SDBW 2012

i can imagine they don't do growlers or? I would love nothing more than to try some of these varieties of Victory at Sea...

 

Guild Fest was pretty good if you had a VIP ticket. BA Speedway, Rum Barrel Victory at Sea, Silva Stout, the Monkey Paw Ashes from the Grave smoked brown, lots of good food. Karl Strauss' Peanut butter porter was good. I got to try some beers from the new Belching Beaver or whatever it's called...they had a good Rye.

The rest of the Festival was pretty crowded and kind of had an awkward arrangement, but I like the location. Hopefully they improve on it. If any of the organizers read this: need water stations, dump buckets, and someone to stock the bathrooms haha.

 

Yeah Hammy's was a madhouse when I was there – took about 45 minutes to get my first beer, and it would’ve been even later if one of my friends hadn’t ordered for me. It was much better when I left though – only took me a 5 minutes or so to buy my last round.

 

Heads up, Silva Stout at the linkery. Not many people ordering it, so it should last a while. Worth checking out if you're nearby at Hamilton's, Toronado, etc.

 

Yeah that was a total shit show... not sure if the bartender hated me or what, but he skipped me for 20 minutes. The girl sitting at the bar had to say "Hey. This guy has been standing here for 20 minutes. Please serve him." He then proceeded to give my change to another guy. Not sure what his problem was.

Anyway, went to the BLAH bottleshare after. It was pretty amazing. Mad whalez broseph.

 

I completely missed you at Hamilton's. The staff was generous and great with me, but maybe that is due to my charming looks. The bottle share at BLAH sounds great. I opted for the Alesmith & Firestone Walker cheese pairing at Olive Tree Market. Great cheese and great beer, nice and relaxed atmosphere.

 

Agree on all fronts, especially water. I happened upon the spring water truck tucked away near the front portapotties, but there should've been coolers throughout. The VIP setup was pretty sweet, some of the beers seemed to kick reasonably early (Rum VaS and BA Speedway) but thankfully, I had gone for them as soon as we got in.

Did anyone try the Gatekeeper from Mad Lab and have a positive experience with it? I tried it and got through a couple sips before pouring it out, and proceeded to watch several people do the same thing. The brewer was pretty adamant that it was as he intended, which...I'm not sure how someone would honestly intend to brew that.

 

It was insane early on...I didn't have any issues with the bartender(s), although being right at the front of the line, my issue was getting my second round, rather than first. Took about 30 minutes to get served again but by 11:15/11:30 it had gotten manageable. I don't even know if there's a better way to approach that...having 75 - 100 people swarm in all at once is inevitably going to lead to a clusterfuck.

But man, the kahlua variant...that was DAMN good. A couple hits, a couple that didn't do too much for me, but overall it was a damn good election.

 

You've got your answer right there. Don't worry about showing up right when places open and there will still be beer and there will be less cluster fucking. Now go tell the rest of the 74-99 of you. I would, but I need to get my camping supplies for Tuesday at O'Briens.

 

Yeah, not gonna bad mouth the bartenders, they were swamped. I've just never waited for a beer so long in my entire life. I'm kind of a wreck from that bottle share... I might have to take Monday off from drinking.

Oh, who am I kidding.

 

i think they did pretty well! its hard to not get ignored when you are behind 5 rows of people waiting for beer.

the kahlua ... SO GOOD

 

The little V@S half pint glasses were awesome! I heard several folks tell me, some lady there hoarded 24 of those glasses. I'm sure there were a few others with her, but still, pretty weak for all the fans that didn't get the glass.

Yup, the Kahula and Rum BA on Nitro V@S for the win!

 

that would be surprising as I was told they only had 3 cases. I missed out on getting one.

 

I saw like 4 cases of the glasses. Around the 100 they said they'd have.

 

Is O'Brien's serious about bringing a muffin tin? Or am I going to look like a jackass with a muffin tin at a bar?

 

I will look like a jackass with you/10

 

I saw a few people with tins last year, and I'm going to be bringing one – standing elbow to elbow, balancing 13 tasters on a slippery tray with one hand while drinking with the other isn't exactly the easiest thing in the world.

 

how much is zillion speedways going to cost? is it per pour?

 

^ This, and do they sell by the flight, or individual pours?

 

last year it was both flights and individual pours