Great taste 2013 retrospective thread

Faves: ba Plead the Fifth by dark horse, double penetration by kuhnhen, Dan by lakefront, zombie killer by b. nektar
Least: concord sofie. Line was a cluster fuck and the beer was a mess.

 

Stout brewed with ghost peppers. Tasty and well balanced.

 

Same here. My friends poured them out.

 

Two of the highlights for me was the Imperial Creme Brulee Java Stout and the Double Rice IPA.

 

these 3 were outstanding. the Brett Dank i really liked a bunch.

 

Dont have my notes with me but I think the Blueberry Flanders was my favorite that I tried. We worked at a booth for most of the public session (1-6) so we didnt get to check out many of the timed tappings, but did spend a lot of time in the Real Ale tent from 11-1. I remember a coconut porter being pretty good, cant remember the brewery though.

Being a GTOM Rookie this year, I was really impressed with the location and the organization. Will be attending in the future, for sure.

 

Worst of Fest: South Shore (WI) Bourbon-Barrel Coffee Mint Stout...tasted like if Pepo-Bismol put out a mint version...mint was too dominant and cloying...wrapped itself around my tongue and tried to rip it out. Yuck!

 

If we're going to the dark side of Worst, there were a lot of fine efforts. Aside from a few standouts (Atlas, Against the Grain, Black Husky), I was disappointed in a lot of the new-to-me breweries this year.

 

For me the highlights were as follows:
- Being first in line for MD and having continuous pours of P.S. while waiting
- Getting a pour of Assassin from the random bottles they kept pulling out
- Did I mention MD?
- The unlimited pours of GI Baudoinia that no one seemed to notice was on tap
- Karben4 brewing
- Meeting and talking with some great BA's while waiting in line

All around great time as usual, I am sure I can list more highlights hence why this fest is amazing.

 

This, so much. No wait at all, I probably had 3-4 full pours. This one was better than almost all of the variants they brought also.

 

Not true. Gladly took pours while waiting in line for the next BCS to tap. Cucumbersome was a nice palette quencher too. The BCS Baudoinia @ Madison the night before was tasty too.

 

Couldn't agree more, the creme brulee did not taste how I remembered it the first time I tried it which was also at the gtomw. but DRIPA was awesome. Tried some stuff from bent river which I wouldnt think would be good, but their jalepeno beer was actually pretty tasty for a chile beer

 

New Glarus Apple Ale was one of my favorites.

 

Trying all the "weird beers" was a lot of fun, I'll probably make a better effort to do more of that next year. Kuhnenn Hand Grenade, Solemn Oath's Dude Hold My Purse, Haymarket BB/Port BA DIPA were all winners.

 

In retrospect, they need to make this a week long event so I can try everything. Actually, I still wouldnt be able to.

 

Kinda' disappointed in Great Lakes for not bringing it this year. So many great brews...Nosferatu, Cleveland Brown Ale, Rye of the Tiger, Christmas Ale, Dopplerock, Lake Erie Monster, Conway's Irish Ale, Alchemy Hour... Variants of any of these would have been cool, too. Or some timed releases? Needed more than just BA Blackout Stout (which is excellent)...

Only peeved 'cause I love them so much and they're in my Top 5 Breweries. This year was just blah by them.

 

My favs: Town Hall Backyard Rustic, BA Plead the Fifth, Black Note (couldn't get any here in IA), and BA Blackout Stout. Morning Delight was delicious, but my expectations were too high for having waited 25 minutes.

With I could have tried Assassin.

 

Highlights for me were seeing all my BA friends that I only see at events. Lowlights were seeing other BAs that are uglier than I am.

Anyone else see the (overly) drunk guy whose shorts fell down followed by the rest of him? Priceless!

 

Another solid weekend. Kept it pretty simple on Friday - a few pseudo Sue's with lunch at Brasserie V, a black note at maduro, and then alternated KBS and Doom casually at Merchant. I can't really comment on what happened after that.

Nice day at the fest too, some thoughts...
* Layout was strange. The 500 tent was SO far away and loaded with great breweries - I spent half the day there and likely neglected an entire tent or 2 that I found "boring"
* The lines get more and more ridiculous every year. Didn't even consider visiting Goose Island, Founders or Three Floyds. Made attempts at Surly and Kuhnhenn but quit immediately.
* Was really impressed by Revolutions releases - Fistal Cliff and Straightjacket, particularly
* Toppling Goliath is worth the hype. Mornin Delight was way better than Assassin, though. I much preferred Zeelander to its Mosaic dry-hopped brother. I'm pretty damn sick of Mosaic hops already.
* No line for Great Lakes BA Blackout - works for me.
* Agree that the Town Hall Backyard Rustic was great, but where was the Masala?
* Destihl sours were all good, but not as memorable as years past

 

What about BA friends who are uglier than you are?