2016 GI Clybourn Stout Fest

I remember Templeton Rye being one of my favorites at FOBAB 2 years ago. That is definitely an under-the-radar gem.

 

I see they just posted on IG who the winners were:

1st - GI Clybourn Proprietary
2nd - Spiteful Malevolence Chocolate Caliente
3rd - Revolution Café Deth

And Spiteful won Brewer's Choice for the Malevolence Chocolate Caliente.

I had all 3 of those, and wasn't crazy for any of them. I thought there was way too much variation between the Proprietary kegs (first pour I had was all coconut with little bourbon; second pour from different keg was all bourbon with little coconut) to give it a high mark. Malevolence just had too much pepper for my taste - I could see people liking it if they enjoy that pepper flavor, as it had quite a bit going on with it. The Café Deth was way too coffee forward for me - it felt like drinking full on coffee almost - me not being a coffee drinker (but liking plenty of coffee stouts, especially BA versions), this was not my style.

As for Templeton Rye BCBS - that was indeed great stuff.

 

Avoided 2015 BCBCS and went with the 14', was delicious as ever, also grabbed a Templeton Rye and a Prop pour. Cafe Deth was amazing, so much coffee flavor. 17 from Perennial was meh, missed out on abraxas but I am not too bummed about it.

 

Yeah, Chocolate Malevolence is like that, which is why I prefer the BA version.

I can't knock Proprietary for being inconsistent, because I've observed the same from Prop '14 (and '13, but that may have been a freshness issue). I get your point, though.

I'm slightly disappointed by what I would consider "homer" picks, but at least the winners are great beers from great breweries.

 

I completely forgot to bum rush Spiteful for Caliente.

I'll turn in my FIB card on the way out...

 

I've heard a few people mention that about Prop '14, which is interesting because I've had it 3 times in the past year or so (2 from tap and 1 from bottle) and it's been consistent every time. My buddy and I talked about this point the last time we had it (he's had it the same 3 times as me), and both agreed that it's been consistent to both of us...which is why we seem to enjoy it so much.

You're right on the last point - the winners didn't venture more than a couple miles away from GI Clybourn. But, even though they weren't to my tastes (which makes me wonder if I'm veering away from what's popular now), they seemed to be well put together.

 

I used to hear that Prop '13 was a "coconut bomb," and never saw that in my own bottles (Prop '13 is my favorite beer all-time, so I've had ample time to consider it's qualities!). Prop '14 had the coconut taste I was looking for, with a background of chocolate and cinnamon...at least until the 3rd bottle I opened, which had no coconut whatsoever (and I finally got why people were saying it was cloying, and calling it a "cinnamon bomb."). '14 is my gf's favorite beer (well, was until BA Chocolate Malevolence), and she was super disappointed by our 3rd bottle.

My basic point is that with adjuncts like coconut, it seems pretty difficult to eliminate variation from the recipe (I'm pretty sure one of the brewers said to drink Prop '13 fresh for this reason), so I'm not surprised that Proprietary ran into that issue. I would be happy to test out its consistency at the brewpub, if they'd just do me the favor of putting it on tap.

In terms of you veering away from "what's popular..." I dunno, I passed on Prop and Regal because I've had both enough to be content, and I wanted new stuff, but I definitely get why people would be trying to drink as much of the "whales" as possible. I also think it's only natural to vote for the beers you liked most from your favorite breweries (obviously Spiteful, Clybourn and Rev all have very loyal fanbases); I didn't vote, but I'd have had Proprietary in my top 3 somewhere. With that being said, I typically like rooting for the little guys, because that's where the next whale, or the next big brewery comes from (Madagascar and BA Chocolate Caliente were two of my top 3 picks last year, and we all know what a pain in the ass they were to puchase in bottles).

 

Like many others, I had a great time yesterday. Not too surprised by the winners list. Café Deth was fantastic and I'm looking forward to that being bottled. Cognac BA Hunter was also a hit, as well as 2014 Drago. My best-in-show winner was the Cinnamon-Vanilla Cocovore from Horse Thief. I think that flew under the radar for a lot of people.

 

Great time as always. Best in show for me was far and away BA vanilla bean LSD. My assumption is not enough people know who they are yet, so it lasted well into the final hour. BA Coffee LSD was very close. Having them be a last minute addition to the fest was a great surprise. Hope they finally get Chicago distribution since that's who they were in town meeting with. Easily one of the top MO breweries that not many people know of yet.

It was also great chatting with @Lansman for a bit. I'll definitely be looking for your group at DLD this year.

 

When I went to 2nd Shift, I had the BA LSD, but didn't think there were any adjuncts to it - thought it was just "regular" BA. And, I thought the Coffee version was a non-BA. Of course, these were closer to the end of my tasting, so it's quite possible my memory was impacted. I only had the BA version, and liked it - that was one of my under the radar ones that I'd like to try again.

 

Thanks a lot, guys. Cinnamon-Vanilla Cocovore and BA vanilla bean LSD were two of the beers I wanted to try most (but didn't get a chance to).

 

Steve was advertising it as just BA, but if you read the small print it said aged on Madagascar vanilla beans. I thought the coffee was BA as well, but I could be wrong. I may have just assumed.

 

Small print + an afternoon of drinking = me not knowing what was in the beer apparently! I did specifically ask him about the Coffee versus "Regular", and he said the Coffee was not BA.

I don't recall the BA being heavy on the vanilla, which would've stood out to me, as I haven't had many vanilla stouts I like because it always seems too heavy. So, perhaps they use vanilla in a measured way that I can enjoy (or it was heavy, and my taste buds were shot). I had Vanilla Abraxas and it seemed like the vanilla just covered up the taste of regular Abraxas - not cool.

 

Wat?

 

At least one person reported you shaking your head at people wandering over last year. Or my drunken haze could completely misremember.

 

That's exactly why I enjoyed it so much. It's how a vanilla stout should be. Mild notes as opposed to a vanilla bomb like VR or Madagascar. Too many breweries mid-using it these days to mask the base.

 

Stout Fest folks never bothered me....¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

Well then, let's hope that distribution of their beer gets here quickly!

 

I think there's room for both styles--personally, if I'm drinking an adjunct stout, I want the flavor of the addictive to shine through; that's exactly what I love about Madagascar. I can see enjoying something that is more about the sum of all parts, though.

 

Was GI proprietary barrel aged?