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 [...]

I’m still recovering from GABF (and a four hour delay on the way home.  Thanks Frontier!) and will have some notes coming soon.  Many others are covering the event, including Brian Yeager, William Brand, The Thirsty Hopster, and Rick at Pacific Brewing News. In the meantime, enjoy a few pictures!    

  On Friday afternoon at GABF, I attended a beer and food pairing session hosted by Jim Koch of Sam Adams and Chef Jorge de la Torre, Dean of Culinary Education at Johnson & Wales University.  They prepared several great looking dishes that thanks to some logistical mishaps and a packed crowed, I didn’t get to [...]

             Want more Great American Beer Festival action?  Check out my roomie for the weekend Brian Yaeger’s Beer Odyssey blog for his take on the event so far, including my top for beer tastes from Day One. 

A few highlights and pictures from a great weekend at NCHF: Helping cook and serve the Friday night dinner: Besides getting to taste and jot down some thoughts on the Friday night feast, I also got to see a bit behind the scenes and help put the dinner together.  Of course when i say “help” I really [...]

Oh Sean, you sneaky, sneaky bastard. I’ve heard you go on a few times about the value of putting beer into food, and how when used as an ingredient, it can equal or even surpass wine when integrated into a recipe.  You’ll get a beer into your head, and I’ll hear at length how the ingredient form of the [...]

I’ve got a very exciting few weeks coming up, and am lucky enough to be going to two beer festivals.   First up, the Northern California Homebrewers Festival.  At that, I’m most excited about dinner friday night, which should be a spectacular feast prepared by Sean Paxton, the Homebrew Chef.  The meal is a series of [...]

From Eureka, Ari and I headed back north, through Arcata, and inland to Blue Lake.  After getting slightly lost, we eventually made our way through the sleepy town to the brewery. Inside we found the staff was examining new chairs for the tasting room.  They called Tara, our guide to the brewery to come meet [...]

  So I’m going to for a week – what breweries (or restaurants) should I be sure to visit? Mad River?  Lost Coast?  Leave suggestions in the comments!

What beer to bring from California to Wisconsin? A few years ago, ferrying beer from one side of the country to the other was no big deal.  I’d just bring the case onboard as my carry-on item, explain to other curious/jealous/incredulous passengers, “Yes, this really is beer. Yes, I’m really bringing it to Wisconsin.”  A [...]