mentally mark the earliest possible cut-off point. While risky, this can shave substantial amounts of time off your run, allowing you to return more kegs each time. If a hand-off fails to trigger, simply immediately race back toward the NPC before too much time is lost.

The best time of day to do this quest is when the server is least busy, because you will have less problem with events not proccing. Evening is the prime time to avoid, if your schedule allows it.



Optimal path for Alliance
There are four apple barrels along the route - barrel 1 in the ram pen, barrel 2 at the crossing, barrel 3 at the gnome house (new in 2008); this was moved to across the street in 2009, and barrel 4 in Kharanos behind the keg thrower (moved in 2009 to near the carts on the other side of the street). You should avoid using barrel 4, since barrel 3 is so close to the keg thrower. Just make a quick 180 shortly before you'd ride past the guard (Ironforge Mountaineer), and ride back to barrel 3. Similarly, you should avoid using barrel 1, since barrel 2 is so close to the keg receiver. Just make a quick 180 shortly after you ride into the clearing where the receiver stands. You should use as few barrels as possible; each entails a slight but cumulative delay. There are a few fast routes, but you will have to compromise some guidelines.


 * Strategy 1 - The first strategy is less risky, but a little slower (14-15 deliveries). Just ride to barrel 3, get the keg, ride back to barrel 3, then ride to barrel 1 at the ram pen (skipping barrel 2 entirely). Rinse and repeat. Uses 3 refreshment barrels.


 * Strategy 2 - The second strategy is like the first, but reverses the refreshing scheme. Ride to barrel 2, ride toward barrel 4, but approach from the keg thrower's side. There is a line of barrels stacked near the road, if you ride along either side of that, you are close enough to get a keg. Ride around keg four, or jump and spin over it, and ride back to barrel 2. Ride toward the keg receiver, turn in the clearing before you get to him, and repeat. Uses 3 refreshment barrels.


 * Strategy 3 - The third route (16-20 deliveries) goes like this: You start by going to barrel 3, get the keg, ride to barrel 3, then ride towards the ram pen in a straight line. Now there are two flags in front of the ram pen: Flag 1 in front of it next to a big tree, and another one next to a smaller tree. When you ride a couple yards past flag 1, you'll throw your keg. Make a quick turn there, and ride around the big tree towards barrel 2. Your fatigue should be 50-55 when you make that turn. Just to be safe you should stop using your Ram Racing Reins at 45-50 fatigue. You'll fall back to Canter when your debuff stacks to ~90 (this is where it gets a little risky). Just make sure your debuff resets, then start using the Reins again and Gallop to barrel 3, etc. So this is the path: Barrel 3, pick up the keg, barrel 3, deliver, barrel 2, barrel 3, pick up the keg, barrel 3, deliver, 2->3->pick up->3->deliver->2->3 etc. Uses 3 refreshment barrels, none of which are end point turns.


 * Strategy 4 - (~18-20 deliveries) Another route you might want to try is hit both middle barrels in both directions, and skip both end barrels: (start), barrel 2, barrel 3, pick-up (yards in front of the NPC), barrel 3, barrel 2, deliver (yards in front of the NPC), repeat. This is a very fast, yet forgiving route, and you can adjust your pickup and delivery turns as you gain confidence. Uses 4 refreshment barrels, none of which are end point turns. This is slower than the third strategy, but the timing is not as tight, so it is less risky as you are building confidence.


 * Strategy 5 - It's possible to use only barrel 3. The path is very simple: Barrel 3, pick up, barrel 3, deliver. You should only try this route if you're very good at using the jumping trick below (keep the Galloping speed midair while only getting Canter fatigue ticks). You need to use it about 6 times when delivering the keg. It's the fastest possible route (very close to a straight line), but also the hardest. Tip: Practice with the ram from the barking quest.



Optimal path for Horde
Since 2011 and due to the Cataclysm, the path for the keg run was dramatically changed, forcing players to ride through a heavily obstructive blockade.


 * Optimal path:
 * 1) From the NPC, ride directly through the tent and jump over the fence.
 * 2) Navigate carefully around or between the two fires; it is easy to get stuck on these, but try to find the most direct route.
 * 3) Pass the barrel, and duck left to avoid hitting the crates.
 * 4) Set a course tightly skirting the edge of the small hill to the far right. This section leads the player across the main duelling spot for Orgrimmar, and just to the right of the Honored Ancestor NPCs.
 * 5) Once the hill is reached, turn right slightly to set a straight path to the next apple barrel, which will now be visible.
 * 6) Once the barrel is reached, immediately turn right, sticking close to the barricade without getting stuck on it.
 * 7) Once past the barricade, turn straight toward the keg-throwing NPC.
 * 8) A few yards after dropping down onto the lighter-coloured path, do a full 180 degree turn and head back toward the barricade. The NPC will throw the keg to you a moment later. This part can take practice to get just right, but can shave valuable seconds of your run.
 * 9) Return to the hand-in NPC following the same course. A second or two after jumping the fence, and before reaching the tent, again do a sharp 180 degree turn and start the course again; the NPC will accept your turn-in a moment later. You'll need to immediately jump the fence, which can be tricky. Aim for the left part of the fence, which is lower.

If jumping the fence and riding through the center of the blockade works is too tricky, follow this course instead:
 * Easier version:
 * 1) From the NPC, ride north to where the spiked barricades end, and turn right. You'll see the apple barrel directly ahead, without any further obstructions.
 * 2) From here, follow the optimal instructions above. If you're worried about missing the pick-up, wait until you receive notification before turning back.
 * 3) On the return, turn right at the final apple barrel, returning to the hand-in NPC by the same route.

Whatever the route, the Horde course features ample apple barrels, with little reason or good opportunity to skip them. Because of this, the player should keep the ram at full speed for the entire duration.
 * Specific tips

General tips

 * A tip for quick, easy course changes: Once you get your ram pointed on a clear straight path to an apple barrel or keg pick-up or drop-off point, rotate your camera to face the direction you'll want to travel after getting there. That way, when you reach your destination, you can press the right mouse button to change your heading instantly and accurately. The rams are always running, but the game still keeps track of whether your character is in run or stand mode. If you are in run mode many peoples' camera swings to face forward. You can just press your key bound to turn off movement. Your ram will still be running, but your camera will stay in place as if you were standing still.

You can also hold down your left mouse button after rotating the view to remain facing where you've turned the camera. While doing this, pressing the right mouse button will instantly change the direction as above.

Another tip to try and maximize your runs involves jumping. If you jump while your ram is Galloping, then in midair you switch to Canter, you can get a few seconds of Gallop speed with the fatigue cost of Canter. So with some good timing you can get 2 to 4 seconds of free Gallop time between the barrel thrower and the apples. Also for those without lag, take note of how soon you can turn around. It's much sooner than you may think.

Keep your thumb on the space bar to jump, because you will get hung up on scenery items, and jumping will usually release you. If that doesn't work, try quick turns.

If the Exhausted Ram debuff procs, you are kind of screwed; even if you are at a barrel, with zero fatigue, the debuff will run for its full 15 seconds. Don't sweat it, just do your best and get the most tokens you can out of the remainder of the run. If the debuff procs and your fatigue is still high, around 85, then trot or canter to the nearest barrel, don't gallop, then resume the run after you've cleared your fatigue.

To restate the point, if you can consistently shave seconds off your runs, you will get more tokens. Don't feel bad if you screw up, it is a learning process, and this run has all kinds of room for improving your technique. If you at least try, you will get some tokens. But the curve of run time vs how many tokens you get takes off asymptotically toward infinity as you approach a 30 second run. So, as your runs get very good, fractions of a second saved can accumulate to several tokens difference.
 * Seconds count:

It is vital to ensure that you have bag slots available for the reins, the keg, the tokens you will be receiving, and if you are close to 200 tokens, for a new stack of tokens. If you accept the run with insufficient bag slots, you've used your run and you will not be able to get another until the time limit has passed. If the ram spawns, do not despawn it. Clear space while mounted and use the remainder of your time. If you despawn the ram, you've used your run. If you have no slot for the barrel, you will be able to do the runs, but will not receive the barrel and will earn no tokens. If you have no space for additional tokens, you will not receive the tokens for the run. If you have 199 tokens and no space, you will not receive one token for the run, you need to be able to receive two per run.
 * Need bag slots!:

This event is as much about managing failed procs and damage reduction as anything. Even if you optimize your route, some points are going to fail. Having a plan B helps maximize your take; don't sweat it when it happens.

It seems the Horde runs take a bit longer, and the average token earnings on the Alliance side is somewhat higher, perhaps as much as six tokens. However, this may have changed with the Cataclysm.

Barking runs
For the barking runs, there are no apple barrels along the route, and you will have to pace yourself. Gallop becomes counterproductive; you will build up fatigue too rapidly and be forced to go too slow. Mixing canter for speed and trot for fatigue recovery while still moving will allow you to complete the task.

Another strategy to complete barking runs faster is to canter most of the way, occasionally tapping the reins just enough for a split-second gallop, while simultaneously jumping. This will give you a slight but noticeable speed boost but should not last long enough to grant you the extra fatigue. This can also be used during trot to gain a split-second of canter speed.

When you complete the quest and are returning to the NPC, both the Alliance and Horde versions will afford you the opportunity to take a downhill shortcut. Take it if you can. Leaving Iron Forge, go down the mountainside toward the Brewfest. If you pick your way, you can have damage under 1%, but expect over 1%. If you jump straight down expect over 50% damage. In Orgrimmar, leaving the Valley of Spirits, fortuitous use of jumping down to rooftops will allow you to take a straighter route out of the city.

The quest objectives are to bark at four locations in the city, but returning to the quest NPC is not a quest objective. This means you only have to return to the NPC to turn in the already completed quest. You can switch to your normal mount, as long as you barked at all four locations while mounted on the ram (you still need the reins in your inventory and must return to a quest giver before the timer expires).

Other ram tips
The rams work much like any other mount, and performing most actions while mounting will despawn the mount. That means when you are on a ram, and if you are you are on a ram racing quest, stay focused on the ram quest, do not do anything else. Be careful which hot key you press. Your faction's, next to NPC offers replacement reins. These do not summon a ram, however, they are useful to prep for the non-quest mechanic, when continuing to help out Brewfest.

The rams are actually a spell Rental Racing Ram that lasts for four minutes. You could probably creatively exploit this for your low level character. You might use it to run toward Loch Modan for the delivery quest and to pick up the fight path. If you do this on the initial ram racing quests, rather than the repeatables, you can abandon the quest and get another ram.

Do not ram race whilst intoxicated. The unpredictable movement can make for a bad run.

Horde
Many of the Horde goblin NPCs for the Brewfest are wearing dwarf masks. This appears to be an homage to the dwarves' legendary brewing and drinking abilities.

The goblin vendors outside of Orgrimmar have an neutral aura, but will not talk to Alliance characters. Alliance characters cannot initiate their quests, nor can they purchase from the Brewfest Prize Token vendor.

The goblin vendor selling Thunderbrew dwarven brew in Shattrath City will sell to Alliance (the Orc selling Drohn's will not).

The Ogre vendors in both locations (outside Orgrimmar and in Shattrath City) have a neutral aura and will sell to Alliance characters; presumably this is reciprocal in the Alliance Brewfest celebration.

Mobs

 * Racing Ram
 * Swift Racing Ram
 * Great Brewfest Kodo
 * If you get sufficiently drunk, you might see some Wild Wolpertingers or Pink Elekks.
 * (... and hunter's Beast Tracking tracks them ... when you are drunk.)

Achievements
The title is available by completing the Brewmaster (achievement) achievement.

With the way event bosses work (through the LFD Tool) you must now be 85 to kill Coren Direbrew.

All of the achievements obtainable during Brewfest:

Music
There are several background musical tracks in the game specifically for Brewfest: 3 for alliance and 3 for horde. They can all be played manually with the following scripts:

/script PlaySoundFile("Sound\\Music\\ZoneMusic\\BrewFest\\BF_Dwarves1.mp3") /script PlaySoundFile("Sound\\Music\\ZoneMusic\\BrewFest\\BF_Dwarves2.mp3") /script PlaySoundFile("Sound\\Music\\ZoneMusic\\BrewFest\\BF_Dwarves3.mp3") /script PlaySoundFile("Sound\\Music\\ZoneMusic\\BrewFest\\BF_Goblins1.mp3") /script PlaySoundFile("Sound\\Music\\ZoneMusic\\BrewFest\\BF_Goblins2.mp3") /script PlaySoundFile("Sound\\Music\\ZoneMusic\\BrewFest\\BF_Goblins3.mp3")

To end playback of these files, use  instead of

The tracks contain holiday-appropriate music as well as background banter of the respective faction races, including many quotable jokes and one liners.

2020
Coren Direbrew's trinkets are now item level 425 at level 120.

2019

 * New event: Brewfest Chowdown (Brewfest Chowdown Trophy)
 * Brewfest Reveler's Hearthstone
 * Bottomless Brewfest Stein
 * Garland of Grain
 * Tabard of Brew

Coren Direbrew's trinkets now level 395 at 120.

2018
Coren Direbrew's trinkets are level 335 for level 120s.

2017

 * Upgraded Coren Direbrew drops (now ilvl 880)
 * Brawler's Statue
 * Mithril Wristwatch
 * Thousand-Year Pickled Egg
 * Coren's Cold Chromium Coaster
 * Bitterest Balebrew Charm
 * Bubbliest Brightbrew Charm
 * Terrific Tankard O' Terror
 * Tremendous Tankard O' Terror
 * Direbrew's Bloodied Shanker
 * Heirloom weapon upgrade
 * Weathered Heirloom Scabbard
 * Other
 * Low-level players may now queue up for the Coren Direbrew dungeon event
 * Brewfest Garb clothing is now eligible for transmogrification

2016

 * New toy:
 * Gravil Goldbraid's Famous Sausage Hat
 * Other
 * Synthebrew Goggles XL
 * Spirit Spirits
 * Mannoroth's Blood Red Ale
 * Gordok Bock

2015

 * New toys / pets:
 * Stout Alemental
 * Steamworks Sausage Grill
 * Brewfest Banner
 * Heirloom weapon upgrades
 * Ancient Heirloom Scabbard
 * Timeworn Heirloom Scabbard
 * Other:
 * Angry Brewfest Letter

Past bugs
The Dark Iron attack was not awarding tickets due to a bug in the 2007 event. This was replaced in 2008 by the cog world item that gives a daily quest for tokens. The cog only drops if the invaders are repelled.

During the first Brewfest in 2007, players were shown that emoting  to their local Brew Barker, Brewery Barker, or Brewmaiden would have them toss you a Complimentary Brewfest Sampler, as ammunition for the Dark Iron attacks. Keeping this sampler and waving again caused a new mug to fly through the air and bonk the player in the head, bouncing off to fall within a 360° circumference of the player and disappearing through the ground. The problem: Players figured out that macroing multiple  emotes into a single macro would have the NPCs throw a mug for each   simultaneously. This created a 'beer mug fountain' effect, like water spraying outward at the top of a water foutain. While many found this highly amusing, even only a few players doing this at the same time would cause significant lag to other players with less robust internet connections. Many who realized this would stop out of courtesy to those players, but this became only one item of a list of problems with the Dark Iron attack event. This forced Blizzard to disable all components of the attack, so that it could be retooled for 2008.

Blizzard was reworking the Catch the Wild Wolpertinger! and Pink Elekks On Parade quests for 2008, but ran into a problem that could not be hotfixed, and only solvable through a patch. The problem came up too late to be patched in time, which forced Blizzard to disable the quests. These quests returned in 2009, though only for US realms.

The reset time on the daily ram-racing quest was bugged for some people, causing the reset time to be 18 hours instead of the 'intended' 12 for the 2009 Brewfest event. This bug did not affect everyone, but if the quest didn't reset after 12 hours then player had to try again after 18. There was no official response by Blizzard, but the reset time bug seemed to be fixed by Blizzard; the reset time was set to 18 hours as could be seen on Blizzard's world event guide. However, some players reported to be still experiencing 12 hour reset timers.

Trivia

 * October 3 is a German national holiday, the.

Guiness World Record
Brewfest holds the Guiness World Record for the Largest Virtual Beer Festival.