Hunahpu's Day Highlights

My Top 4 from memory (scrible marks in my book got fuzzier as the day went on). I kept it to stouts but snuck in a few others throughout the day but skipped the big hitters I've tried previously.

Rum Barrel Zhukov is definately at the top of my list.
DB Huna (tried it back to back after DB Cake and couldn't believe how much more I preferred
3 Son Kopi Luwak Summation
Mazurt RIS - INSANE and brilliant concept, likely imposisble to replicate on a production level.


Regrets missing : El Padrino (needed food at this point and it was a decision of which line), Penultimate Push.

Crazy day when I just realized I also tried CBS and it flew under the radar and was underwealming compared to others. I can't imagine it running much smoother. Once people figured out there were additoinal porto-johns at the back even that was pretty smooth. Room for improvements (nit picking): Multiple Merch tents, more tents to battle the sun, and breaking up some of the more well known hits to spread things out (Funky / TG / Alchemist / 3Floyds / CCB all being in the back kept that area pretty crowed while the front stayed less than full)

 

3 Sons Summation & Neopolitan
Mazurt Double Barrel Barleywine
Kane Cortijo(?) - Tequila barrel aged something or other but I had like 3 pours of it. So good.
DB Hunahpu
Wicked Weed Dark Arts
J Wakefield Hazelnut Stout

 

SR-71
Kopi Summation
Zhukov Penultimate Push
Rum Zhukov
Kane Sunday Brunch
DB Huna
CBS
Mazurt everything...- probably the most under the radar brewery there. No line ever...last year was the same way.

So many incradible beers, I'm sure I left some out, but I think Cigar City did a phenominal job with organizing this event.

 

DBH
Rum zhukov
sherry zhukov
cafe americano
penultimate push
summation
SR-71 (good but not assassin or KBBS level)
el padrino
brandy hunahpu
sunday brunch (although I was kinda let down by this one, too much maple and not enough base beer)
Mazurt vanilla RIS aged in coconut


There was so much good stuff its hard to remember all of it but the stand out for me was definitely brandy and double barrel huna, with el padrino coming up behind them, then penultimate,then mazurt, then rum zhukov, then summation, then SR71.

Skipped on heady and zombie dust and a few others I enjoy but have had several times. Food was pretty good too.

The lines were very manageable and I could complain about a single thing at the festival.

Got me some hunahpu soap, too! stoked to use that and smell like hunahpu all day. Chicks dig hunahpu smelling guys.

 

So no one has mentioned plain old hunahpu as a highlight. I thought this years batch was outstanding. And while I was slaying whalez with everyone else, I did keep returning to huna because it was that good.

 

There were plenty of spectacular beers out there. I didn't have an opportunity to try SR-71, but in all honesty I didn't care one bit with all the other offerings out there.
I was personally blown away by the BW from Mazurt. The Rum Zhukov and Penultimate Push from CCB were ridiculous. El Padrino from 3 Sons was crazy good. Tons of great stuff from Rapp, Angry Chair, Wakefield and Toppling Goliath.
Overall I had a killer time and the countdown for 2016 Hunahpu Day has begun.

 

Definitely a much better experience than last year. We got there around 10am, and got into the doors just about at 11. I was able to get all the heavy hitters that I knew lines would be crazy for. I actually really liked that all the long lines were at one end. Helped me knock them all out, then focus on the front of the festival the rest of the day.

Food was good. That brownie tasted exactly like Huna.
Everyone was cool. A lot of the jerks from last year were nowhere to be seen. No one cut in line. No one raised their voice in an aggressive way. Very well run. DO NOT SELL MORE TICKETS NEXT YEAR! It was perfect.

SR-71 and DB Mexi Cake were highlights for sure.

Creature Comforts was also great. Emergence and Southerly Love were two of the best sours at the festival.

 

This was easily the best Hunahpu Day in several years. CCB gets a lot of criticism here and elsewhere, some of it deserved, but here Joey and his staff deserve lots of credit.

About the only minor complaint I heard all day was re: the lack of shade. As noted above, the jerks from the last 2 years were nowhere to be found, and even the longer lines were pretty much orderly. Hell, there was enough I was wanting to try, I only really felt the need to stand in the 3 Sons line for Summation and the Toppling Goliath line for SR-71.

I walked right up to Jackie O's, Due South, Lost Abbey and many many others with zero or near zero lines. Even for the CCB beers themselves....there was a bit of a cluster due to the nearby lines for Toppling Goliath and the Buddha among others, but I found it very easy to try anything CCB had that I wanted.

The food line looked long-ish, but was really no big deal at all. Port-a-johns were no issue. Bottle pickup upon leaving was laughably simple compared to the chaos of 2014 and 2013. Everything felt so damned easy compared to those 2 years.

IMO, they nailed it. The only way they can screw this up next year is to sell more tickets.

 

Agree with all of the above. It was fantastic this year. Got in line at 9:30 and got everything I wanted to try.

I disagree on moving some of the more popular ones to different areas. Having them together made it extremely easy to get to all of the other breweries at the front. Made it possible to get away and take a break from the masses over by TG and FB.

 

Had a great time. Great Divide Barrel Aged Yeti was every bit as delicious as DB Huna, Penultimate Push, Rum Zhukov, and Cuvee De Fromme.

Every Nightshift beer was fantastic. Lost Abbey was just pouring Angel's Share with no line at all. Stone had a secret Hot Lil' Tart keg that was great. There was so much good beer with absolutely no line it was crazy...

Best beer festival I've ever attended, plenty of toilets, lots of room, crazy bottle sharing in the back, friendly ass people...overall a huge success. CCB has learned quite a bit after last year's Huna, from included food to better security, better tasting glasses, a nice little book, and an extra super fresh extremely delicious DIPA can that no one expected. My hat's off to CCB for pulling it off so well, and to all the brewers who were there with their best beers on show.

I think one of the biggest highlights was just overall how much more professional the event felt.

 

Forgot about the tasting glasses! Those are perfect for bottle shares...I will get a lot of use out of mine.

 

Had a fabulous day at this year's Hunah. I tried a lot of different beers, and only had one that I really didn't enjoy. The highlight for me was Heady Topper - just the sheer quantity available made for a pleasant experience, and the line was long but moved quickly. I'm a hop head so this made me very happy.

The food was great. Small selection of choices but that meant I got to try a little of everything between hubby's and mine platter (except the stuffed peppers - not a vegetarian).

Great job on the organization. Getting my bottles and leaving at the end wasn't a total headache. All in all, well worth the steep price tag, but glad it's only once a year!

 

So many, but just to name a few...

J Wakefield - Barrel Aged La Nada (Vanilla Bean)
Angry Chair - German Chocolate Cupcake Stout
7venth Sun - Do you even Sudachi, bro?

Everything I had from Cigar City was on point, and the barrel aged stuff from Cycle the night before was terrific. Also need to mention the Fri/Sat night bottleshares at the Hilton. Everyone was super cool and generous.

 

I was praying for a legit mini-snifter this year instead of the tiny-pint shot glass, and was amped. (I caught my poor husband putting the snifter in the dishwasher and almost tackled him. Have we learned nothing from the half-logos left on last year's tasters?!) Just walking right into a potty without a wait, priceless. The only wait I could complain about was for food and merch, but I was only unwilling to wait because of my shortened timeline, having to leave at 2:00. If I'd had a few more precious hours, I'd have been willing to put in the time. I missed a lot of things I would have liked to try, but I'm really pleased with the experience this year - much more similar to the Hunas of a few years back when the lines weren't quite so overwhelming. And while there were plenty of whales to be slayed, there was at least one great beer in every tent, so if you didn't wait in a single line all day and just hit whatever was open, you still drank real well.

Surprise of the day: Wrecking Bar, dat Huna-slayer.
ETA: OH! And the "now for something completely different" award: that cold-brew-coffee guy! I practically ran him down when I heard someone say coffee. That was DELICIOUS ... anyone remember the name of that one?

Surprise of the following day: that DIPA. ISO all the You Never Know.

 

I walked from the Renaissance which was a great idea and since I didn't ever imagine the heavy hitters mentioned in this thread would tap out I didn't arrive early since I didn't want to stand in line for hours before they opened the gates. I got in line just at 11 and even though it looked like I'd be there forever, once they opened the line moved along well and I was in by 11:45ish. And when I saw the mob at the back I decided to hold off and hit the front first since my day wasn't revolving around trying the top 5, even though it would be nice. Sadly I was only truly surprised by CBS being gone so early after only an hour, even before some of the other more rare beers. SR-71, Mexi Cake, Topper, DB/Huna and some of the other CCB treatments that I'd not had before were memorable of course.

But one of the best parts of my day and why many of us go to these events was discovering that new Stealth Brewery you may not know about.. Late in the day I was back over at Rapp(all great stuff) drinking without a line and chatting in the shade with Greg, when Wayne walks up behind the table and I overhear them looking across the way and talking about Proof Brewing out of Tallahassee. So, I waltz over there and with no line I sample their Boston Cream Pie Mango Wit as well as the other 3 beers they had which were all fantastic. Suddenly there is a commotion and they are being awarded 3rd place brewery and 3rd place beer for the Wit right in front of a crowd of like 4 people congratulating them. Very Nice to see.



Odd thing, even with multiple signs telling people there were more PortoLets in the back (20+) with no waiting, people were still standing for 20 min in line up front for 3 of them.. I laughed every time I saw this..

Probably the only odd thing I saw in relation to the way CCB did anything for the event was spending the extra money on having cool fancy wristbands made up only to have them cut off and thrown away at bottle pickup. Don't get me wrong, having wristbands WAS a good idea for many reasons regardless, but they could have just used generic ones for that legit purpose. I overheard someone asking Joey R early in the day if they would be able to keep them since they were so nice and he told her he'd go verify and thought they could since they'd custom ordered them.. Obviously not..

 

Commune + Co., based in Ybor City. Good folks. I don't remember what, specifically, he was pouring Saturday afternoon but it was -- as it always is -- delicious.

 

Kopi Summation was the best of the day for me, but my surprise of the day has to be the barrel aged raspberry Florida weisse from Sahtipaja. I was shocked at how good it was. Anybody else try this?

 

Wrecking Bar's Mexican Siberius is a local legend. You can get it on the 5th of every month if you get to the bar on time. Usually kicks in an hour. Definitely the best of the style i've ever had. Also, everything else they make is just wonderful. Highly recommend for anyone who comes through Atlanta.

 

It was phenomenal. That one and Night Shift's Mainer Weisse were as pretty to look at as they were tasty to drink.