GABF Takeaways

So I went last night and didn't have a single miss, aside from Modern Times and w00tstout.

I bolded the standouts.

AC Golden American Wild Ale
AleSmith Vietnamese Speedway Stout
Almanac Barrel Noir
Almanac Farmer’s Reserve No 3
Almanac Farmer’s Reserve No 4
Beachwood BBQ Amalgamator IPA
Beachwood BBQ System of a Stout
The Bruery Chocolate Rain (8:07p)
The Bruery Oude Tart with Cherries
The Bruery Sour in the Rye with Peaches
TAPS Remy
Bell's Black Note
DESTIHL Reserve Belgian-Style Lambic
DESTIHL Reserve Flanders
DESTIHL Reserve Sour Paw Paw Ale
DESTIHL Reserve Sour Raspberry/Strawberry Ale
Sun King Jungle Room
Sun King Stupid Sexy Flanders
Surly OverRated!
Three Floyds Permanent Funeral
Sierra Nevada Barrel-Aged Narwhal
Sierra Nevada DevESTATEtion Ale
The Lost Abbey Duck Duck Gooze
The Lost Abbey Framboise de Amarosa
Great Lakes Oktoberfest
Revolution A Little Crazy
Fat Heads IBUsive
Fat Heads BattleAxe Bourbon Aged
Hangar 24 Barrel Roll No. 3 Pugachev's Cobra
Heretic Evil Cousin
Heretic Torment
Kern River Class X
Kern River Dirty Hippie
Kern River Just Outstanding IPA
Modern Times Fortunate Islands
Russian River Framboise for a Cure
Russian River Propitiation
Short's Bourbon Aphasia
Short's Bourbon Woodmaster
Kuhnhenn DRIPA
Goose Island Bourbon County Coffee Stout
Selkirk Abbey Saint Augustine
Hopworks Organic Belgian-Style Pear Ale
Logsdon Seizon Bretta
Pelican Pub Mother of all Storms
pFreim Mosaic Single Hop Pale
Stone w00tstout
Stone Reason Be Damned Belgian Style Abbey Ale aged in Red Wine Barrels
Stone Ruination IPA Grapefruit Slam
Cambridge Cerise Cassee
Cambridge Shadows and Light
Jack's Abbey Hoponius Union IPL
Jack's Abbey Mass Rising
Samuel Adams Utopias 2011
Knee Deep Simtra Triple IPA
Ladyface Blind Ambition
Ladyface La Grisette
Freetail Ananke
Freetail Spirulina Wit
Marshall Wharf Cant Dog IIPA
Marshall Wharf Chaos Chaos
Marshall Wharf Ace Hole
Captain Lawrence Rosso e Marrone
Church Brew Works Cherry Quad
Peekskill Amazeballs
Peekskill Awesome Sauce
Swamp Head Saison du Swamp w/ Brett
Wicked Weed Freak DIPA
The Commons Maybelle
The Commons Myrtle

 

The Saturday session still had a great lineup, that being said it was much more of the "shit show" crowd. A lot of the "oooohhhhhsss" every time someone dropped their tasting cup. Including a lot of trashed morons that were running around knocking them out of people's hands. I had a really good time, but next year I'll make it a priority to go to the members only session or one of the sessions earlier in the week.

 

I did the satturday shit show as well. It was my first, and probably only, gabf. I got to ccb for hunna, they were out so I settled for white oak jai alai. Right as I get to thee front the guy ahead of me nabbed the last pour. Weak. I stuck with colorado beers that don't see distro just to see what else is out there that I don't get to try. Tweek was my standout stout as always. Nobody can touch that beer, bcbcs is a distant comparison. I got to try sofie paradisi, I wish that got bottled up. One of my hands down faves, and I was suprised by mountain sun szechuan session ale, german ale yeast withh sorachi ace worked well together, and didn't come across as watered down. On the other hand I was pretty happy to see trve, but their beers tasted wateredd down at best, and fernet porter was a drain pour for me. My fave of the night was iron sword from real ale in. Tx. Best english pale I have ever had. I gotta get me some. Other than that, I have to echo that the crowd was weak. People knocking beers out of each others hands, people completely trashed, someone puked all over the floor and people were falling in it, frat boys strong arming their way through crowds, I enjoyed myself but it isn't worth the bullshit people bring.

 

Damn man that sounds terrible. The Thursday session was nothing like that. Sure there were a few "ooohhhsss" throughout the night but I didn't see anyone acting like a complete idiot, puking, or blatantly cutting in line (there were some who were sneaky about it). I also missed Hunaphu and opted to go with the White Oak Jai Alai.

 

Yeah, Friday night was great too, none of that shit. I think there were maybe 10 glass drops I witnessed, which is actually a lot less than previous years, lol.

 

Three Floyd's disappointing me once again. I understand that people like your beer, but for someone who flew in for the festival and not even see a single one of their beers was a disgrace. Same thing happened when I went to savory in NYC this year. Maybe they should learn how to plan for a festival. Complete joke. On a positive note, new glarus serendipity was awesome

 

I've seen a fair amount of pictures and bad reports about Saturday. Lots of beers that are long gone and a lot of troublesome drunks. Seems like the exact opposite of the other days.
I always used to do Friday, but I'm now convinced Thursday is the way to go if you can get tickets. Next year I'm pretty certain we're going to get a hotel downtown for the whole second half of the weekend. Between the light rail, buses, and cabs I'm wondering if it might actually save us money in addition to being more convenient.

 

And it will keep selling out. Why fix it.

 

I poured for Weasel Boy - their entire lineup was strong. Both Anastasia's were excellent, the holiday holiday ale brewed with chocolate, vanilla beans and honey was a big surprise, and the black IPA and the paw paw fruit beers were solid. Plus the brewers hung out at the booth quite a bit. Great people making great beer. I think they only make ~550 barrels a year.

 

As someone who lives in Austin, I may be able to help you out with a 6pack or two of that.

 

I came here to bitch about 3 Floyds. I guess I am not the only one either. Friday was the same shit - gone within the hour.

 

Very true, although they did manage to fix the other sessions. I think the problems with Saturday fall on the breweries as much as the event staff. Being totally out of everything on Friday is weak sauce.

 

Saturday night is always a living hell. Leave that to the boneheads, and come join the rest of us on Thursday next year. Thursday is the sweet spot. Then, the rest of the fest, just go to all the satellite events. You'll have a much, much better GABF, for sure.

 

Mother of all Storms blew my socks off.. Wow.

 

Wow, so many breweries anymore!! My wife and I couldn't finish the entire lap, I mean we did but because we sprinted through the Mountain section First time probably since I've been in 4 years that didn't really try 'one' beer more than once or go back for seconds. The quality of the styles brought was amazing. Duck Duck Gooz, Black Note, Pugachev's Cobra, BA Narwhal, etc. Really was impressed by Jack's Abbey, Fat Heads, Drake's off the top of my head.

 

Beers were great. Stone grapefruit slam was really refreshing amongst all the craziness.

The people were even better.

 

My brother and I were discussing this afterwards. We ended up paying a good bit to stay at one of the hotels within a mile of the convention center but it was well worth it. They had a town car that would take you anywhere within two miles free of charge and we never had a problem reserving it. That and a lot of the spots were a few blocks walk from the hotel. I think we ended up saving money in the end.

 

As usual, Saturday night is not for the beer geeks. Unfortunately, it's the only full session where the medal winners are listed (half of Sat. afternoon had them). Many medals winners were dry by 6pm, if not sooner.

Just going over the medal winner list, it seems there is a wider variety of breweries who won. Many awesome beers were left without medals; nature of the beast.

Lots of beers I did not get to try b/c my liver is only yay big. The Commons has some solid beers, so too does Weasel Boy. Barley Browns was real nice.

No beers from Iowa or New Jersey

 

Next year, GABF Thurs., WTF! Friday, Dr.Bill Tasting Sat. done.

 

Sign me up