Mankato Craft Beer Expo highlights ................

1. Mrs. Ovaltine and I went in 2013 and 2014, and attendance this year it seemed significantly higher than the previous two years. Great to see more beer nerds, although not as great when you're trying to find ample room to sample the beverage you just acquired without getting jostled to the point of spilling said beverage.

2. The crowd also greatly slowed Mrs. O as she moved from booth to booth to ask "Hi, I drink Miller Lite and white wine - whaddya got that I'd like?" That's comedy gold right there, especially as the day goes on and Mrs. O's voice rises an octave (or three) with each beverage she sampled. By the end of the day, dogs from three counties around Mankato were inexplicably howling.

3. Sierra Nevada Hop Hunter IPA on tap. I filed suit to prevent other beer nerds from enjoying this beverage, then decided at the last minute to pull the lawsuit "for the good of the community" (your voice was heard, beer nerds).

4. Hop Hunter exceeded expectations. Tons of flavor at 6.2% ABV. Piled on top of Nooner and Hoppy Lager (who releases two LAGERS in January???), SN continues to push boundaries while bringing great beverages to beer nerds around the country (literally).

5. Surly booth was ..... mundane. They had Abrasive, they had a Smoke 2010 vintage (both were excellent), otherwise their booth felt like a "greatest hits" tour.

6. As mentioned in another thread, Sculpin Grapefruit is on the way to 'sota. Got this from the distributor whilst enjoying a glass of Sculpin (still one of my Top 10 IPA's). Yippee-kai-ai, mudder truckers.

7. Lakefront is going to have a Citra-hopped IPA out this year, probably 2nd or 3rd quarter. Citra hops are becoming the "West Coast Offense" of the craft beer world.

8. The guy at the Schell's booth (Ted's son, IIRC) said they pulled Arminius because it never gained any traction. Same with Emerald Rye (I really like both of those). I told him if they'd slapped "IPA" on both, they woulda needed a bigger boat. He agreed, but they are riding the "German beer craft brewed" message until they can't ride it no mo'.

9. BTW, the Schell's Schmaltz's Alt Cask Conditioned w/Vanilla Bean was my 2nd favorite beverage of the show (of stuff I haven't tried before) - by a lot. Love the stuff they do.

10. I believe it was the Indeed booth where I was told they're going to have a DIPA sometime this year. My humblest apologies if this is inaccurate (it was REALLY late in the day for ovaltine).

11. I KNOW it was the Indeed booth where Mrs. O announced, "This (Day Tripper) tastes like Beck's." Me and the dude working the Indeed booth stated simultaneously, "No it doesn't." I spoke it, the Indeed dude screamed it. "Yes, it does," she insisted. It was at that point, as the Indeed dude painfully looked to me for help, that I made a management decision and ended "The Ovaltines' Day At The Beer Show" and took Mrs. O to eat some Mexican food and blunt her buzz so she didn't start a riot.

12. As we were walking out (okay, I carried her out), I asked the Summit booth when Wet Saga was going to be released.

And THAT was the perfect end to the perfect day.