Wow.  Just… Wow.  GABF was something else. According to William Brand, there were 46,000 attendees, 2,600 volunteers, 432 breweries, and a staggering 2,052 beers being sampled.   That’s a whole lot to cover, so I’m going to break up my posts into a few different sections.  This post will focus on samples poured on the floor, with forthcoming posts on the pairing sessions, my new favorite breakfast joint in Denver, Falling Rock Tap Room, and a killer tour of Great Divide.

The festival is all at once joyous and maddening.  As each session wore on, more and more crowds formed. Beer snobs give way to drunken college kids (the pretzel necklaces are often a good indication of how much to expect someone to violently run into you.  The beer festival equivalent of a “student driver” sign.)  When the doors opened, there always instant lines forming at Dogfish Head, New Glarus, Russian River and Lost Abbey.  And with good reason – all of them make amazingly good beers, and the lines were justified – I found myself standing in them more than a few times to sample Dogfish Head’s Red & White (Belgian-style Wit brewed with coriander and orange peel and fermented with Pinot Noir juice, aged in Pinot barrels) and Lost Abbey’s Angel’s Share.

Every guest was given a small plastic sample glass, with a one ounce line along the bottom to indicate how large a sample should be.  I liked the glasses – they were shaped like mini Pilsner glasses, and really allowed you to get your nose in the glass and smell the aroma.  They also could take a fall on the cement floor without breaking.  Although as it clinked and bounced, the sound of such a party foul resulted in hundreds of people screaming, shaming the klutz who dropped it, each and every time.  No, really, every single time. It was funny at first, but wore on as the festival continued.  Yet, for how obnoxious the screaming was, it provided a strange sense of community and shared experience in an otherwise impersonal convention hall.

So, in all of the madness, what was I looking for?

I went into the festival, one of my first foray’s into the nation beer scene, without much of a plan.  Others showed impressive dedication to lists and schedules, while I instead decided to take a more trusting and fateful approach to the hall, and see where I ended up.  I tried to seek out beers I’d never heard of, from breweries I’d never been to. I asked everyone “what should i try?” in an attempt to seek guidance on the fly.  I introduced myself to brewers and bloggers alike, and tried to seek out new flavors and ideas.

My approach was greatly rewarded with amazing beer and fantastic conversations.

Of course, the downside to my laissez-faire approach is that I don’t have the meticulous tasting notes that others do to keep track of these sorts of things. It’s amazing how fast a few one ounce sample can go to your head, especially when those samples are coming in at ten percent alcohol.

Cambridge Brewing Company’s Arquebus Summer Barleywine – I tasted this early in the festival with Sean, and spent the rest of the festival raving about how great it was.  Where most barleywines are more like the beer equivalent of a Port dessert wine, this is like a white muscat grape desert wine.  Sweet without being cloying with great depth, it won a well deserved gold medal in the experimental beer category.

Lost Abbey’s Isabelle Proximus – I first tried this beer at the Five Guys & A Barrel dinner a while ago, but it was last after a long night of beers and food.  It was great to try it again, with a fresh palate. It came up in conversation with Craig from Schooner’s Brewery in Antioch, and we headed over for a sample.  We then were lucky enough to stand around, away from the line with Tomme, the brewmaster from Lost Abby.  Craig and I chatted with Tomme, meanwhile sampling the entire lineup they brought.  Craig noted the “graham cracker” finish on the Isabelle Proximus, which Tomme attributed entirely to the yeast and aging.   Also killer: the Angel’s Share barrel-aged barleywine, which had hints of dark dried fruit and deep roasted malt.

Blue Moon’s Peanut Butter Beer – One of the perks of these festivals is seeing a big, commercial brewery like Blue Moon let their hair down a little and pour a fun beer like a peanut butter ale. Not my favorite, and one ounce is just right, but it was great to try. I’d like to make a black and tan with it!

San Adam’s Utopias – At 27% alcohol, this is the worlds strongest beer. I had heard it was being poured, and was even so ballsy to ask Jim when it was being served on Friday. He gave me a time, and I went to the Sam Adams tent, but was too late. So on Saturday, when i saw a mob scene forming in front of their tent again, I knew what it meant. I elbowed my way in, and found a sympathetic ear in one of the brewery reps to how Jim had sent me astray the day before, and suddenly I found myself in position of an ounce of Utopias. It’s barely beer like at all, more like a brandy. It has a great depth and strong alcoholic bite. Sure it’s a game of one upsmanship with Sam from Dogfish Head head to see who can make the strongest beer, but when the results are this rich, that’s fine by me. (Note: the beer is backlit in this picture, and actually appears MUCH darker in person)
Hale’s Ales Toasted Coconut Porter – A great surprise – the toasted coconut flavor really shows through in the finish, and blended nicely with the dark malt. Note to coconut porter brewers out there: toast your coconut!

The Bruery’s Saison Rue – A new kid on the block, I think the Bruery is going to be grow, and fast. I already had a few bottles stocked away, but this gave me a chance to try their whole lineup. The Saison was my favorite (but the berliner weisse session beer, at 3% alcohol was great too!) The Saison has a distinctly citrus aroma, and that great creamy mouthfeel that i love in a good Belgium style ale. The brewmaster Tyler is pictured above holding his Orchard White witbeer, which I expect might be Eli’s favorite when I crack these bottles open. I brought several groups of people back repeatedly to try their beers, and everyone seemed to disagree on what was their favorite. Also popular: a Maple Belgium Brown. I have some very high hopes for pairings with these beers.

Budweiser’s American Ale – Bud was also making a foray into the craft beer world (that’s a real stretch of the word craft, but moving on…) Although they make lots of better beers under the Michalob label, this is the first time I can recall something like this coming out under the actual “Budweiser” label. The truth: it’s more interesting from a marketing perspective than it is to drink. I found it this, and lacking in every way: not enough malt, not enough hops, not enough anything. Sure it’s easy to bash on Bud, but here is my hope: I think it might be a gateway beer. Hopefully, a few Bud Lite drinkers will try it, like it, and it’ll lead to Real Beer.

Of course, there are many, many more beers. Look for notes in the beer pairing sections on some real winners, including New Belgium’s La Folie, He’Brew’s Jewbelation 12, Rock Art Brewing’s Vermonster, and more!

Fellow GABFers, what were your favorite pours on the floor?

Tags: Denver, Festival, gabf

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 15th, 2008 at 7:21 pm and is filed under Stories, Taste Test, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.