This is a shame. Costs in Hong Kong are certainly high and as a Beertopia vendor I have direct experience of how that all contributes to the cost of participating. Last year I was very jealous of the very impressive setups organised by some of the local brewers. I imagine they were much more expensive than my own modest approach and that they spent a ton of money over and above the venue fees. For them to take their whole team away from production for a few days would also be a big financial commitment. But my own (limited) experience of Beertopia has been that it is a great way to get in front of customers and, whilst it’s not a profit generating event, it can be at least breakeven. By the way, the venue fee for my medium sized stand has gone up by HK$3,000 this year. Annoying but not a showstopper.When I first came to Hong Kong there were two locally brewed beers: Hong Kong San Miguel and Carlsberg. Now there is an incredible variety as the article shows (there is even a local cider maker). I wonder whether this city now has too many local brewers. How can so many makers differentiate themselves? How can they keep their overheads down in such an insanely expensive city? Are we at a tipping point for locally brewed beer in the big 852? I am very interested to see what happens and how they can create cheaper festivals. I hope they can but if they are trying to reduce costs I imagine they will have to utilise networks of existing bars rather than one bg venue.My 2 cents.