Your best experiences from 2014

My highlight of 2014 is definitely my first bourbon county hunt. Twas a fun time meeting new people and waiting for that liquid gold.

 

The highlight of my year beer wise was meeting up with our own @cavedave here for a release from ithaca and then going to vermont. I also enjoyed visiting connecticut and two roads and I even went to jacks abby and to trillium. I have met a handful of you all from parts far and wide. I even ran into @Jason .

lovely group of people

Oh and I got my picture taken with dave engbers.

 

This is an easy question for me. Without a question, Bruery tap takeover at Ginger Man in NYC with 40 bruery beers on tap. I got to try:

STR w/kumquats
oude tart w/cherries
tart of darkness with cherry and vanilla
grey monday
windowsil
bois variants
sucre variants
Chocolate Rain
and a dozen more amazing beers.

I just got back from a Founders event where I got to try CBS and i already forgot about it

 

My highlights are more experiences than rare's;

January - Cracking Lost Abbey Angel's Share to celebrate a good friend's first child
Feb - Being a beer judge at the NYIBC in New York City
March - Trying PtY at Monk's Café (first time at Monk's, and great time)
April - Oskar Blues Old Chub (cherry almond), awesomeness!
May - Great South Bay Mayfest beer event
June - Enjoying Dockyard brewing's beer flight while in Bermuda
July - Trying to consume Stone's Punishment during July 4th (I could not finish a 6oz pour)
August - Hanging at the Brickstore in Atlanta (little did we know that our friend Bill would pass away 2 months later)
September - Finding time to check out Fitger's in Duluth during a business trip
October - On another trip to Spokane, I drove to Idaho and had a blast at Selkirk Abbey (ISO: all their saisons)
November - Against the Grain Bo & Luke thanks to a really cool friend
December - Headed to Wisconsin for work, and celebrated a successful project with NG Raspberry Tart.

I often look back at the chronology of my ratings of beers and places and remember the great experiences.

 

Easy choice for me - the Allagash beer dinner at Julian's in Providence with my wife and daughter. Favorite things all in one place - great beer, expertly prepared foods, and almost all of the family. It was a seriously eye-opening experience about the possibilities of pairing cuisine and beer. It also got me interested in Allagash as a brewery, which was only reinforced when we toured the brewery later this summer.

 

My best experience was trying KBS for the first time and it living up to all of the hype

 

My best experience of 2014 with a good beer was kicking back bottle after bottle of 2 week old Two Hearted Ale with a childhood friend that I had not seen in a long time. We sat around a campfire in his backyard for hours talking about everything that happened the last 8 years of our lives. That was a great night I will never forget. :-)

 

good times with good people enjoying great brews

 

My best experiences of 2014 were reconnecting with a childhood friend (Jamie) who opened a brewery in Cherry Hill NJ and asked me to do some graff in the brewery. Well needless to say check out the pics. Also got to can beers 2 times now!!!! Great stuff!!!!!

Also made my first VT trip. Woke the wife up at 2:30AM out the door at 3Am in VT at 8:30 am at the bevy and got some amazing beers!!!! Have to thank Jen the owner!!!!! she is AMAZING!!!!

 

First time having bcbs and bcbs coffee. More importantly my best friend got married this year and for his bachelor party a group of us took him to 9 different breweries in VA in 2 days. Awesome time.

 

Mine was a VT trip meeting up my kids and grand daughter. Quality time with my first grandchild while sharing.....Crusher,Focal Banger, Mastermind, Double Dose, and Sip of Sunshine.

 

Mine was finally making my way out to Toppling Goliath. The place is awesome and the people running the place were even better. Best is of all was the beer. This and me and my buddies monthly trip to Three Floyds. Being stuck in the middle of these two breweries in a blessing...and a curse (to my wallet)

 

A taste-off of Heady Topper, Abner, and Sip of Sunshine at Prohibition Pig one July 4th, resulting in several happily devastated palates.

 

Armsby Abbey Stoutfest, I was in heaven.

 

This:

 

Sharing this with my parents at Holy Grale in Louisville, KY. I'll definitely never forget that night

 

First Heady, starting to dabble in sours, Mexican Cake were all highlights.

More importantly very few lowlights.

 

Lets see...

Doing a "brewery hop tour" in downtown St. Pete for several people who had never been here...
Finally going to Asheville, NC... (can you say "Wicked Weed"?)
Tasting BCBCS for the first time on Black Friday and totally loving it...
Having my first Pliny on draft in San Diego and totally loving it...
Tasting Double Barrel Hunahpoopoo at Hunahpu Day and actually muttering to myself that "this might be the best beer ive ever tasted"...
Hosting my first beer tasting at my home...
Going to Chicago on a baseball trip and totally loving all the brewery visits...
Sharing many beers countless times with my brother and others...

Great year. Great thread. Made me think and appreciate.