I'm back from the GABF and....

Way to go, Bill, you musta been in heaven!

For me, the Cuvee de Tomme from Pizza Port Solana Beach was a standout, as were the meads (except for the juniper) from the Redstone Meadery. I'm sure I can come up with a few more with some memory-jogging. Very many good beers, in general. A few dogs. And Bud Stout. Plus I met Mitch Mather (one-tiome rfdb participant) in the flesh for the first time. All in all an interesting experience for my first GABF.

I liked the Old Stumpy...

I suppose now would be the time to complain about every other brewery offering an Imperial or Double IPA. You know, those things all start to taste alike after the 50th one ;-)

I found a number of good pre-prohibition lagers there, not sure if this style is really going to catch on in a big way or not. Had a number of not-so-good Oktoberfests too.

All in all I really enjoyed the Saturday afternoon session, wasn't crowded at all.

_Randal

Yeah, I noticed more than a few O'fests that weren't very good. Either too crytsally, too grainy, vegetal, etc. I was encouraged by the number of Koelsch(-style) ales, and pilsners. Even though quality varied, at least people are out there brewing them in numbers that aren't insignificant.

Yup. Thursday's session was also fairly loose and easy. (Though one brewer I talked to at breakfast Friday morning described it as "full of beer geeks who want to talk about the beer." Imagine that! ;-)

You're welcome!

Thanks, Lew. Now I'm gonna have to make this here thing an annual ritual! lol

Best regards, Bill

PS: The other guys are right about the event not being that "crowded". When I first got there with a buddy, to meet another buddy there, there were a few "lines" maybe 3 deep but that kind of diminished to 2 deep then to... Btw, I missed sampling some Utopia by that---> >< much.

What?

There were ~120 IPAs there(includes Double & Impys) listed in the program. Wow..

Did you take notes of the good lagers? I can appreciate a good lager for sure.

Loads of people, but never really crowded at any one booth. Gotta like that.

Best regards, Bill

Yeah, I completely forgot about Pizza Port's offerings though they were on my agenda because of the good ratings I've seen of their beers. I was mainly concentrating on IPAs but...a few others got to meet my palate. Like the Allagash Four(Very nice stuff!), Avery's The Beast(an 18%er that hid the alcohol pretty darned well for me) and I even went retro and had a Ballantine Ale in the can(the beer was in the can, not me) sample. Better than the bottled samples that I've sought out.

To put it in a nutshell, I really didn't know what to expect and the event entirely overwhelmed me. Good. Now I can take the knowledge I've gained and make next year's event even more fun albeit more organized. Another thing....us alt dot beer guys attending the event got to meet up there and turn it into an even bigger blast. ;^)

Best regards, Bill

All 3 of the beers that I've tried from Walking Man have been excellent (Homo Erectus, Black Cherry Stout, Strong Ale). Hope this brewery continues to flourish.

Bill, I'm just joining this group. Sorry...but what is GABF. Sounds like I missed a good time :)

I'm the one that needs to apologize for assuming everyone knew what that stood for, Ian. GABF is the Great American Beer Festival that was held at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver Colorado.

Best regards, Bill

Bill, Thanks for stopping by the Saint Arnold booth. I had a blast this year. We hit the Avery Brewery on Thursday, and had the pleasure of the 3 hour, very interesting tour of New Belgium by Peter, the brewmaster, not to mention a great little brewpub(w/great food) in Boulder called Mountain Sun, and we also ate at Cooper Smith after the NB tour-it was mighty fine too. I have not been in a couple years, and forgot how much fun GABF is. We got to sample the LaFolie right out of the casks at NB-great stuff!

All I can say is, if you like good beer, you will think you've died and gone to heaven:

Nearly 400 breweries, over 2000 beers, and 67 styles-an ounce at a time. Total sensory overload. Go ahead and bbok it for next year!!!

Thanks Bill. I'm a bit far away here in southern Ontario, but I'll enjoy it through you and the other posters :)

Glad to help but...where are my manners? Welcome to the newsgroup, Ian!

Best regards, Bill