Oct. 5, 2012
Every fall, brewers pour into Denver by the hundreds to
share their creations and see how their beers stack up against the competition.
They bring old standbys and newly proffered progeny, hoping to spark the imaginations
and taste buds of beer drinkers the world over. This cornucopia of autumn suds
has been dubbed the Great American Beer Festival, and for the lucky few who
managed to snag tickets before they sold out months ago, the fun starts Oct.
11.
>> I’m one of the chosen ones.
If you have your golden ticket in hand, you will be
confronted with close to 400 breweries serving up in excess of 1,000 beers.
Even the most Herculean effort won’t get all of those brews into your gut, but
here are a few suggestions to make the most of your trip around Candyland.
For starters, when trying each beer, ask for a small sample.
If it’s the greatest thing that ever passed your lips, you can always go back
for more, but if it’s just OK, you will regret having taken up the extra space
in your carbonation-bloated belly. Second, seek out the rare and elusive. Yes,
your favorite beer will probably be there and you’ll want to score a few
minutes talking to the brewer or rep about how much you love it, but what else
is that brewery bringing to the table? Do they have something new or special
that you’ve never tried before? Now is the time to be ahead of the curve and
get your hands on it.
“I always cherish any opportunity I get to meet and speak
with a fan of our beers or beer in general,” said Jennifer Glanville, brewer at
Samuel Adams, in an email. “We’re all there to enjoy and celebrate craft beer
and what it’s become today.”
Glanville said right now there are 21 times as many
breweries in the U.S. as the mere 83 that existed when Jim Koch first brewed
Boston Lager in his kitchen in 1984.
“Beer drinkers now appreciate craft beer in the same way
they would a fine wine (i.e. smelling, tasting and pouring properly),”
Glanville said. “They are expanding their palates and experimenting with the
wide range of flavors that craft beer offers.”
The Boston crew will be showcasing the two consumer winners
of the Samuel Adams LongShot American Homebrew Contest, and festival wanderers
will have a chance to vote for a homebrew winner in the Sam Adams employee
category. They’ll also be pouring their New Albion Ale at the festival.
“New Albion Ale was originally brewed 30 years ago by Jack
McAuliffe, founder of The New Albion Brewing Co., a brewery that helped pave
the way for other American craft breweries,” Glanville said. “This year, we
worked with Jack to brew the beer, which is recognized by beer experts as the
original American craft beer, and we’re really excited to share it at events
and at our GABF booth to see what people think.”
Dick, Jake and John Leinenkugel will all be present at the
festival, pouring the lighter side of the family — Lemon Berry Shandy, Sunset
Wheat, Honey Weiss and Berry Weiss — as well as a few bolder options from their
Big Eddy series, including an imperial IPA and the new Baltic Porter.
“If you talk to beer drinkers at the GABF, they like
different beers that they can’t necessarily find out west or in Colorado,” John
Leinenkugel said. “It’s interesting to see what people line up for. And a lot
of it is for rare, limited-release beers, but our Berry Weiss always samples
very well; we always go through all of it.”
The star of the Leine Lodge, if it’s ready in time, will be
the brewery’s new Snow Drift Vanilla Porter, a lighter, sessionable beer that
John Leinenkugel said the 145-year-old brewery is very proud of.
“We haven’t done a porter style of beer since before
Prohibition,” John Leinenkugel said, and with the Snow Drift and the Baltic,
they now have two.
Other important pinpoints on your path through nirvana fall
among those breweries that don’t distribute in Colorado. It’s a bit of a tease,
but you’ll be glad you endured the torture. On my short list is New Glarus
Brewing Co., which only ships beer within its home state of Wisconsin. Many a
road trip north in my college days included grabbing a few six-packs of beer
from this cheese-state luminary.
Deb Carey, founder and president, said New Glarus would be
sending a handful of brews for the public to test drive at GABF, including the
medal-winning Raspberry Tart. This spontaneously fermented Belgian fruited sour
brown ale is brewed with Oregon red raspberries.
“It’s like grabbing a handful of red raspberries and jamming
them in your mouth,” Carey said.
Another medal winner is Enigma, a Belgian that’s aged for
more than two years in oak tanks that sit outside by the brewery’s horse barn.
This cellar beer has a predominant toasted oak flavor, Carey said, but is
otherwise hard to describe, hence its name. New Glarus also will be hawking its
Hometown Blonde and the seasonal Staghorn Oktoberfest, and get your mitts on
some of the Moonman no coast pale ale. Brewer Dan Carey spent more than a year
hunting down hop varieties to capture the grapefruit pale ale bouquet and
smooth body found in this beer.
Finally, if you scored entry to the fun house that is the
Great American Beer Festival, you owe it to yourself to go outside your comfort
zone. Be bold and brave; the festival is your foam-filled oyster.
“Whether you’re a brewer, homebrewer or craft beer drinker,
we’re all there for the same reason – we love beer!” Glanville said.
>> I didn’t get tickets.
Recognizing that the beer aficionados drawn to
Denver for this annual affair far outnumber the quantity of tickets available
for the various drinking sessions, breweries have expanded their vision outside
the festival, creating complimentary events all over the city.
After the opening night GABF session Thursday, Oct. 11,
Oskar Blues is hosting “It’s All About the Package” at the Blake Street Tavern,
featuring giveaways and samples of some the brewery’s favorites. The party runs
from 9:30 p.m. to 1 a.m., and free tickets are available on the Oskar Blues
Facebook page.
Just down the road on the following afternoon, Friday, Oct.
12, the Leinenkugel brothers will be hanging out at Spanky’s for a Wisconsin
fish fry. Get your fix of fried walleye and cheese curds at this little bar in
LoDo, and wash it down with $2.75 pints of Leinenkugel beers. Once you’ve
noshed on Wisconsin’s best, roll down to Falling Rock Tap House, the first stop
on Avery’s Pucker Up Poker Run. Advanced tickets ($45) are required for this
crazy crawl through Denver, which runs until about 5 p.m. At each stop, get a
4-ounce pour of a rare sour beer, a 6-ounce pour of a palate-cleansing beer and
a playing card. The best five-card poker hand at the end of the run gets a
prize.
>> I’m on house arrest.
The Brewing Network and BeerTapTV will be showing a live stream of a
handful of events at the GABF, including the awards ceremony and medal presentation
for the brewing competitions starting at about 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 13. Find
links to the video and audio channels at the Brewers Association website at www.brewersassociation.org. You
can catch the festival buzz from the comfort of your own home with an Internet
connection and a bottle or three of your favorite past category winners as you
learn about what you should be drinking in the coming year.
Krista Driscoll
Hophead
No comments:
Post a Comment