Tag: Great American Beer Festival

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GABF Re-Cap

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Another year of Great American Beer and the Festival that celebrates it, is now past.  Brewers and craft beer fans are heading to the airport for flights home.  Now it is time to see what was awarded in Denver at the GABF and what I think about it.

For L.A. fans, the two big pieces of news are the brace of silvers that are coming home  Smog City nabbed their second medal since opening with their Kumquat Saison in the Belgian-Style Fruit beer category.  Julian Shrago and Beachwood added to their trophy case with Mocha Machine in the Coffee beer category.

There were a whopping 92 categories this year plus the Pro-Am beers.  The smallest category was the American style Dark Lager with only 21 entries. Fifteen of the categories had over 100 entries with IPA’s again dominating the proceedings with an astounding 336.  Followed by Imperial IPA’s with 208!  And California wrested the IPS crown back from Oregon as BNS Brewing from Santee took the gold with their Revolver IPA.

Speaking of state bragging rights, California was in the forefront again with 66 total medals (by my count).  Including a sweep of the Cream Ale category with Pabst of Los Angeles brewing Washington Iconic beers of Rainier (gold) and Olympia (silver). Dale Brothers from Upland took bronze with Nuff. Colorado parlayed its home field advantage to 35 medals including a gold in the hotly contested Wood and Barrel-Aged Strong Beer category that was won by AC Golden.  Oh and Coors Banquet struck gold as well. Oregon hauled in 19 medals and Washington State 12 and it seemed whenever the ABInBev owned 10 Barrel would win that another Bend based brewery would win the next higher medal.  A bit of karma perhaps?

Firestone Walker and TAPS were named mid-sized winners and Rip Current from San Diego was tabbed for Very Small Brewing company awards.  If you prefer your beer brewed or owned by a large corporation, the Pabst of Los Angeles should be your choice, at least the Brewer’s Association thinks so…

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Other assorted notes:

Feral One and Sour Opal picked up medals for Barrelworks in Buellton.

Ritual won big with two gold medals as did Bottle Logic.

Session IPA’s debuted this year and had the 4th highest entry count.

My college town of McMinnville was mentioned with a gold from Golden Valley .

Best beer name was in the Belgian Quadrupel category: Quad Damn It.

 

 

 

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The Great American Beer Festival 2015

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I won’t be in Denver for the GABF tomorrow, live Tweeting or SnapChatting about the wave of beer that will descend upon the Blue Bear’s convention center but I will give you a re-cap of the awards and how California and (more specifically), Los Angeles fared.  And I may even live tweet some of the awards like Bernie Sanders with a Republican debate.  You can follow along with the Brewing Network if you are also not in Colorado.

If you are attending this year, make a point to go through the many, many guides out there to help plot your course. The only advice that I can give you is to try the local beer first and foremost. And stay hydrated.  And do take the tour of New Belgium if you haven’t before because it is amazing.

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GABF15

If you have some free time come September 24-26, maybe you should head to Denver for the 34th annual Great American Beer Festival?

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You have five days to decide because tickets will be available for purchase to the general public online on July 29, 2015 at Ticketmaster.

(Make sure to get up at the right time, the tickets go on sale on Mountain Time)

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GABF – 90 Categories

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Charlie Papazian, the head man at the Brewers Association must have a sore hand from all the fist bumps and be partially blind from the camera flashes due to a staggering 90 categories in competition at this year’s Great American Beer Festival.

From 20 entrants in the Gluten Free and Dopplebock styles to a mind (and palate blowing) 279 in the American IPA category, there is plenty of data to mine. With special attention to my home state of Oregon and my current state of California.

Here are my take-aways from the medalists:

California racked up double-digit tallys in each medal class and swept the Session and barleywine categories. But in the hoppy arena, lost the premier category of American IPA.

Speaking of, it is so cool to have Breakside win. They are literally down the street from my Mom’s house. It was strange and great to hear your hometown (Milwaukie, OR.) get called out.

Staying hoppy, will Hop 15 from Port become more sought after now that it edged out Pliny the Elder in the re-configured Imperial IPA category. Or will Russian River be considered a pils house with their Silver in the German Pilsener style? Kudos to Firestone Walker for the win with Pivo.

Congratulations also to Gabe and Julian at Beachwood for the gold, silver and more importantly Large Brewpub and Brewer of the year. They are cementing an already sterling reputation while previous GABF darling, Jeff Bagby also snared a medal for his just opened eponymous brewery in Oceanside.

No big LA wins this year since Beachwood is Long Beach and Pabst, is well, Pabst. Though, if I see their gold medal cream ale, Primo, I might give it a whirl.

The other surprise was the strong showing of New Mexico. If my count is correct, the turquoise state nabbed 5 Gold Medals and Marble Brewing of Albuquerque won Small Brewer of the year. Another SW state, Texas also did quite well.

Other strong California statements came from High Water, Figueroa Mountain and Bootlegger’s who all bagged two medals each. With Port Brewing picking up what has almost become a routine amount of medals from their various locations.

Let me finish by saying, that like a list, a competition in craft beer is more important for non-judges as a way to choose where next to go. Taste is subjective and the best Ordinary Bitter may not be to your fancy but if you find yourself in Austin, a Salt Lake City or Green Bay, you now know of three breweries that have wowed judges in that category and that they probably make some other fine beers that you should try.

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No Reason Not to be in Denver

Unless you are me, and think it is better to go Denver for the Great American Beer Festival every three to four years.  But for brewers, it can be invaluable which is why last year’s overflow situation sucked, to be perfectly frank.

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News from the excellent Brewbound site explains that this year will be different: “The Brewers Association (BA) has streamlined the registration process for this year’s Great American Beer Festival (GABF) in hopes of avoiding a repeat of a debacle that made securing a spot at the event difficult in 2013.

Last year, brewers flooded the BA’s servers in an attempt to register, which resulted in the festival selling out in half an hour. As such, not all beer companies were able to sign up. Additional “technical problem[s]” with Ticketmaster, which the BA contracts for general public and member ticket sales, “had a negative impact” on some members, as outlined in an apology issued by the BA at the time.

……to ensure that brewers aren’t excluded from participating, the organization said it plans to accept every applicant wishing to submit products for judging — unless more than 1,400 companies apply.

But while the amount of breweries able to participate in the medal competition has increased, the number of beers a company can enter for judging has not. That number will depend upon the total number of brewers competing, the BA said.”

It won’t make the medal ceremony any shorter but hopefully those who want to go will get the chance and those who don’t want to will also learn that it might be better to step aside.

 

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GABF Brewery # 3 – DC Brau

While at the Great American Beer Festival, of the 35+ some odd 1 ounce samplers that I had, one was called the Corruption from DC Brau.

Once you get past the political themed names, you find some solid beers. Before GABF, I had their collaboration fall beer, Fermentation without Representation that they brewed with Epic from Utah and really enjoyed it. The Corruption IPA also fell into the enjoyed category. A crisp beer that had enough bitterness for a left coaster like myself.

Two other tidbits that raise their approval ratings for me are that they are canning in the Capital and that they are politically active in the arena of DC statehood. Canned beer has a better chance of making it out to me and if we got DC as a state maybe people will stop talking about Ohio for half a second. (Sorry, election year rant)

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Beer Search Party at GABF – Facts & photos

I am now back in Los Angeles and I am looking back on my second Great American Beer Festival visit. My first trip a couple years back was overwhelming. It only took two days and one session for me to say “no mas!”. But I was also new to the beer blogging scene. I didn’t know anybody and quietly drank some beer and left. Also the scene was different in Denver then too.

This year, thanks to expanded access and to pacing myself, I was able to really enjoy not only the beer but also all the people that come out every year too.

The Brewer’s Association always puts out fun tidbits from the festival. Data like how much ice is used and how many beers are judged in the IPA category. So here are some of my Beer Search Party facts. With breaks for some of my favorite photos from my visit.

By rough estimate, I tasted 87 different beers. Most in 1 ounce pours.

I had three sampler trays from three new Denver breweries – Prost, Renegade and Strange. And re-visited three “older” Denver breweries – Great Divide, Wynkoop and Breckenridge.

My top three beers were Fiat Luxe from Brooklyn Brewery, Monk’s Indiscretion from Sound Brewing and Kaffir Lime Wheat from Denver Beer Co.

There were 49 California medalists at the the awards ceremony. You can search the medal database for GABF HERE.

I FINALLY tasted an Alabama beer. Freckly Belly IPA from Back Forty. Then I tasted a Peanut Butter beer from another Beer Engineers! Now I only have North Dakota to complete my 50 beers!

GABF is just a beer lovers paradise. Even if you don’t go to the main festival, there are enough breweries to visit, special events and beer tappings to find and hidden gems (like the Beerliner) that you find yourself having to decide between so many different places to go and beers to try.

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Beer Search Party at GABF – the last beers

After the awarding of medals it was time to hit the convention floor for a last spin across the beer country. I had a chile beer from Gigantic that was great (Hot Time, Summer in the City) A nice alt from Grimm Brothers (Big Bad Wolf) and my two very favorites of both sessions that I attended Sound Brewing from Poulsbo, Washington with their Monk’s Indiscretion and Brooklyn Brewing’s Fiat Luxe. Both woke up my overworked palate and showed that light beers can be bold and flavorful.

The two more Denver breweries beckoned and taster trays were purchased. First on the agenda was Renegade Brewing.

Their Elevation Triple IPA was the winner from the four sampled. So much so that bought a bottle of the oak aged version to take home!

Then it was time for some Strange Brewing. Their sampler tray held 9 beers. I enjoyed the pupkin porter and their cherry beers which were both a touch sweet but had a big cherry pie taste but the winner from that group was a rosemary IPA by the name of Zora.

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Beer Search Party at GABF – Part 1

Quick and easy (though very early) flight out of LAX. And all of a sudden we are in Colorado airspace.

Beer buddy Richard and I started at Great Divide. I picked up a fresh hop ale. Not to be confused with a Colorado fresh hop ale which was also on tap. It was a clean and crisp and medium hopped pale (in my opinion) that I really enjoyed. Great first beer to take the edge of the travel day.

Then it was on to Wynkoop for lunch. I missed the ‘Koop the first Denver visit and probably should have skipped it again. All three beers were sub-par to me and I can’t blame it on palate fatigue because it was still early in the trip. Though the Mac and Cheese was nice and much needed to balance out all of the drinking ahead.

Then (many then’s in this story), we stopped by the Beerliner. An old Bluebird bus that had been spiffily painted and retrofitted with big TV’s and four taps on the side that was parked near the Falling Rock Tap Room that was pouring only Texas beers through the weekend. Plus you got hillbilly music!

I had the English pale ale and the kolsch from Peticolas Brewing. I was quite taken by both offerings but didn’t linger because more beer beckoned (though I may return to that bus).

Now it is time for a brief rest. Followed by the Thursday session and getting a media badge. Exciting times ahead.

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In the Tap Lines for October 2012

L.A. Beer Week literally finished yesterday but the craft beer bandwagon rolls on. First up is BAM Fest and then followed by my 2nd trip to the Great American Beer Festival. Then lots of sleep.

~ e-visits to three breweries that I will taste at the GABF
~ video reviews tackles the Berliner Weisse style
~ Three suggested beers to buy this month
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my opinion on the craft beer world
~ … and Session # 68 will converge bloggers onto a single topic
~ plus many more posts about new beers, beer products and breweries

Here are two events to get your June started in the Los Angeles craft beer world:
1) October 6th – BAM Fest in Santa Monica
2) October 7th – Stone Brewing’s Pour it Black festival