Great American Beer Fest 2011

I was fortunate enough to attend my second Great American Beer Fest in 2011, the previous one being 2010. Last year, I bought tickets to the Saturday night session, but this year I sprung for the Saturday Members Only Session. Overall, I thought the members session was a more behaved crowd with shorter lines.

I’ve read plenty of places about the lack of brewery representation at the individual brewery booths, and I echo that sentiment. However, I would like to focus on the breweries that provided representation, as I hope the positive words will encourage other breweries to do the same next year.

I had some wonderful interactions with brewers, managers, and other brewery staff from Penn Brewery, Fat Heads, Troegs, and Starr Hill. Sam Calgione, being the rock star that he is, was an enormous presence and it was easy to tell as Dogfish Head had probably the longest line all day. Other lines, such as Sam Adams when they released the Utopias, would back up, but only Dogfish Head was consistently long throughout the festival.

I ran into the Fat Heads guys while at Mountain Sun Pub & Brewery, and they were quite pleasant. They pass along some swag and we had a short conversation. It was great to follow up with them at the festival and discuss their medals. With Troegs, we discussed moving to the new brewery and the medal that they one as well. No one was more please than Penn Brewery at winning with St. Nikolas Bock (wonderful beer!), and my fiancee and I discussed having our rehearsal dinner at the brewery.

Without the brewery representatives present, none of these interactions would have occurred. It’s the small things like this that will keep me buying beer from these breweries, as well as attending GABF. It’s nice to have someone knowledgeable about the specific beer being pour present to discuss it and answer any questions. Otherwise, you get responses like “do you like light or dark beer?” from some of the volunteers. Anyways, here is my quick tasting notes from the festival of the beers I tried:

Hoppin' Frog Mean Manalishi

From Great American Beer Fest 2011

The beer pours an amber color with a frothy beige head. The aroma is sticky oils, grapefruit, and tangerine. The taste is bitter and hoppy with pine, resins, grapefruit, tangerine, and a pepper finish. The alcohol content is 8.2% ABV.

Jackie O's Kentucky Monk

From Great American Beer Fest 2011

The beer pours an orange amber color with an off-white bully head. The aroma consists of brown sugar, yeast, and raisin. The taste is sweet, yeasty, and smooth with brown sugar, raisin, and orange. Some melon and bourbon comes out in a rather pronounced manner. There is some hints of oak and vanilla as well. The alcohol content is 10.5% ABV.

New Holland Envious

From Great American Beer Fest 2011

The beer pours a dark amber color with a frothy tan head. The aroma consists of raspberry and a light yeast accent. The taste is sweet with fruitiness, mostly consisting of raspberry, pear, and a hint of oak. The alcohol content is 7.5% ABV.

*New Glarus Raspberry Tart

From Great American Beer Fest 2011

The beer pours a red-tinted amber color with a bubbly off-white colored head with red hues. The aroma consists of sour raspberry, vinegar, and sweet yeast. The taste is puckering but nice with a great raspberry and sugar flavor. The alcohol content is 4.0% ABV. This was one of my favorites of the festival.

MillKing It Productions Axl Pale Ale

From Great American Beer Fest 2011

The beer pours a golden color with a frothy white head. The aroma consists of grapefruit, tangerine, and caramel. The taste is bitter and dry with grapefruit, tangerine, and a biting pepper finish. The alcohol content is 5.8% ABV.

New Belgium Kick

From Great American Beer Fest 2011

The beer pours a golden color with a bubbly white head. The aroma consists of sour pumpkin and vinegar. The taste puckers a bit with wheat and pumpkin flavors before a pepper finish. The alcohol content is 8.5% ABV.

Blue Mountain May the 4th Be With You Maibock

From Great American Beer Fest 2011

The beer pours a golden color with a bubbly white head. The aroma consists of caramel, pine, and lemon. The taste is sweet with caramel, pine and grass hops, and a peppery finish. The alcohol content is not available online.

Trinity Brewhouse Decadence

From Great American Beer Fest 2011

The beer pours a cloudy orange-amber color with a filmy beige head. The aroma consists of grapefruit, caramel, tangerine, and pepper. The taste is dry and bitter with a sweet undertone. Caramel, oils, pine, grapefruit, and tangerine come out with an oaky after taste. The alcohol content is 10.0% ABV.

Portsmouth Fruit Gruit

From Great American Beer Fest 2011

The beer pours a brown-amber color with a filmy off-white colored head. The aroma consists of hay, barnyard, strawberry, and blueberry. The taste is fruit paste, strawberry, blueberry, and banana. The alcohol content is 6.0% ABV.

Allagash Fluxus 2011

From Great American Beer Fest 2011

The beer pours an orange-amber color with a frothy off-white colored head. The aroma consists of pepper, hay, grass, and lemon. The taste is dry, barnyard, hay, and pepper with a slight sour lemon finish. The alcohol content is 8.0% ABV.

Public House Revelations Stout

From Great American Beer Fest 2011

The beer pours a black color with a bubbly tan head. The aroma consists of chocolate, oak, and coffee. The taste is biting chocolate with some coffee accents and a milky finish. The alcohol content is 5.0% ABV.

Barley Brothers Double Espresso Stout

From Great American Beer Fest 2011

The beer pours a black color with a bubbly tan head. The aroma consists of coffee, cream, oak, espresso, and chocolate. The taste is dry with espresso, cream, roasted malts, and chocolate. The alcohol content is not available online. Overall, this beer was smooth and very good.

Four Peaks Hop Knot IPA

From Great American Beer Fest 2011

The beer pours a golden color with a bubbly white head. The aroma is sticky and oily with grapefruit and tangerine smells. The taste is bitter, oily, and resiny with pine, tangerine, and grapefruit. The alcohol content is 6.7% ABV. This beer completely reminded me of a Double IPA, not the IPA that it is.

Samuel Adams American Kriek

From Great American Beer Fest 2011

The beer pours a red-amber color with a bubbly pink head. The aroma consists of a tart cherry that is pie-like. The taste is tart yet sweet with cherry, pie filling, coconut, and a bit of vinegar sourness to it. The alcohol content is 7.0% ABV.

Papago Brewing Orange Blossom

From Great American Beer Fest 2011

The beer pours a golden color with a bubbly white head. The aroma consists of orange, meringue, and pepper. The taste is orange creamsicle, wheat, and a slightly sweet yeast. The alcohol content is 5.5% ABV. This was a decent beer, but had a somewhat watery finish.

SanTan HopShock IPA

From Great American Beer Fest 2011

The beer pours an amber color with a frothy white head. The aroma consists of grapefruit, sugar, tangerine, and orange. The taste is mostly grapefruit and bitter with pepper, oils, and some tangerine. The alcohol content is 7.1% ABV. This was a delicious and good IPA.

*Twisted X Siesta Prickly Pear Ager

From Great American Beer Fest 2011

The beer pours a golden color with a filmy white head. The aroma consists of pear and guava. The taste is slightly sour with pear, guava, agave, wheat, and a nice hint of orange. The alcohol content is not available online. This was one of my favorites of the festival.

*Twisted X Senor Viejo Imperial Black Lager Tequila Aged

From Great American Beer Fest 2011

The beer pours a dark brown color with a thin filmy tan head. The aroma consists of agave, caramel, and pepper. The taste is agave and tequila right up front, but is smooth and wonderful. The alcohol content is 8.2% ABV. This was one of my favorites of the festival.

Uncle Billy's Brew & Que Insomniac Coffee Stout

From Great American Beer Fest 2011

The beer pours a black color with a bubbly tan head. The aroma consists of coffee, chocolate, and cream. The taste is dry with fresh coffee and a chocolate background. The alcohol content is 5.8% ABV. This beer was quite awakening with plenty of coffee.

Port City Octoberfest

From Great American Beer Fest 2011

The beer pours a golden color with a bubbly white head. The aroma is malty with caramel and pepper smells as well. The taste is sweet caramel, pepper, and grassy hops. The alcohol content is not available online. This was a good Oktoberfest beer.

*Equinox Remi's Saison IPA

From Great American Beer Fest 2011

The beer pours a golden color with a bubbly white head. The aroma consists of pepper, lemon, barnyard, and hay. The taste lemon, hoppy, pine, pepper, hay, barnyard funk. The alcohol content is not available online. This was one of my favorites of the festival.

Funkwerks Cherry Saison

From Great American Beer Fest 2011

The beer pours a red-amber color with a bubbly off-white colored head. The aroma consists of tart cherries and pie crust. The taste is tart cherries, pie crust, pepper, lemon, and hay. The alcohol content is not available online.

Great Basin Bitchin' Berry

From Great American Beer Fest 2011

The beer pours a red-amber color with a filmy white head. The aroma consists of blackberry, raspberry, and wheat. The taste is sweet, fruity, and smooth with plenty of raspberry and blackberry flavors. The alcohol content is not available online.

New Planet Off Grid Pale Ale

From Great American Beer Fest 2011

The beer pours an amber color with a bubbly white head. The aroma consists of toffee, caramel, and toast. The taste is dry and has plenty of toffee and a hint of pine. The alcohol content is 5.0% ABV. I thought this was not bad, for a gluten-free beer.

Strange Brewing Cherry Kriek

From Great American Beer Fest 2011

The beer pours a red-amber color with a thin bubbly white head. The aroma consists of cherry pie filling, sugar, and crust. The taste is sweet and cherry pie-like, and very tart. The alcohol content is 5.1% ABV.

Upslope Pumpkin Ale

From Great American Beer Fest 2011

Seeing this beer won the gold medal, I decided to try it. The beer pours an amber color with a bubbly off-whiie colored head. The aroma consists of lots of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and graham cracker. The taste is spicy, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and has a hint of pumpkin. The alcohol content is 7.3% ABV.

*Trinity Brain of the Turtle

From Great American Beer Fest 2011

The beer pours a dark amber/brown color with yeast flakes floating and a bubbly beige colored head. The aroma consists of vinegar and cherry pie. The taste is puckering with cherry tart and lots of vinegar and some yeast accents. The alcohol content is not available online.

Dundee Oktoberfest

From Great American Beer Fest 2011

The beer pours an amber color with a bubbly off-white colored head. The aroma is malty with some caramel smells and a hint of grass. The taste is caramel, malts, and dry grass, but most of all it is very carbonated. The alcohol content is 5.5% ABV.

Short's-Dogfish Head-Three Floyds Cornholio

From Great American Beer Fest 2011

The beer pours a black color with a bubbly tan head. The aroma consists of cough syrup, chocolate, plums, and popcorn. The taste is chocolaty and very dry with popcorn, pepper, plums, and a bit of cough syrup accent. Overall, it was very spicy. The alcohol content is 7.0% ABV.

Dogfish Head UrKontinent

From Great American Beer Fest 2011

The beer pours a black color with a bubbly tan head. The aroma consists of tea, rooibos, amaranth, herbs, and chocolate. The taste is dry with dark chocolate, but the rooibos take focus with a big tea accent. The alcohol content is 8.1% ABV.

Dogfish Head Tweason'ale

From Great American Beer Fest 2011

The beer pours a golden color with a bubbly white head. The aroma consists of honey and strawberry. The taste is smooth with a light roasted flavor, strawberries, and a honey finish. The alcohol content is 6.0% ABV. This beer was very good for gluten free and I couldn’t tell as much as others in the category that it was gluten free.

*Red Brick Brick Mason Vanilla Gorilla

From Great American Beer Fest 2011

The beer pours a dark brown color with a foamy tan head. The aroma is full of smoke and vanilla. The taste is very smoky, has some coffee, a light chocolate undertone, and a vanilla finish. The alcohol content is 7.8% ABV. This was one of my favorites at the festival.

Swamp Head Saison du Swamp

From Great American Beer Fest 2011

The beer pours a pale straw yellow color with a frothy cream colored head. The aroma consists of pepper, lemon, and hay. The taste is lemon meringue, barnyard, hay, straw, and pepper, making a very delicious beer. The alcohol content is not available online.

* A festival favorite