GABF 2015 Discussion & Info

I took the RTD today and it was packed to the point of people standing in the isle. I don't know if it will get worse this weekend. uber or Lyft might be the way to go. Also it took about 15 minutes to get everyone on the bus for some reason.

 

Yeah it gets busy and can take way longer, and you might end up standing up the whole way. I'd recommend spending the extra for Uber/Lyft personally, but I'm not trying to spend everyone else's money

Actually yes I am, out of towners please take Uber so you don't buy up all of the Casey

 

Beers are live in the app now. You can check beers by brewery now.

 

Oh Aaron, you're the best! Let's have a beer this weekend!

 

In!

 

Okay looking at my list of beers to try, I am severely lacking in Belgians. Can anyone recommend some belgian style beers at GABF that don't have distro here? I was looking at Brasserie St. James but their beers are rated pretty poorly most places...

 

My suitcase is shockingly empty the night before I head to Denver. If there is anything from Chicago you've had your eye on, shoot me a PM and I'll see what I can do!

 

So yeah, I was Waaaay off on this. It was super busy. We showed up @ 11:40, got parking spot in their ultra-small parking lot, so were were psyched and still didn't realize anything was amiss. And then we walked around the corner.
We decided to eat somewhere else. Came back around at 1:30, smaller line but still there. So we gave up.
If my horribly incorrect misprognostication inconvenienced anyone, I apologize.
Either I got really lucky on previous events, or there was greater publicity this year. Whatever the case, it was freaking packed.

 

I heard there was a 2+ hour wait early on. I showed up at 3, stood in line for 20 minutes to get in to standing room only, was still able to have the double two hearted, which was amazing, 2x4, also amazing, and that perennial (Maman?) stout which blew my mind. Hops & Pie kills it with their tap lists, so lucky to have them in Denver (Berkley).

 

Didn't see this earlier, but no worries, I was just in Chi a couple weeks ago and brought a few things home

 

I really enjoyed the BSJ offerings last year, I wouldn't pass on their booth just bc of poor ratings if you're looking for sours/belgians. Try some first time GABF participants offering Belgian styles, it might be more miss than hit but once you find a good one, you'll be happy you did.

 

It's probably a general statement about American beer, but here goes. I find we make lots of great Belgian-inspired beers, but very few that taste spot-on with the ones brewed in Belgium. Not better, not worse...just different. I love a lot of American saisons and tripels, but do many of those taste anything like Dupont, Westmalle, etc. ? Not really. Are there any American dubbels and quads that resemble abbey beers? Not many.
If anything, we're probably closer to closing the gap with the lambic and wild beers than we are the more traditional styles.
I've always found that odd.

 

I'm curious how that Small Batch release went (or is going) at 11am today.

That was a mighty impressive lineup of beers they posted on the FB yesterday. Loons, Boos, Casey, all manner of barrel aged goodies....

 

Coworker drove over there around 10:30 and said there were about 50 people lined up, so he just came back to work

 

That's what I assumed would happen, so I didn't bother this time around. Thanks!

 

See some you you guys at GABF tonight. Will probably be in the new entrance line.

 

I bought only one case this year.

 

Good man!

 

I'll be there tonight. I'll be wearing a plaid shirt and jeans, you can't miss me.

 

I checked the weather forecast for tonight. Clear, 0% chance of precipitation
5 PM: 81 degrees
6 PM: 80 degrees
10 PM: 65 degrees
11 PM: 63 degrees
Should be a nice day for some beers. It's not going to cool off super fast either.