Mountain Sun Pub & Brewery Hop Vivant

Another beer I ordered at Mountain Sun Brewery & Pub was the Hop Vivant. The beer pours a copper color with a frothy cream colored head. The aroma consists of grapefruit, tangerine, pine, lemon, and caramel. The taste is sticky and oily with plenty of bitterness and citrus flavors including tangerine, grapefruit, and orange. All of these flavors are built upon a solid caramel base that hangs on for a second before an alcohol burn with pepper spices takes over on the finish. The alcohol content is 9.7% ABV. I would say that the Hop Vivant really warms the soul and, in my opinion, is better than Pliny the Elder. For confirmation purposes, I ordered a glass of Pliny the Elder the same night at Falling Rock Tap House, and I stand by my claim.

Twisted Pine Brewing Company Ghost Face Killah

While in Boulder, my fiancee and I stopped in to Twisted Pine Brewing Company. I've heard so much about their Ghost Face Killah that I decided to order a bottle. The beer pours a straw-gold color with a thin white head. The aroma is peppery, and not that pansy table top stuff, but the stuff that makes your eyes water with some wheat accents. The taste is light and lemon at first and then Bam! Holy f-in pepper. This is the spiciest beer I've ever had and within moments my lips tingled with fire, I was sweating, and my face went numb. The alcohol content is 5.0% ABV. While I love spicy foods, this beer was not enjoyable and I finished about a quarter of a bottle before sharing it with some other people in the bar. I consider this a gag beer that everyone could split a shot of, similar to a prairie fire shot, but would not order or drink a whole bottle myself.

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

Deschutes Green Lakes Organic Ale

On my first day arriving in Denver for Great American Beer Fest, my fiancee and I took a trip in to Boulder to have lunch at a vegetarian restaurant called Leaf. The also specialize in organic beers, so I ordered a Deschutes Green Lakes Organic Ale. The beer beer pours a red-amber color with a thin but frothy off-white colored head. The aroma consists of caramel malts, pine, and lemon. The taste is fresh and bitter with a hop foreword profile. Plenty of pepper and pine shine through with some lemon accents. The beer finishes with a caramel smoothness. The alcohol content is 5.2% ABV. The Green Lakes Organic Ale was a wonderful and very fresh tasting beer with great bitterness. It should be noted that as far as hop content, this is a hot one.

Mountain Sun Pub & Brewery Saison D'Ete

One of the brewpubs that I visited while in Boulder for Great American Beer Fest was Mountain Sun. They had some of their all time favorite beers on tap for the festival, so I ordered a glass of Saison D'Ete (and forgot to snap a photo of it). The beer pours a golden color with a bubbly white head. The aroma is faint but has hints of grassy hops with lemon and pepper hiding in the background. The mouth feel is very bubbly on the tongue. The taste is light and lemony with some pepper and pine, providing a great spiciness on the tongue. There is a dry finish with an earthiness to it, hints of dirt lingering around for a while. The alcohol content is not available online, but I would guess it to be about 6.0% ABV. The Saison D'Ete was a refreshing beer with a clean body, and I would suggest you give it a try if you are ever in Boulder.

Three Floyds Amon Amarth Ragnarok

I received a bottle of Three Floyds Amon Amarth Ragnarok from Hop Head Red in a beer trade. The beer pours a dark brown color with a frothy than head that leaves some lacing behind on the glass. The aroma consists of toasted malts, caramel, vanilla, oak, and pine. The taste is dry and roasty with plenty of toasted malts and dark chocolate flavors. There is an oakiness to the beer as well with a sweet vanilla and honey finish. The alcohol content is 8.2% ABV. I really loved this beer and its dry roasty flavors that took over the tongue. This is much drier than most porters, so beware of that when drinking it, but that’s what I loved about it.

Sierra Nevada-Abbey of New Clairvaux Ovila Saison

At Giant Eagle in Pittsburgh, I picked up a bottle of Sierra Nevada-Abbey of New Clairvaux Ovila Saison, the second in the collaboration series. The beer pours a yellow-gold color with an extremely lofty and foamy head the hangs around for a while and leaves a tiny bit of lacing on the glass. The aroma consists of lemon, pepper, wheat, and grass. The taste is smooth with a nice lemon flavor, similar to lemon squares, with pepper and grass hops accents the sweetness. There is a hint of cream on the finish and the after taste leaves some dirt flavor behind in the mouth. The alcohol content is 7.0% ABV. This was a clean saison that I thoroughly enjoyed with wonderful lemon and pepper flavors. The finish was the best part that really made it an earthy brew.

Samuel Adams Griffin's Bow

The final beer that I was able to try at the Samuel Adams beer tasting during Great American Beer Fest was Griffin's Bow, an oaked blonde barleywine. The beer pours a golden color with a bubbly off-white colored head. The aroma consists simply of caramel, oak, and raisin. The taste is sweet and malty with honey, toffee, and vanilla. On the finish, oak and hints of grapefruit and orange come out to play. The alcohol content is not available online, but I would estimate it to be about 9.5% ABV. This was a great beer and was rather complex with its toasted oak flavors and citrus accents.

Samuel Adams The Vixen Chocolate Chili Bock

The third beer of the Samuel Adams tasting, and what became my favorite of the day, was The Vixen, a Chocolate Chili Bock. The beer pours a dark brown color with a frothy tan head. The aroma consists of chocolate, cinnamon, chili, vanilla, and fortune cookies. The taste is chocolaty with a great spicy accent. Hints of graham cracker, chili peppers, vanilla, and cocoa powder are all easily detectable in this beer. The bock is brewed with ancho and chipotle chili peppers that provide a bit of heat, but mostly give a great spicy accent. The alcohol content is not available online, but I would estimate it to be 5.5% ABV. Beyond being the best of the sampling session, I would say The Vixen is one of the best Sam Adams beers that they make. The chili peppers went extremely well with the chocolate bock flavors and I was a huge fan of the presence of graham crackers.

Samuel Adams Third Voyage Double IPA

The second beer I was able to try by attending the Samuel Adams beer tasting was the Third Voyage, a Double IPA. The beer pours a copper color with a frothy cream colored head. The aroma is bitter with some grapefruit, lemon, and the smells of funky gym socks. The taste is bitter and dry with grapefruit arriving at the forefront. There is a bit of hop oils in this beer as well that stick around before the peppery finish. The beer combines Cascade hops from England, New Zealand, and the Pacific Northwest. The alcohol content is is not available online, but I would estimate it to be about 8.5% ABV. This was a decent, but not great, Double IPA. IT was more bitter and buttery than citrus, and was my least favorite of the four beers I tried at the tasting.

Samuel Adams Tasman Red

I won the opportunity of attend the Samuel Adams tasting during Great American Beer Fest of beer that will be released in October 2011. The first beer I tried was the Tasman Red, a Red IPA. The beer pours a reddish-brown color with a foamy beige head. The aroma consists of pine, tangerine, and plenty of caramel. The taste is dry with toasted toffee, coffee, pine, grapefruit, and tangerine. As a note, this beer contains Topa and Galaxy hops grown around the Tasmanian Sea. The alcohol content is not available online, but I would estimate it to be about 6.0% ABV. My first experience with a Red IPA was an enjoyable one, as this beer is dry and sweet, before a great bitter flavor comes across. It isn't as intense as a lot of IPAs out there, but does have a good amount of hops and bitterness.

Victory V-Twelve

My fiancee picked up a bottle of Victory V-Twelve for us to share with dinner one night (lasagna). The beer pours an amber color with orange hues mixed in a frothy white colored head. The aroma consists of Belgian yeast, cherry, orange zest, and biscuits. The taste is smooth and hot with an alcohol burn up front, but it’s not too damaging to the taste buds. Sweet Belgian yeasts dance on the tongue with orange and raisin flavor with hints of fig and pine. Grassy and peppery hops come out in the finish and linger on the tongue for a while. The alcohol content is 12.0% ABV. This beer definitely has a candy-like profile, but the spicy finish and warming alcohol burn balances out the sweetness nicely.

Weyerbacher Romeo

While at the Rapture release, my buddy Ed and I decided to split a case of Weyerbacher Romeo. The beer pours a red-tinted amber color with a frothy off-white colored head. The aroma consists of raisin, malts, cherry, fig, and biscuits. The taste is sweet and very malty with plenty of caramel, raisin, and fig. There is a biscuity finish with a slight cherry accent. The alcohol content is 8.0% ABV. I enjoyed this beer and its sweet yeasty flavor with the ever so gentle cherry accent. It fits right into the Belgian Strong Pale Ale category and is a solid example of the style.