Well, I made it to the world's greatest brew fest for the the umpteenth time in a row. The best beers in our very unscientific poll were the Double Dry Hopped IPA from Boundry Bay Brewing and the Skullsplitter Double Dunkel from Rogue. Almost every beer was good or great, with the exception of maybe one or two. Anything called "Farmhouse Ale" was basically pretty weak.
Just curious... how many other "brew fests" have you been to? Where were they? For my money, the best I've been to in the US has been the Great Taste of the Midwest. The format, the setting, the beers, etc., all make it very appealing, much more so tome than the OBF.
Was was Gunther Prien just saying about beergeeks and failure to appreciate subtle styles?
-- Joel Plutchak Boneyard Union of Zymurgical Zealots
"Resorting to personal harassment is a tactic of desperation."
But both the Great British Beer Festival and the Great Taste of the Midwest don't happen for a couple weeks yet. Or are you reporting on last year's?
Didn't go to OBF, but the beer list looked marginally better than the last few years. At least some of the breweries that usually brought the same tired old beers that you can get almost by osmosis in the Portland area tried something different for a change.
I still think the one beer per brewery format is highly limiting. And the diversity of breweries pales in comapraison to something like GABF, Great Taste of the Midwest, or the Chicago Real Ale Festival. And, when it comes to beer festivals, that diversity and variety is what I'm looking for.
-Steve
Probably 10 or so others, mostly on the west coast.
To clarify: Anything called farmhouse ale served at this year's OBF was pretty weak. Not just weak tasting beers, but other assorted problems with funky yeast and carbination. I tried them all.
"Farmhouse Ale" is supposed to be a generic name for Saison, n'est-ce pas? In which case, it *ought* to be a on the funky and highly carbonated side.
But obviously, there's funky and there's funky. If it gets out of hand it can be a problem.
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