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The OverAchiever: Guide to Brewfest 2011 achievements

Allison Robert
Updated ·6 min read

Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, we get a little drunk, or maybe a lot.

It's that time of year again, folks: time to get smashed with no lasting social repercussions! This year, Brewfest runs from Tuesday, Sept. 20 to Wednesday, Oct. 5 (check your in-game calendar for your server's exact start and end times), and drunken frivolity is the name of the game. The Brewfest meta Brewmaster is required for the year-long What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been, so you'll want to get this done if you're working toward a Violet Proto-Drake (and thus free 310% flight).

As with the 2010 version of this guide, I've organized the holiday's achievements in the rough order I feel they should be completed, as one is dependent on having some help from other folks around your server. As with most holidays, there's high participation at the start, which dwindles as folks get their drops and complete achievements, so I prioritize getting Down With The Dark Iron done as quickly as possible. Once that's out of the way, Brewfest achievements aren't generally difficult, though they'll require a little elbow grease if you're starting from scratch.

I've included all of the achievements attached to the holiday, but you'll only need six for the meta, and they've been marked as such. As always, I'll be around when the holiday goes live to see if there are any unannounced changes. We don't anticipate any major differences to Brewfest this year, but the holiday boss, Coren Direbrew, does have an updated loot table with ilevel 365 drops.



Two quick notes before we start this year's guide:

  • For dedicated achievement hunters, each year's edition of the Brewfest Stein (e.g., Yellow Brewfest Stein, Green Brewfest Stein, Blue Brewfest Stein) tends to become an achievement down the road. That said, this did not happen in 2010, so it's not 100% certain to occur.

  • The Brewfest Keg Pony has been added to each token redeemer NPC's stock, but as far as I'm aware, it's just a fun item and not related to any achievements.

Down with the Dark Iron (required for the meta)

Down with the Dark Iron is the achievement to get out of the way as early as you can in the holiday, as it's significantly harder if there aren't a lot of players around to help fight off the Dark Iron attacks. If you can't get this done within the first few days of the holiday, keep checking back at server high times, or enlist help from friends and guildies.

Every half-hour, Dark Iron Dwarves attack both the Alliance and Horde Brewfest areas. If a sufficient number of people help defend the camp, the attack is thwarted, and the Dark Irons will leave a large cog on the ground. Right-clicking the cog will give you the daily quest This One Time, When I was Drunk. Turn this in, and you've got your achievement. Incidentally, the quest also rewards 10 Brewfest Prize Tokens (the holiday's currency), so even if you don't need the achievement anymore, it's extremely helpful if you're saving toward Brewfest clothing and/or the Brew of the Month Club achievement.

So how does one help defend? On tables around the central festival area, you'll find Complimentary Brewfest Samplers. Pick one of these up, and hotkey it somewhere convenient. When the Dark Irons attack, keep tab-targeting through them while spamming the hotkey. Nearby brewery NPCs will keep tossing you filled mugs, so you'll keep drinking and tossing with an endless supply of beer-fueled ammunition. Ideally, the end result is that the Dark Irons get beaten back at the same time you get hopelessly sloshed, and if enough people are defending alongside you, your faction's kegs will be saved. It's only necessary to save one of your kegs in order to successfully "defend" against the attacks, but there are so many Dark Iron Dwarves attacking at once that this is almost impossible to do without help. Get it done early, folks.

All set? Time to start saving more Brewfest Prize Tokens ...

Brew of the Month (required for the meta)

Brew of the Month was once one of the most controversial achievements in the game. In order to complete it, you had to have tasted each of the 12 brews sent to you monthly -- which, yes, meant you spent an entire year getting this one achievement. Blizzard changed this heading into patch 3.1, after players complained that no death knight would be able to get What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been for almost two years. Wrath of the Lich King (and thus the death knight class) launched in November 2008, two months after Brewfest 2008, which left death knights (and anyone who hadn't done Brewfest) up the proverbial creek.

So now, Brew of the Month simply requires you to join the club, and the original version was changed to Brew of the Year, which is its own achievement now (see below) and not required for the meta.

Joining the Brew of the Month Club will run you 200 Brewfest Prize Tokens for the membership form. Afterwards, you'll need to make a trip to Orgrimmar or Ironforge to turn in the membership to Ray'ma or Larkin Thunderbrew, respectively, and that should nab you the achievement.

If you start amassing tokens relatively early, you should be fine getting the 550 you'll need for both Brew of the Month and Disturbing the Peace (below). Once you're on track, you can worry about the less time-sensitive achievements.

Disturbing the Peace (not required for the meta)

I can't stress this enough -- you do not need to do Disturbing the Peace for your Brewmaster title, and you may want to ignore it completely on a character that's new to the holiday and still needs Brew of the Month. I've listed it third here because you'll need to get an early start on Brewfest if you want both achievements.

You'll have to save 350 Brewfest Prize Tokens in order to purchase the clothing you'll need, and you can choose from among the following in the chest, feet, and helm slots:

All are available from Brewfest token redeemers located in the central festival area (Belbi Quikswitch for the Alliance and Blix Fixwidget for the Horde). After you buy them, travel to Dalaran, put on your new duds, get "completely smashed" (the type of alcohol doesn't matter, as long as you're stinking drunk) and /dance. Voilà, achievement.

It used to be possible to sell the clothes back to a holiday vendor in return for your 350 Prize Tokens, but Blizzard has eliminated this method of making the currency (and other holiday currencies) go further. Bottom line? Once you spend your tokens, they're gone for good, and anyone who wants all of the Brewfest achievements won't have a lot of extra tokens knocking around for fun purchases like Blix's Eyesight Enhancing Romance Goggles. Plan accordingly!


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