GABF Winners: Rants n Raves

It also looks like the one review was by a brewer there.

 

I live in colorado, and I love the beer here. Anything I have ever traded for I have been able to say I can get the same or better locally. In the past I've expressed on BA that if more of our beers received more distro that they would be highly sought after. People jock rumpkin on here all the time, I feel its avery's worst ba beer. Not a lot of people outside of CO have heard of funkwerks, crooked stave, trinity, and strange brewing. They all walked away with medals in their categories for a reason. Strange and trinity are always on the top of the list when people ask me about where to go in co. And when it comes to local beer releases, funkwerks and crooked stave don't sit on the shelf very long. All these brewers sit under the radar and create these wonderful beers after years of microbio classes, studying and brewing abroad, developing proprietary yeast strains, and modifying malt bills and hop additions over the years simply because they love beer. And you can taste it in every pint. /end rant

 

Edit - you can speculate that they did not win, but if they didn't enter this year due to the brewery having other things going on, like major expansions, they could not win. The only way to know is to ask the brewery.

 

For a the bitching, you have to know if the brewery you champion even entered. And due to the mass influx of new breweries, they're capped at 10 entries. So if the beer isn't at its peak 1.5 months before entries are due, they probably didn't enter it. Larger breweries may not be adjusting their brew schedule to match the deadline for shipping beer either. This makes a much bigger impact on lighter more delicate styles. 4,338 entries were submitted with 3 bombers or 4 12oz per batch, that's ~12,000 beers that 120 people handle and submit before ~180 judges. The judges are all pro brewers or experts (yeast manufacturers) etc...

Plus a ton of small brewpubs with zero distribution enter. You can't knock their product because they haven't hand delivered a bottle to your entitles arse. This is going to be the new trend as breweries explode. GABF continues to grow and i wouldn't be surprised to see the competition last a full week in the future.
As far as the catch all categories go, its a wide open field. Esp sours where a brewery can make a small one off batch that may never even be put on tap.

 

Fair enough...I actually do like the Bohemian.

 

Really? I hope that's sarcasm...

 

+1 to that! Great gold for Jamil and his up-and-coming crew. The Heretic beers are growing on me and I'm happy to support this local fine East Bay brewery. Keep em' coming Heretic and congrats!

 

GABF is a great event, medals are nice and they are great for the breweries. Medals are nearly meaningless for the consumers, lets not get all bent out of shape by who won and who didn't. I have never drank a beer based on medals and am not going to start now.

 

I wonder when was the last time you tried the Tap It IPA. I also live in SLO county and work around the corner from them....their beers have vastly improved over the last 4-6 months with some new additons to the brew team and just overall process improvements. I admit I would take Union Jack over Tap It 9 times out of 10 but the last few times I have had it I have been quite impressed. And its possible wiith hoppy beers that peak and fall off so quick maybe the day of judging was the day that beer shined the most

 

And to beat Duet which took the bronze ...
Unreal.

 

One last thing that just occurred to me. The larger breweries have a lot more to lose if they put out an experimental product that isn't great. Odell, Avery, Founders, Bell's all have great beers that have created a legacy. The smaller guys who have no reputation outside of their local communities have the ability to throw some real creativity into their fermenters without the issue of their fanbase cringing and walking away. Refer to the new coke that everyone hated. Coke went out on a limb and it cost them dearly. I'm not saying that any of these larger brewers are lacking in creativity, or their beers are outdated, but I am saying that there are a lot of little guys pushing the boundries in order to find their place in this crazy beer world.

 

I know that the fo/bb was the 750ml French Oak/Bourbon Barrel Select.
Not sure about the Gold. Guessing that might be a mistake.
Congrats to CL, also a bronze for Golden Delicious.

 

What's wrong with Funkwerks? I have no vested interest in them, I just happen to enjoy their beers (even though I can't get them most of the time), but why the "barf" reaction?

 

Devil's Backbone was the real shock to me with 8 medals for beers plus small brewery of the year. Guess I have to make my way down there.

 

Just because the larger breweries aren't bottling experimental batches, doesn't mean they're not brewing them. Odell regularly has 5 - 10 one-off beers on tap at their brewery and Avery usually has a couple. I've never been to Founders or Bells, but I would be surprised if their brewers don't have a pilot system to play on.

 

I've never been. Anyone have any feedback regarding Brickstone? Their beer and food menu looks promising.

 

Beers that are enjoyable to drink aren't always well-executed beers from a technical/stylistic point of view. There's a world of difference between saying "I like this beer" and "this beer is a textbook example of a given style."

 

Then you my friend have too much hope for humanity

 

I always like these results. It doesn't really influence me but its always cool to see results based on blind taste and not preconceived idea of value. Plus, so many small breweries get a shot an it's just neat to see how the medals shape up.

There are quite a few beers that medaled that don't get a ton of love or value on here but IMO they are top tier beers.

 

Troegs winning three medals sickens me. Out of them, the only respectable one in my opinion was the wheat... And it's just respectable. I think they've gone to shit since the new brewery came along.