GABF Booth Recommendations

Yeah, hold it at Comrade. Much closer to me also

 

Love for you all to stop by our booth where 3 out 5 of the beers will be of the specialty variety

Sticky Fingers Fresh Hopped Ale
Lawyers, Guns and Money American Style Barleywine
Neomexicanus Native Pale Ale - brewed with native hops

 

Same with me. If it was at Comrade, I'd have been there in a heartbeat. As much as I like backcountry, it's just too far of a drive tonight.

 

Had a Donny last Sunday. This is a hop forward APA!!! It's like Superpower's little (but not real little) brother. BIG hop nose. This is going to be as popular, in this style, as Superpower is in its.

I know, I know, a mere APA, what's this guy talking about?

Trust me.

 

My first GABF and this thread is so helpful because after looking through the brewery list, I have no idea who 75% of them are! I've marked a lot of breweries mentioned here in my app but wish this thread was in a forum a little more visible by everyone in all regions- it's a bit mountain/west coast heavy.

From Ohio- Fat Head's has a great broad selection, most notably Hop Juju, IBUsive, Head Hunter, and Spooky Tooth. Hoppin Frog's BORIS & Hop Dam, and any random BA stuff. Columbus Brewing's Bodhi and Creeper. Rivertown I haven't had too many of, but they made a good Lambic. Won't know what's available until the list is released though

 

Oh, just saw The Brew Kettle is going to be there... all their beers are great, and you may have heard of White Rajah, but my new favorite IIPA of theirs is Lupulo Libre- check it out!

 

I've always overlooked the Pro-Am section until last year. Had several exceptional beers, no line.

 

Having been to many GABF's before, I've come to realize that one man's treasure is another man's trash. Instead of going off of other peoples' recommendations, make your own "must visit" list. One year, I concentrated just on Imperial Stouts and discovered a crazy good BBA stout from Snake River. Another year, I focused on just one region and found Beachwood BBQ (before they were popular). The GABF app makes it easy to do both.

My recommendations:
1) Ignore your home region. I never visit the "Mountain" region booths unless something CRAZY is being poured.
2) Go to the booths that pour out of bottles first.
3) Have a strategy and stick to it until you get pissed drunk. Then just wander and have fun.
4) Go to the merch booth first if you want a shirt.
5) If there's a special pouring you want access to, ask when it's being poured and don't forget.
6) Don't drop the glass

 

Beer list out yet?

 

Cable Car!!!!!!!!!!

 

Indeed! http://www.greatamericanbeerfestival.com/at-the-festival/beers-at-the-festival/

 

Per the list Texas Craft Brewer's Guild is pouring Lone Pint's Yellow Rose- not sure when. Awesome IPA, last year the non-port-a-potty restrooms were in that area, and you could do worse than waiting zero minutes for it since most of that area is line-less.

 

I don't even want to think about how long the line for assassin will be..

 

Normally don't post recommendations like this, but it's my Christmas Day, so.....

The biggies:
- Avery: Last year they were pouring several from their BA series
- NB: As Domingo said, the sour they brought last year was amazing
- Shorts: Two years ago, they brought crazy stuff. Last year, not so much, but worth a look
- Bruery: Last year, they poured CR. God I love that beer.
- DFH: For the past two GABFs, Calagione poured my beer. He's usually there for the first 30-45 mins on Thurs session. Yeah, their beer usually underwhelms, but it's still a cool experience IMHO.
- RR: Check their menu out first...the line is sometimes too long for their offerings

My special picks:
- Rare Barrel (Pacific)
- Beachwood BBQ (Pacific)
- Pizza Ports (Pacific)
- Verboten (Mountain)
- Almanac (Pacific)
- Dry Dock (Mountain): They won several GABF medals last year

 

By the way, the Denver Post's "First Drafts" blog has an excellent write-up of breweries to try in each region, written by folks from each prospective region.

http://blogs.denverpost.com/beer/

 

GABF Day 1 Takeaways...

General:
1) The line to get in was poorly managed compared to past years. Lots of line cutters.
2) The water available at the pouring stations was almost non-existent past 7PM, which really sucked. I usually use the water to cleanse my cup and keep me hydrated.
3) I noticed that there was a distinct increase in the number of brewery reps at their booths this year. It was really nice to talk to them while enjoying their brews.

Breweries:
1) If you want Assassin, go there first. They tapped out in about 30 mins.
2) Similarly, Wicked Weed had an *insane* line. If you want those beers, go there first or second. (I refused to wait, so no WW for me)
3) I didn't visit their booth, but I heard Bruery was pouring some expensive beers. BT, Tart of Darkness w/ Cherries, etc.
4) Generally, the lines for booths were not worth it. For example, RR had an insane line, but they were pouring items that you can get at the liquor store fairly easily (Pliny, Consecration, etc). The same for Cigar City: Huna just isn't worth the line. Strangely, many booths that I expected to have crazy lines had none (Logsdon, Rare Barrel, Almanac, etc).

Top picks (considering line length):
- NBB: Leopold
- Nebraska: Melange a Trois
- Topping Goliath: Assassin
- Yazoo: Carribean Dream
- Verboten: I forgot the name, but their soured Angry Banjo is really good. All their beers are so so good.
- Rare Barrel: Their Ginger, Hibiscus, and Dry-Hopped Sours
- Scratch: All (if you like gruit)
- Logsdon: Oak Aged and Regular Bretta (no line!!!)
- Beachwood BBQ: Milk Stout
- Fremont: their Barrel-Aged stout was my favorite of the night. Even over assassin.
Edit: While youre in the line for Assassin, there was a brewery across the aisle from Topping Goliath that was serving a wheat wine that was really good. Forgot the brewery, forgot the beer.

Disappointments:
- Rare Barrel: Heard alot of great things about this brewery, but half of their beers I had just weren't very good. The other half are worth trying (see above), but I think the hype is better than the beer.
- Prairie: Expected great things, but really only liked their Coolship. Others were just "eh"
- Heretic: Again expected great things, but their beers really lacked character.
- (512): Heard great things about their Pecan Porter, but was disappointed.

Had alot of fun. Cheers!

 

I also really enjoyed multiple pours at Logsdon with no line and 3 brewery reps to talk too. Very cool guys with excellent beer. The Toppling Goliath team was also badass. Assassin was quite a treat. Three Floyd had tons of reps but couldn't get their system working and had a pretty holier than thou attitude which turned us off so we left after sampling Zombie Dust. New Glarus's peach was pheonemenal. And I will second that Russian River's line was not worth it. We also didn't want to deal with the crazy Wicked Weed line so we passed. La Folie, La Terroir, and NBB Loves Leopold with no line was awesome. Overall, a great time.

 

Saw a picture of FFF taken at 8:00. They had already shut down for the night.

 

Same thing last year too. (or year before that?) Sometimes I feel they kind of make a mockery of the industry with their attitudes, pricing, etc.