Cheers,
The Beeriety Team

The Great American Beer Festival, the second largest beer festival in the world took place last month and I had the good fortune of attending this year’s festivities.  Celebrating their 30th anniversary this year, the GABF tickets sold out in record time, clocking in with 49,000 attendees.  There were 466 breweries at the festival, serving 2,375 different beers, and 238 medals were awarded, including 18 to breweries entering the competition for the first time.  In a word, it was EPIC.

In addition to the festival itself, there are dozens of ancillary events at beer bars and breweries around town.  From beer releases to beer dinners to lectures and tastings, it was a week of non-stop beer love. I attended a few extra events, including a beer tasting class with BJCP judge Gwen Conley, and a midnight beer dinner with Avery Brewing at Euclid Hall. My point being that the week surrounding the Great American Beer Festival was a jam-packed week of awesome events, amazing beer, and crazy people. I didn’t take a single picture (who has time for cameras when you have a beer in your hand?), but I did take notes.  They’re more like scribbles vaguely resembling words, but for the purposes of this article, they’ll have to do. So without further ado, I give you some of my favorite beers from this week’s festival

1. Short’s Brewing – This Michigan-based brewery received permission to distribute their beer in Colorado for the week surrounding GABF, something that had never been done before.  So in addition to trying their stuff at the festival, I was also able to pick up some of their six packs.  If you can, find the Bellaire Brown Ale (a year-round release) and their Woodmaster, a high gravity brown ale fermented with maple syrup and toasted pecans.

2. Bull & Bush Pub and Brewery – In spite of their ridiculous name and even more absurd costumes (disco balls on top of construction hats?), Bull & Bush turned out one of my favorite beers of the festival: Turnip the Beets.  Honestly, I don’t remember in what stage of brewing the beets were used, but I do remember the lovely balance between the malty and earthy flavors of this stellar ale.

3. Ignite Denver –  Think lecture series meets speed dating, in which beer industry big-wigs are given 5 minutes to talk about their role in the beer industry, while their powerpoint slides are advanced automatically every 15 seconds.  Wild, crazy, hilarious, and surprisingly informative. Also, unlimited beer. Only downside: Greg Koch of Stone Brewing wearing a t-shirt with his own face on it.

4. Avery Brabant - Served at the Euclid Hall Midnight Brunch event, Avery’s Brabant is a wild ale aged for 8 months in Zinfandel barrels with brettanomyces. Sour. Dark. Delicious.

5. Right Brain Brewing’s Lavender Wheat Beer - Every lavender-flavored beverage I’ve ever had (including my own lavender pale ale) has inevitably tasted like soap.  That was until I tried Right Brain Brewing’s Lavender wheat beer. Clean and floral, balanced with a light caramel malt flavor.  Perfect amount of lavender.  Well done Right Brain.

6.  Pints for Prostates’ Rare Beer Tasting - 30 different hard to find beers from some of the best breweries in the country. My favorite: Lost Abbey’s Deliverance, a blend of brandy barrel-aged Angel’s Share and bourbon barrel aged Serpent’s Stout, packaged in 2010.  This smooth and well-balanced ale offered a subtle boozy heat with notes of caramel, vanilla, and raisins. Least favorite: Sam Adams’ Utopias.  This 27% ABV  beer was overly boozy, syrupy, and completely unbalanced. Generally just not worth my time.

I could go on and on and on about all of the amazing things that happened during the week surrounding GABF.  But in reality, the Great American Beer Festival is something that needs to be experienced in person, because no words can actually describe the enormity of this event.  People come from all across the states to be a part of  the magic that the craft beer industry has created. It’s a beautiful time for discovery and exploration of all those beers you can’t find in your city, and trying everything you can until your palate can’t take it anymore.  With every passing year, the festival gets bigger and bigger, so I suggest you mark your calendars and book your tickets for next year’s fest.  You can thank me later.

About the beer: Ah yes, the crisp air of the fall season can only mean two things for beer lovers: 1. Pumpkin flavored everything & 2. Oktoberfest style beers! Being a native New Englander means being lucky enough to experience all four seasons, but it also comes with the unapologetic love for all of the Sam Adams seasonal varietals. And what’s not to love about a new beer for every season?

The Sam Adams Octoberfest is probably the most well known American in the Oktoberfest style, but many breweries in the US have their take on the seasonal favorite, which has it’s roots in the strong tradition of German marzen style beer brewed for the celebration of Oktoberfest each Septermber. As we’ve discussed before, a marzen style is traditional malty lager where hops are generally mild and take a backseat to the sweetness of the malts, making it the perfect brew for the fall.

In A Nutshell: The Sam Adams Oktoberfest is a staple of the fall season in New England that we’re reintroduced to every autumn.

Beeriety Review: Rediscovering this bear each year is a real treat, it’s almost like running into an old friend you didn’t realize you missed. As with most seasonal varieties there is an anticipation that comes with the release of each beer. I by no means have the launch date circled on my calendar each year, but it’s a welcome addition to the fridge supply by the end of the hot and hazy summer months.

My first Sam Adams Octoberfest of this season was sampled this past weekend while participating in some Sunday football festivities and while the beer did not have my full attention it really didn’t require it. The Sam Adams Octoberfest has long been the beer of choice my friends while tailgating and celebrating at family get togethers during the Fall months and certainly stands up against its marzen/Oktoberfest competition from the US and across the Atlantic.

Beeriety Rating: 4 out of 5: Must Buy

What are you drinking? Try a Sam Adams Octoberfest this week and tell us what else you’re drinking. Tag your Twitter updates, Tumblr posts and Flickr photos of your Beer of the Week with the #mybeer hashtag to tell us what you’re drinking!

About: Like many people who grew up in the Mid-Atlantic, Yuengling holds a very special place in my heart. But much like our love of good cheesesteaks and Wawa, there’s just something about our Yuengling fever that seems to get lost in translation. What’s so special about it anyway? Well, whether you grew up in Yuengling country or not, chances are you may know that Yuengling is the oldest American-owned brewery operating today. Opened in 1829 by German emigrant David G. Yuengling in Pottsville, PA, the Yuengling brewery survived Prohibition by brewing non-alcoholic “near beer” and opening a dairy to supplement their income. The brewery is still owned and operated by the family to this day.

Review: It’s hard for me to be objective about this beer, but I’ll do my best. It pours a beautiful medium-amber color with good carbonation but very little smell. It’s got clean, biscuity cereal grain flavors; it’s low on hops and well balanced. Even using my most stringent beer-criteria, I really can’t find much to criticize here. Traditional lagers are frequently a fairly uncomplicated beer style, and this is no exception. But it’s flavorful, delicious, refreshing – everything about it rubs me the right way. Is the most amazing beer in the world? Or even the best and most perfect incarnation of a lager? Probably not. But is it a great beer for a lazy afternoon? At 4.4 % ABV and a price pretty close to Miller and Bud, it might be the perfect beer for a lazy afternoon – especially in the Mid-Atlantic, where Yuengling will always be king. It’s as American apple pie, baseball, and well, beer. Rumor has it, it’s even President Obama’s favorite brew. What’s more American than that?

In a nutshell: Boulevard continues to please with complex interesting beers, it’s a sweet beer with a great malt character.

Review: The beer pours an amazing brown red, with a healthy head that stays throughout. this isn’t an incredibly aromatic beer. The beer is sweet, fruity sweet. It is probably the date in the beer that does that, and there is a great malt character to it as well.  It does however come off a little boozy with the 10.5% ABV. Still, the body is light, a little syrupy but overall on the lighter side. In the end it’s a beer I would try again in the mix pack but not my personal favorite style.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars.

About the beer: Dopplebocks are dark and strong lagers that are traditionally enjoyed in the winter months. There’s still no reason why you can’t enjoy them any time of year though so last week I cracked open a bottle I had in my small beer cellar.  The one I went with,  Smuttynose S’Muttonator is a great example of this traditional style,  but with an American twist.

In a Nutshell: Smuttynose S’muttonator is a great American take on a classic German style.

Review: Smuttynose has long been a favorite New England brewery of mine. While they are mostly known for more conservative fair like pale ales, when they do bolder styles in their Big Beer series they never disappoint. The S’Muttonator is no different. It’s a big, bold, nutty beer that  tastes great.  While dopplebocks are meant to be strong beers, both in their flavor and alcohol, I’ve often found many of them a bit too sweet to really get into. The S’muttonator does a nice job balancing out the sweeter qualities with just a kiss of hops, making it a beer I think anyone could enjoy.

Rating: 4 out of 5

(Photo by Dan Larson)

About this beer: Scotland’s Belhaven brewery is known for a.) being around almost literally forever. and b.) for making simply stunning beers that exemplify Scottish brewing. Their beers are usually nothing short of stunning, I have yet to have a bad beer on draft. I decided to see if their beers bottled would be as fine an example of good beers. I was far from right. I chose the Scottish stout, which when on draft ranks in my top ten of beers, it’s chocolaty,sweet and creamy. It has one of the most amazing mouth-feels ever. In the bottle? not so much.

In A nutshell: Seek this beer out on draft. Avoid the bottled version at all costs.

Review:When I picked up the bottle I was excited, it was jet black. In my mind the brewery went past brown bottles and made a black one! how cool is that? Only once I left the store did I realize that the beer was in fact in a clear bottle, something that would have had a great effect on my purchase.(Clear bottles let more light through than brown bottles and tend to skunk beers quicker.)  When I cracked it I had hoped that the beer would have survived the trip across the sea and was still drinkable. It passed the test but barely. The pour was perfect, a great creamy head and jet black color. The aroma was off though, there was just a hint of that sweet malty smell that the draft version had and was left with a borderline skunked smell. (I have yet to be able to put the smell of skunked beer into words, easiest way…go buy a Heineken and smell it once cracked.)  This effected everything in the beer; the taste had overtones of a beer going bad. I could still get the chocolate taste as well as the malt backing but ti jsut wasn’t strong enough. The beer’s body was incredibly thin and unsatisfying.

Rating: 2 out of 5

(Photo by K. Graham)

Firestone Walker Reserve Porter: Officially called Walker’s Reserve, this porter is unreal from the first sip. There’s a lavish, velvety texture to it that inundates you with a complex variety of flavors. Notes of caramel and bitter chocolate are the easiest to find, but a deeper look reveals a hint of spice that leaves you with a fantastically dry finish. Despite its hearty character and intricate flavor, it is still in every respect a porter. Unlike extreme breweries that rely upon style hopping to make something unique, Firestone Walker manage to stay true to the style while still creating something genuinely fantastic .

Samuel Smith Taddy Porter: I’ve had to convince many a friend to try the Taddy Porter. My elevator pitch is, “It tastes like beer chocolate milk.” If someone isn’t excited by that premise, I don’t want to know them. The Taddy Porter is a classic example of an English porter. Brewed with well water, the Taddy Porter is sweet and satisfying. It doesn’t reveal flavors as layered and convoluted as the Reserve Porter, but it doesn’t need to. It’s a simple beer, for people who simply want one thing; an incredible brew.

In a Nutshell: Each fantastic in its own right, the SS Taddy Porter beats out the FW Reserve Porter for reasons far too complex to explain.

Verdict: I don’t know how to summarize this outcome. I love the Reserve Porter. I drink it with an ear to ear grin on my face. It’s wild, and different, while still being the exact beer I need it to be. However, I must choose the Taddy Porter, because unlike the Reserve, the Taddy Porter feels more like a drink for the soul, and at the end of the day, that’s all that matters to me.

About: Michigan’s Jolly Pumpkin is perhaps best known for their American take on traditional Belgian and French styles like saisons and bière de garde. Jolly Pumpkin is also known for a characteristic tart-ness of many of their beers, and those of us who love sours are big fans of their work. Much of that characteristic flavor comes not only from their yeasts but from their particular aging process – all of Jolly Pumpkin’s beers are matured in oak barrels before being re-yeasted and left to bottle-condition.

Billed as a Dark Farmhouse Ale, the Bam Noire asserts that it’s ”Dedicated to the dark side.” Let’s find out.

In a Nut Shell: Jolly Pumpkin’s Bam Noire is a bit tart, a bit dark, and a bit unbalanced – but still worth a taste. 

Review: Coming in at 4.3% ABV, the Bam Noire pours a cloudy chocolate color and is highly carbonated (maybe even a little too carbonated.) The smell is mostly muddled alcohol with a hint of fruit, but that fails to do justice to the flavor that follows. There are plenty of higher-toned tart yeast and fruit flavors, contrasted with nutty and dark malt flavors – like you might find in a brown ale. However, the contrast here feels a little too strong, with representations of the lighter and darker flavors and not enough in the middle to round it out. But though the flavor feels a little unbalanced, this beer is still highly refreshing, with plenty to enjoy about it. This might make a nice pairing for a cheese and fruit plate, where stronger flavors could help to bring out new tastes in the beer.

Rating: 3 out of 5

In a Nut Shell: River Horse Hop Hazard is a deliciously balanced pale ale that strikes the perfect combination of malty and hoppy.

Review: Although I wouldn’t call myself a hop head, I enjoy a good, 100+ IBU Double IPA as much as the next guy. That being said, I’m glad to see more hoppy, yet balanced brews making their mark on the craft brew world.  Hop Hazard is the perfect example of how to make a very hoppy yet nuanced beer. Despite its name Hop Hazard is a surprisingly even tempered pale ale that strikes just that right mix between hops and malt to make it an enormously enjoyable brew. The robust, fruity hops are nicely paired with a subtly sweet malt profile that makes the whole affair a delight.  “Lets get it straight, Hop Hazard is an American Pale Ale. That means it’s balanced with hops, not buried in them. Here’s to Independence!” Proclaims the label on the beer’s bottle. Although I’m not sure from what we’re celebrating our independence with a beer this good, I drink to it regardless.

Rating: