Category: USA

Saturday dawned at the Great American Beer Festival with the gusto of having burned the candle at  every possible end for the previous two days. Neither of us was anything approaching bright-eyed and bushy-tailed but there was a light at the end of tunnel. We were only going the member’s session on Saturday then flying home. We would safely be back in our bed with the pups on Saturday night.

We started our day at Marlowe’s for a breakfast hosted by Boston Beer Company. Besides food, beer and friends, we were at Marlowe’s to hear Jim Koch announce the winners of their Longshot homebrew contests. There were two announcements, the winner of the national contest, as well as the Boston Beer Company homebrew contest winner. As opposed to years past, the 2010 edition of Longshot had all entrants create brews fitting category 23 of BJCP, “Specialty” beer.

When we arrived, they had just started pouring the three employee finalist’s brews. Over 300 employee entries were brewed and the three finalists were all women; all first time hombrewers. Besides enjoying a breakfast, our job was to try these beers and vote for our favorite.

Besides the Longshot beers, the breakfast was also a chance to try some special Sam Adams brews that I don’t often see or have the inclination to buy. This year the special brews were from the Barrel House Collection, American Kriek, New World Tripel and Stony Brook Red. I’m not the biggest Sam Adams fan in the world but all three beers were excellent. If I had to chose a favorite, it probably was  a Stony Brook Red, a fabulous tart brew that hid it’s 9% ABV quite well.

This year, two winners were chosen. Rodney Kibzey won Longshot for the second time with Blackened Hops, a Black IPA. He was joined by Richard Roper who brewed Friar Hop Ale, a really delicious Belgian-style IPA. Caitlin DeClerq triumphed in the employee contest with Honey Beer’s Lavender Wheat. My second time voting in the employee contest; my second time not choosing the winner.

Arriving at the member’s session, Merideth and I bee-lined for the Sierra Nevada booth. Well, I bee-lined and she followed. I had learned the previous night that they would be tapping a rare keg of Bourbon Barrel-aged Life and Limb. Very first in line, I was disappointed  when Sierra Nevada Bill told me that the tapping wasn’t going to happen for an hour. I’ll admit, I begged and pleaded. And I got the first pour. I think I like regular Life and Limb more, as the barrel aging overwhelmed the maple flavor that I enjoyed in that brew. It was still really good, though.

Merideth was finally ready to have a beer. She started easy with Magnolia’s wonderful Kalifornia Kolsch. That must have done the trick because next thing I know Merideth was sampling Onslaught, a 9.6% ABV Belgo-American Imperial IPA from Mountain Sun in Boulder. Despite being way outside her comfort zone, Merideth liked it.

After wandering around for about an hour talking with friends and running into Mr. Beer Goddess about a dozen times, we finally heard the announcement. The awards ceremony was about to start. We joined the mass migration to the stage area. We found a nice spot near the large orange-clad, cowbell ringing contingent from Iron Hill.

The big questions for the awards ceremony were:
1) How many medals would Pizza Port Carlsbad win?
2) Could Firestone Walker Union Jack three-peat the coveted IPA gold?

I really enjoy the awards ceremony. It’s my favorite part of GABF. The crowd groans and chuckles when Category 30 medals (American-style Specialty Lager or Cream Ale) were announced: Hamms, Rainier and Old Style. But it’s the special moments that I like the best. We were standing in front of the Fat Head’s brewers when they won the silver medal in the hard fought IPA category. The looks on their faces was priceless.

Congratulations to our friends who won medals this year: Steve Donohue from Firehouse Grill and Brewery, Shaun O’Sullivan from 21st Amendment and Rodger Davis from Triple Rock. And a very big congrats goes out to Mad River Brewing Company for winning Small Brewing Company and Small Brewing Company Brewer of the year! I regret to say that Mad River had fallen off my radar in the last decade or so. I guess I need to revisit their brews.

Oh, to answer the two questions, Pizza Port Carlsbad won another boat load of medals and Union Jack did not three-peat.

After the awards ceremony, Merideth and I were in wind down mode because right after the session, we were headed to the airport. While we searched out a few award winners, we had one more major task to accomplish before we left: find Melissa Cole. A beer writer from London, we have been online friends with her for quite some time but had never met. It took us awhile but we finally found her with about an hour left in the session. It was great to finally meet.

Seven hours after we walked out of the Colorado Convention Center, we were at home with Porter and Stout jumping all over us. Another great trip to Denver was over. I am already looking forward to the 2011 Great American Beer Festival.

 

We couldn’t travel to Denver without visiting a few new breweries. It’s what we do. Plus, with the year winding down, I wanted to pick up three or four to help with our goal of reaching 600 by year’s end. The problem is that the eastern slope of the Rockies is well traveled territory for us. After  a bit of research, I found four potential targets just south of Denver.

We were on the road late morning to reach our first stop at their 11am opening time. After what seemed like a million traffic signals, we were at our first destination, Hops Restaurant and Brewery, in the Denver suburb of Littleton.

I know I should have more of an open mind, but I’ll admit I am not a huge fan of chain breweries. My expectations tend to be low and I just view them as a notch on the bed post. However, we were  pleasantly surprised at Hops. The staff was very friendly, even after we told them we were on a brewery tour so we only wanted a taster set.

And the beers were not too bad. My biggest beef with chains is that their beers usually taste the same no matter what style they’re supposed to be. Not so at Hops. There were a couple of flavorful beers amongst our six beer sampler. I thought the Thoroughbred Red and the Hoptoberfest were the best while Merideth’s favorite (although she’s embarrassed to admit it) was the Clearwater Light.

After visiting nearly 600 breweries, I have developed a sixth sense about when a brewery visit will potentially be a problem. It’s that “uh oh” feeling I get that tells me the brewery is going to be either  a) closed, b) closed for good or c) not have any of their own beers.

Our second stop, Falcon Brewing in Parker, was one of those breweries where I got the “feeling.”  Before our trip, I confirmed that the other brewery in Parker was open, so it wasn’t going to be a complete loss if my feeling about Falcon was correct.

And the correct prediction was… C. Falcon was out of their beer. The bartender told us that the house brews would be ready in a week. Even, “Oh, well, we’re from California” didn’t get us any samples from the fermenters.  Out of luck, we headed over to Parker’s other brewery.

Elk Mountain Brewing was the pleasant surprise of the trip. Located in an industrial park off the main road into Parker,  the tasting room is bright and spacious with that really new feel. That made a lot of sense as Elk Mountain had held its grand opening party just one month before. Like many of the new generation of beer places we have visited recently, Elk Mountain does not have food, but provides a number of takeout menus from local restaurants who will deliver.

As one of the only customers early on a Friday, we had a chance to chat with Tom, brewer/owner and his assistant. Elk Mountain is apparently known for their German-style beers and it showed with a wonderful Hefeweizen, Wild Wapiti Wheat. Lots of banana and clove, just how I like it. Merideth loved the clean and crisp Mine Shaft Kölsch. However, Puma IPA was the star of the show. A wonderful hop bomb!

We had one more stop before returning to Denver. Merideth picked up Dry Dock Brewing  a few months back on a trip without me. That was an important moment for her as she leveled the brewery count. To show what a wonderful husband I am, I offered to skip Dry Dock on this trip so we could reach 600 at the same brewery this December in Europe (I’m such a  romantic!). Merideth said not to worry about it and it was okay to go to Dry Dock. However, once there, she engaged in a bit of whining and claimed not to remember this pre -trip conversation.

A few hours before the Friday night session, Dry Dock was hopping when we rolled in. The bartender was quickly and efficiently pouring taster set after taster set. Wanting to try all 11 beers, we ordered an almost double taster set and found a table in the corner.

Dry Dock subsequently won four silver medals at GABF the following day, but unfortunately only one of those beers would be available on our visit. U-Boat Hefeweizen was the second great Hefe of the day!

However, the beer I really went to Dry Dock for was Seven Seas Double IPA. I drank it for the first time the day before at Falling Rock. This massive hop bomb was my favorite beer of the trip and I was hoping to bring some home. When I inquired about purchasing a couple of bottles, the bartenders reaction told me I was light years too late. After a few sips of each of our beer samples, we slipped out and headed back to Denver. I had picked up three breweries, Merideth two; closer and closer to 600.

In our two previous GABFs, we have shied away from both the Friday and Saturday night sessions. They have the reputation for being really crowded  with long beer lines.  Not the kind of scene Merideth and I generally like. But this year, we attended Friday night’s session mainly because the beermen.TV guys were going. They missed meeting up with us at Falling Rock before the session (something about needing a beauty nap), so we agreed to hook up with them at the session.

Finding three Aussies and a Kiwi at the Friday night session was easier said than done. Employing our wandering down the aisle choosing breweries without lines tactic, we figured we would run into them sooner or later. Halfway through the three  hour session, we still hadn’t found them. By 8:30pm, the crowds were getting too large for our enjoyment so we gave up our quest and left the festival.

We couldn’t leave Denver without trying one of the new beer establishments in the city. There were a number to choose from but we selected Freshcraft, mainly because it was a few blocks from Falling Rock. With the GABF session still going on, Merideth and I easily found a spot at the bar.

Earlier in the day, we learned from our friend and Colorado beer writer, Dan Rabin, that Boulder had a new organic brewery, Asher Brewing Company. What a coincidence… the first beer listed on the menu was Asher Amber. Merideth and I both ordered a pint of this really nice brew. After the din of the GABF session, it was nice to wind down a bit and have some dinner. Even the semi-annoying birthday girl couldn’t even damper our relaxation, though she tried hard.

But once the GABF session ended, the small restaurant filled up quickly and we felt pressed up against the bar. The party really got started when Greg Koch from Stone arrived to do an event in the back of the restaurant. At the same time,  Odell Brewing started pouring a firkin of  their Bourbon barrel-aged Stout. After chatting with Joe, a brewer from Odell for a few minutes and trying the Stout, we finally had enough for the day. Merideth and I looked at each other, giving each other the “it’s time to call it a night” look. We left Freshcraft and headed back to our hotel.