Great taste 2013 retrospective thread

Thats the first thing I said. I thought it just might have been me. Manhattan BCBS was delicious though.

 

Surprised at all the love for the Kuhnhenns mixed drink beers as I thought all were pretty bad at the MBG Summer Fest.

 

best barrel aged beer I would have to go with plead the 5th. great stuff along with the CW 15.

I always love some of that new glarus serendipity as well.

 

There were a TON of great beers and even more that I missed out on...

For me though, the CW 15 and Morning delight were probably my top two, with MD just edging out the 15. Those were closely followed by Goose Island Violet Hour Manhattan BCBS, CW Space Ghost (surprisingly not as spicy as I expected), and Bell's Uberon.

 

I've been reminiscing about that bacon on a stick all weekend as I wasn't able to go this year. So friggen awesome.

Hearing about everyone's favorites is also making my mouth water.

 

My highlight for new to me breweries was Black Husky, sproose joose and sparkling eyes were great

 

Agreed^^

 

Is this the definitive retrospective thread? Should I wait for the thread wick cherries?

 

Best beer of the day and best BCS variant besides Vanilla.

 

Backyard Rustic from Town Hall and Misanthrope from Surly were easily the two best beers I had yesterday. Didn't bother waiting around for BA Abraxas or Morning Delight since I've had them before.

Schell's Raspberry Berliner, Side Project Blueberry Flanders, Destihl Strawberry/Raspberry, Goose Even More Evil, Odd Sides Mayan Mocha Stout, Surly Cacao Bender, TG Pseudosue were other highlights.

It was also nice to just grab glass after glass of Sofie Paradisi, Boring and Baudonia with no wait.

Thought the Kuhnhenn cocktail beers I tried were pretty bad. Zombie tasted like cough syrup, Gin Fizz was harsh and Mai Tai was like Hawaiian Punch. Tiberian Inquisitor also fell into the terrible category. Toppling Goliath Naughty 90 was way over oaked. Could have been any beer aged in oak.

 

Aimed at the undiscovered, the newborns, the up-and-comers, the almost theres, and the obscure this time.

Best of Fest: Zwanzigz (OH) Bourbon-Barrel Imperial Stout w/ Ghost Peppers
2nd of Fest: Perennial (MO) Barry Rye (Rye Beer w/ Blackberries)
3rd of Fest: Odd Side Ales (MI) Mayan Mocha Stout
Best Real Ale: Upstream (NE) Dundee Scotch Ale w/ Caco Nibs & Siracha
Real Ale Runners Up: Lakefront (WI) IBA w/ Sorachi Ace, Kuhnhenn (MI) DRIPA

Runners Up:

• Zwanzigz (OH) Chocolate Beer
• Destihl (IL) Strawberry Blonde
• Great Dane (WI) Tri-Pepper Pilsner
• Dark Horse (MI) Long Polymer John Donut Ale
• Dave's Brew Farm (WI) Choco Kaffe
• Wild Onion (IL) Drago RIS
• New Glarus (WI) Serendipity
• Great River (IA) The Dark One (Black IPA)
• O'so (WI) Brett Dank
• New Holland (MI) Smaug's Breath (Dragon's Milk w/ Chiles)
• One Barrel (WI) Bilbo Baggins (Black IPA)
• Summit (MN) Saga IPA
• Black Husky (WI) Sproose Juice
• Blind Pig (IL) Samburro Chili Beer
• Schlafly (MO) Pumpkin Ale
• Stevens Point (WI) Chai Tea Porter & White Stout
• Upstream (NE) Castaway Coconut Porter
• Piece (IL) The Weight Pale Ale
• Short's (MI) Strawberry Short's Cake

 

Favorites from the fest include:

Atlas Brewing Francis BA gin saison - The only special tapping I waited for. Glad I did. Big fan of FEW distillery, this beer was fantastic.
Fitgers Gooseberry Gose - Surprisingly bitter & sour at the same time. Nice one.
Flast 12 Brandy Farmageddon - Thought I'd like the KGBaylor Pappy VW stout more, turned out I thought the Brandy one was better.
GI Coffee BCS 'Diablo' - Didn't hang around GI too long, but this beer was pretty great. As was the Buffalo Trace BCS.
Kuhnhenn Carnivale Ramos Gin Fizz & Hand Grenade - Whatever, I loved this concept. Beer purists probably will cry foul, but I thought these 2 beer cocktails were exceptional.
Lift Bridge Farm Girl Saison w/ blueberries & basil firkin - This shouldn't have worked but it did. Light notes of blueberries & subtle basil tones. One of the few real ale ones I enjoyed this year. Seemed to pick a bunch of mediocre ones though :\

Apparently I'm the only one who missed out on both BA Abraxas AND Mornin' Delight. Dexters was crazy busy Friday night...
Til next year!

 

I cannot believe I forgot to get that Upstream Scotch ale in the firkin tent

 

Also Minneapolis Town Hall (MN) Thunderstorm and Cumberland (KY) Dee's Coconut Porter.

Did anyone try Founders Mango Magnifico? Mad for missing this!

 

This was pretty excellent! GI Coffee BCS 'Diablo' sounds just as good!

 

The Gin Fizz one was great.

Napa at both GI25 events was incredible, this batch not so much. Manhattan BCBS was okay, but I thought Buffalo Trace was better when tried side by side. In all honesty towards the end of the event we just kept going back for full pours of Baudoinia, it doesn't really get better than that.

Town Hall really brought some great beer, one of the highlights for sure. They had an awesome Honey Lemongrass ale and Russian Roulette (RIS on cocoa nibs) was probably my favorite non-BA beer of the event.

I'm probably the only one that thinks MD is massively overrated. Now that I've had it several times I can conclude that sure, it's a great beer, but it's basically a double strong version of FBS. Like they tried to make a clone and went with expresso instead of regular coffee beans. Pseudosue continued to impress, it's probably their best beer.

 

How was this? Do you remember what time it was when you got some? The program listing for Blind Pig had them releasing both Mysterious Brews #1 & 2 @ 1:00 PM, but it was a misprint and then I forgot to come back. Damn! The pepper version is AWESOME and was a highlight, if not best of fest, for me at last year's GTMW. Wish I didn't have to wait for the fest to come around to drink that brew again...so good!

 

How was this? What kind of beer was it? A Chili Beer?