When you attend the Great American Beer Festival, time has no meaning as the hours seem to just fly by when you're having fun. If you don't want to forget all of the great beers that you sampled during your session, you owe it to yourself to take notes. I brought along my trusty compact spiral notebook and jotted down as much info as I could about each sample I tried. Good thing too, otherwise I would have forgotten half of the ones I tried. Here is a run down of all the beers I tried this year at the GABF.
Tastings from the 2008 GABF
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· Ommegang Brewery (NY) - Ommegeddon
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· Dogfish Head (DE) – Theobrama, 120 Minute IPA
· McKenzie Brew House (PA) – Saison Vautor
· Boston Beer Co (MA) – Samuel Adams Oktoberfest
· Allagash (ME) – Tripel
· Anheuser-Busch (MO) – Budweiser American Ale
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· Jolly Pumpkin (MI) – Calabaze Blanca, La Roja
· Great Divide (CO) – Fresh Hop (cask)
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· Lost Abbey (CA) – Red Poppy
· Alaskan Brewing (AK) – Winter Ale
· Six Rivers Brewery (CA) – Sour BOMB
· Flying Dog Ales (MD) – Dogtoberfest
· Oskar Blues (CO) – Momma’s Little Yella Pils
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· Cascade Brewing (OR) – Cascade Kriek Ale
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· Rogue Ales (OR) – Double Dead Guy Ale
· Duck-Rabbit (NC) – Duck-Rabbit Porter
· Saint Arnold (TX) – Amber Ale, Oktoberfest
· Surly Brewing (MN) – Cynic Ale
· Piece Brewery (IL) – Dysfunctionale
· New Glarus (WI) – Unplugged Lager
· New
· Smuggler’s Brewpub (CO) – San Juan SkyHOP
· Trinity Brewing (CO) – Soul Horkey
· Gunnison Brewery (CO) –
Of all the beers I tried during my two days at the GABF I really enjoyed the sour beers the most. Anytime I came across something that looked or sounded like it was a sour I tried it. Most noteworthy: Sour BOMB from Six Rivers Brewery from McKinleyville, CA. Another impressive brew was the Coconut Rum Porter from Maui Brewing in Hawaii.
For those of you who also attended: which beers did you try and enjoy the most? With over 1900 different beers available it may be difficult to come across a similar list. Post your links to your tasting lists.
Related articles:
- 2008 GABF video tasting notes.
- Behind the Scenes video at the 2008 GABF.
- Day in the life of a volunteer at the 2008 GABF.
- The people you meet at the GABF.
- Beer reviews by style
This article came from FermentedlyChallenged.com
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Yes! So glad that I took notes, as the evening went on both my taste buds and vocabulary were slightly... impaired.
ReplyDeleteAs a big IPA I gravitated toward those, and found quite a few good ones. Diamond Knot's Industrial IPA, Hopworks Organic IPA, Elysian's Jasmine IPA, Three Floyds Alpha King and Vino's Rock Hopera all gave my tongue a good workout.
I also enjoy the big bold stouts and was really impressed by Foothill's Sexual Chocolate Stout (great name, great beer!), Great Divide's Oak Aged Yeti, Pizza Port's Night Ripper, Full Sail's Imperial Porter (not a stout but damn tasty) and of course Dechute's The Abyss.
Two beers that totally wowed my girlfriend and I were Cambridge Brewery's Arquebus and BJ's Brewhouse Chardonnay Triple. Two very unique and great tasting beers that I'll need a lot more than 1oz of to describe accurately.
Cheers!
I went in with the goal of tasting rye beers but ended up hooked on the sour beers too. As usual New Glarus was one of the favorite stops with all 6 of us finding something we really liked.
ReplyDeleteBy the time I got to New Glarus (last 20 minutes of Sat afternoon session) all of the sour beers were already gone. I opted to try their Unplugged Lager but I really wanted the other stuff.
ReplyDeleteWord of advice to all for next year. Go on Thursday or Friday night and hit up the popular spots first. If they run out of any keg on any given night you might not get any until the next session. The Saturday evening crowd was really out of luck for most of the great beers.
After ready so many others' reviews of the GABF I feel like I really missed out on some great beers. There are just too many to choose from! Next time I want to get a guided tour similar to what James Spencer(Basic Brewing) got in his video at the GABF. Now for the rest of this year, I'm going to seek out the great beers that I missed that are available here in Colorado.
ReplyDelete