ABR 2014

I thought the town hall coconut stout was delicious
Surly 8 was good, reminded me of sweet repute

 

I will be shocked if Double Shot from Bent Paddle isn't voted best beer.

 

Very well organized this year. Cheers to the Brewers Guild for recognizing the problems from last year.

 

Great, well run festival. Entrance was a breeze even showing up at 12:45. They clearly had more volunteers and it was well designed. Props to them for getting this right.

And the beer, so many great ones, and so many great ones I didn't even get to try.

 

Central Waters 16 was still the best beer there IMHO. Big Sky's Hound Dog was the surprise of the day, a barrel-aged IIPA that was delicious. None of the new breweries really stood out for me. And add another kudos for the excellent organization, glad there were lessons learned from last year!

 

Whiskey Sour and the Wooden Teeth were some of the worst beers I've ever had. The sour tasted like A1 steak sauce.

Double Shot, 16, Dawn of Aurora, and Sour Bomb were the standouts for me. Great festival this year overall!

 

The event seemed really well-run. I didn't even get there until 2, and I didn't feel like I missed out at all. I consciously avoided the really long lines, and still got to try lots of great stuff. My initial focus was trying all of the MN breweries that I hadn't yet tried. I have a goal to try at least one beer from every brewery in MN within the first year of living here, and after yesterday I only have 5 or so more to go (until the next 5 open next month...).

My highest rated beer of the day was Le Terroir. Pleasant surprises included Pryes Miraculum, Sociable Hop-a-wheelie, Dangerous Man Chocolate Milk Stout, Auroch's Horn, and Town Hall's Mango Masala Mama. The Double Shot was good, but I can think of a few that I liked more (I thought the aroma was much better than the taste--I could sit around and smell that stuff all day). The Saison con Brett was interesting, but too funky for me (and I usually like the funky stuff).

Major kudos to the Craft Brewers Guild for a great festival!

 

Agreed on the Excelsior beers. Was excited to try both and neither was drinkable. Kudos on the attempt to do something different, but neither panned out.

 

Everyone here has said what I would say about ABR this year. Too many great tastes to list here, but my favorites were Double Shot, Dawn of Aurora, and 16; MANY honorable mentions. Biggest surprise was sociable ciderwerks, both the porter and IIPA were TOPS!

 

Does anyone know who won? I forgot to vote but my vote would have been for Double Shot.

 

Double Shot won best beer....

And Surly won best brewery and display

 

I think Deschutes deserves some big props for not only what they brought but how much of it as well. I know the 2012 Abyss was going quick right out of the gate but all their other specialty brews lasted quite a while throughout the afternoon and they weren't really serving up standard shelf items either. Hat tip to Bell's too for handling the amount that they did with their selections as well.

 

Best beers of the year: Dawn of Aurora (favorite beer of the fest and best berliner ive ever had...see my review for how damn good this was), 3 hour tour, cinnamon sunrise, abyss, BA edmund, mirror mirror, black butte

Worst: Excelsior sour! this would have been a decent beer without the Ginger! (...wtf?...ginger...) also the bank brewing sour didnt do much for me

Dechutes easily had the best booth overall, followed closely by bells, surly, and schells IMO.

 

Just a great day for ABR. I have to agree with many other reviews - my favorite was CW16 along with Rum King. I give credit that Excelsior was trying to brew something different but hated BA Whisky Sour. I really wish Excelsior could do something I like. Best breweries that brought it for me were Deschutes and Surly.

 

It's their "happy accident" beer, as it wasn't originally intended to be a sour. In any event, it really did taste like a whiskey sour, although if I want a cocktail, I'll make one. Hardly the best beer there, IMO, but I'm glad I tried it as it was unique. 3/5

 

First of all, it was such a great day! The weather, the line and process, the food trucks....all very well done! I somehow managed to try over 80 beers, ciders and meads. For me, these festivals are more about trying new things and being surprised vs. trying ones that I've had and know that I love (CW16, Dawn of Aurora, 3 Hour Tour, Rye Pentagram), like (Abyss, all things Fitgers) and despise (no need to mention names.)

Best surprise of the day was Double Shot, Double Black. Just an amazing beer. Sociable's Willaford's Chocolate Porter and Destihl's Here Gose Nothin were two other nice surprises. B. Nektar Meadery was not on the lineup, so they must have been a late addition. I tried all of there offerings and as it turns out, I like meads now. Surly's Axe Man was a great drinker on a warm day.

Town Hall deserved best tent. They killed it, as always, with their offerings. I wanted more tart out of the Key Lime Pie, but it was still nice. 3 Hour Tour!!! Czar Jack! Mango Mama! Hell, even Poor Ben's Ale. Well done TH.

Biggest disappointments of the day were Rum King and Surly 8. Both were boozy messes. I know people complain about the cost of attending these events, but honestly, they save me so much money. I tried many beers that I didn't like and now I won't have to worry about buying bottles.

 

Funny. I stopped into their taproom for their opening weekend a couple of years back. They were handing out samples of the first batch of their IPA, which they said came about due to a slight "accident" while brewing. It didn't taste like an IPA and I ended up leaving the free sample unfinished. Bottom line: If you make a crappy beer by mistake, don't pawn it off. Dump it!

 

I stopped by their place last weekend and had this. Surprised the hell out of me, as well. Especially when they were telling people that it was their "harvest ale" and made with some hops that they picked up on the cheap because somebody else in the area had significantly over ordered. Then when asking what hop they were talking about that it was fresh hopped with, nobody even knew. I ordered it anyways and it eded up being one of the most impressive DIPA's that I have had area.

 

Eh...I get what you're trying to say, but I don't think Dan Carey at New Glarus would agree with you. After all, Serendipity was a happy accident beer, and that turned out pretty darn well. There are many other examples one could give.

Now, I'm not trying to put it on par with Serendipity. Hell, I have yet to try a beer from Excelsior that I actually LIKE, but obviously some people enjoyed it. I have no problem with them bringing it to an event like this for folks to try. If you try to sell a crappy beer, then I take issue with it. But to my knowledge, they aren't bottling and selling this. Maybe in the taproom, but I haven't been so I can't speak to that.