Savor DC 2015

Not sure how anyone will be able to do a bottle share. Last year was my first year and I was pretty wrecked afterward.

 

This is going to be my first time attending Savor. I tend to avoid these kind of events because I have very little interest in whalez, crowds piss me off, and I'm usually a 1-2 beers max kind of guy anyway. A regular old ray of sunshine I am, right?

I just moved here from Oregon, so I'm excited to see some PNW breweries that I miss and will surely be spending a lot of time with Fremont and Reuben's, but what else should I be targeting as a guy that has next to no interest in sours or barrel aged anything?

 

Damn, sounds like a great event. Tickets are sold out. Anyone know someone that has an extra?

 

Just got back from Portland and Seattle was at both Reuben's and Fremont yesterday, both excellent.

Check out Hardywood, the Michigan breweries, for a solid pale ale NOLA is bringing their Rebirth.

 

I cannot stress enough to at least eat some form of food in you before showing up. There are the food pairings, but they are small bites at best, sometimes the trays near the beer need to be refilled and after awhile you might just forget to eat.

 

Just curious, do you know about the food given out at the salons? While I expect the pairings to be small I am doing the Beer and BBQ and don't know if that would be more substantial or not.

 

I do not. Maybe somebody else can comment.

 

Expect tapas size single portions of food. Probably some sliders and a few individual ribs with the BBQ salon.

 

Will do. Thanks for the heads up.

 

Savor week events are starting to trickle out:

6:00pm
Beer Mixology w/ @Boulevard_Beer & @OmmegangDC
WhenTue, June 2, 6pm – 8pm
WhereBourbon - 2321 18th Street NW, Washington, DC (map)

3:00pm
@Boulevard_Beer Sours & Rarities @RFDLoveTheBeer
WhenWed, June 3, 3pm – 8pm
WhereRFD - 810 7th St NW, Washington, DC 20001 (map)
DescriptionGet ready for Savor by brushing up on your beer knowledge with Boulevard's Master Cicerone, Neil Witte. Appearing on Bar Rescue as a beer industry expert, Neil is one of nine Master Cicerone's in the world. To aid his quest to answer all of life's most difficult beer questions we are providing him with a host of Boulevard beers across the spectrum from sour to the very hard to find. We also will be pulling a few things out of the cellar for this special event. The Boulevard beers being featured: 80 Acre Hoppy Wheat Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale The Calling IPA Hibiscus Gose Sasion Brett Imperial Stout (aged in 5 different Bourbon Barrels) Ginger Lemon Radler Love Child #5 750ml

6:00pm
@TroegsBeer Takeover at @DCBarrel
WhenFri, June 5, 6:00pm – 11:59pm
WhereBarrel - 613 Pennsylvania Ave SEWashington, DC (map)
DescriptionTo commemorate day one of SAVOR, Barrel will be featuring 8 Troeg's beers, plus a special cask tasting. Brewery reps will be here to meet and greet, and we'll be doing a glassware giveaway promotion. Featured beers include: Perpetual IPA Sunshine Pilsner Dreamweaver Wheat Beer Hopback Amber Troegenator Bock Rugged Trail (limited release) Scratch 187 Kolsch (Limited Release) Scratch 188 Saison (Limited Release) One-of-a-kind cask of Java Head Stout aged with vanilla beans (take your pint glasses home)

4:00pm
@DCBrau Hopwaggon @SunKingBrewing @DCReynoldsBar
WhenSat, June 6, 4pm – Sun, June 7, 3am
WhereDC Reynolds - 3628 Georgia Ave NW Washington DC 20010 (map)
DescriptionWe will be hosting the DC Brau Hopwaggon with special guest Brewery Sun King from Indiana. Party starts at 4pm and all drinks are BOGO from 5-9pm. Live band follows. Event ends when we run out of beer.

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I am expecting a multitude of much much better events to pop up, though. Like Double Barrel Huna-quality level events.

 

The events are all getting posted by dc beer now. Been waiting for the official announcement of that Fremont/Founders event on Thurs @ Meridian...

Other than awesome beer, what do Michigan-based Founders and Washington State-based Fremont have in common?

Well, it turns out that Founders market manager Jonathan McIntire and Fremont brewmaster Matt Lincoln started brewing together 15 years ago in Traverse City, Michigan and the livers have never been the same.

To commemorate this fortuitous meeting, we're pulling out a stellar line-up from each brewery!

Highlights will include:

Founders Canadian Breakfast Stout (CBS) - A highly coveted imperial stout brewed with coffee and chocolate aged in maple syrup bourbon barrels
Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout (KBS) - Imperial stout brewed with coffee and chocolate and cave-aged in bourbon barrels
Founders Mosaic Promise - Pale ale brewed with one malt (Golden Promise) and one hop (Mosaic)

Fremont Bourbon BA Dark Star - Imperial oatmeal stout aged in 15 year-old Kentucky bourbon barrels
Fremont Bourbon BA Dark Star w/Coffee
Fremont Bourbon Abominable (B-BOMB) - Winter warmer aged in oak bourbon barrels

Full beer list:

Founders CBS
Founders KBS
Founders Backwoods Bastard
Founders Big Lushious
Founders Blushing Monk
Founders Imperial Stout
Founders Curmudgeon Old Ale
Founders Bliss Blast All Day IPA
Founders All Day IPA
Founders Mosaic Promise
Founders Rubaeus (Nitro)

Fremont Interurban IPA
Fremont Universale Pale Ale
Fremont The Sister Imperial IPA
Fremont Summer Ale
Fremont Spring Elixir
Fremont Kolsch
Fremont Bourbon Abominable
Fremont Bourbon BA Dark Star
Fremont Bourbon BA Dark Star Coffee
Fremont 1st Nail

 

I'm going to need to get an earlier start, if I expect to drink some of those. ^^^

 

I fully expect to see the trading forums blow up with requests for Fremont after their exposure at savor. I've had a few of their BA beers and spring elixir recently and it's all top notch.

So has anyone actually mapped out and followed a plan at savor? I think I'm gonna try that this year to hit everything I want to in some kind of order (till it naturally goes tits up)

 

Mother of god.

 

When Tue, June 2, 5:00pm – 11:30pm
Where Meridian Pint, 3400 11th Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20010, United States (map)
Description Our temperature and humidity controlled cellar is busting at the seams! That means it's time to release a slew of aged rarities - 18 to be exact! We'll let the draft list speak for itself here:
Firestone Walker 18th Anniversary
Lost Rhino Consortium Barrel-Aged Sour
Off Color Dinos'mores
Firestone Walker Double DBA 2012
Oxbow Saison Noel 2013
Bell's Third Coast Old Ale 2013
Weyerbacher XVI (2011 - Braggot)
Alesmith Horny Devil 2013
The Bruery Sour in the Rye 2012
Ballast Point Victory at Sea 2012
Sierra Nevada Bigfoot 2012
Williamsburg Alewerks Bourbon Barrel Porter 2013
The Bruery Smoking Wood 2013
Bruery Tart of Darkness 2013
Evolution Menagerie 8 2012
Boulevard Saison-Brett 2014
Great Divide Oak-Aged Yeti 2013
Perennial Abraxas 2014
Epic Big Bad Baptist 2013

 

@Hardywood Tap Takeover @MeridianPint feat. Bourbon Raspberry Stout w/ Vanilla
When Fri, June 5, 3pm – Sat, June 6, 1am
Where Meridian Pint, 3400 11th Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20010, United States (map)
Description We've long been fans of Richmond-based Hardywood Park. Since opening in early 2011, they've delighted fans with flagships like Cream Ale and Great Return IPA and a slew of barrel-aged specialties. Kick off your Savor night with 15 drafts and two cask offerings from Hardywood including the only ONLY kegs in DC of Bourbon Barrel Raspberry Stout and Bourbon Barrel Raspberry Stout with Vanilla Bean! The event will also feature a rare keg of Hardywood Berliner Weiss, a 4% berliner weiss soured with lactobacillus. It will also showcase one of the first kegs in DC of Peach Tripel, an 8.2% Belgian Abbey Tripel refermented on 50 pounds of per barrel of peaches, nectarines, and apricots. We will also be pouring The Milkman, a 13.5% collaborative chocolate milk stout brewed with Cigar City. If this weren't enough, we've been hoarding kegs from Hardywood's outstanding barrel to include:
Bourbon Cru
Bourbon Sidamo
2014 and 2015 Bourbon Barleywine

Full draft list:
Cask: Great Return with extra hops
Cask: Cream Ale w/salt and lime

Bourbon Barrel Raspberry Stout
Bourbon Barrel Raspberry Stout with Vanilla Beans
Berliner Weisse
Peach Tripel
RPG Black IPA
Pils
Singel
Great Return
Sidamo
Bourbon Sidamo
The Milkman
2014 Bourbon Barleywine
2015 Bourbon Barleywine
Raspberry Stout
Bourbon Cru
Gingerbread Stout
Walpurgisnacht Smoked Maibock

 

I use the Pombe app for this event. It allows you to make a wish list, has a map with the location of each brewer and will link to Untapped. I use the wish list to prioritize beers and guide my plan of attack. Fremont will likely be me first stop and assuming they don't run out of that coffee greatness, it will also be my last!

 

Just wait for the churchkey events to be posted. We will be spoiled for options.

 

Don't sleep on Fremont people, was there in April, great brewery and not know around here. Abominable is excellent stuff, pouring at Savor..

 

Seriously. I'm still not sure why most PNW breweries are so overlooked by the trading crowd. I guess the ubiquity of great beer up there ends up minimizing the hype, even though an "average" beer in Portland would be considered great in most other parts of the country.

I'm starting to get excited for Savor, but I don't think I have the stamina to get to any of the other events that week. How do you guys drink so much (great) beer?