GABF - The Great American Beer Festival
 

Any Ledgies going this year?

For those who don't know, the GABF is one of the largest beer festivals in the world. It's held annually in Denver, and typically features thousands of beers from hundreds of breweries - American breweries only. Tickets go on sale to the public tomorrow at 10:00 am, and usually sell out within 10 days. The actual festival is October 11-13.

The GABF is listed as one of the 1,000 things you MUST do before you die! And yes, it is that much fun. It's held at the Colorado Convention Center, and there are literally thousands of people there. I think the most beers I've tried in one night was about 120 (that's about 12 beers over 5 hours). :laugh: It's a lot harder than it seems!

http://www.greatamericanbeerfestival.com/

No, but I'd love to. :laugh: I've recently been getting into "good" beer, as opposed to the crap I usually drink. I always assumed dark beer was bitter because I'd only tried IPA's in the past - silly me. Now I'm a huge fan of a good Porter; also like Red Ale, Brown Ale, Shandy & Hefeweizen.

Yay! I never liked beer until I started trying dark beers like stouts and porters - I just assumed it was all watery swill like Coors or Bud. I love the chocolatey and smoky undertones of dark beer. Two years ago I was WAY into scotch ales and IPAs (some of the IPAs I've tried taste like a bag of weed :nod: ), but my newest obsession are nut browns. It helps that the Denver area is like the Napa Valley of beer. :laugh: There's a brewery in New Glarus, Wisconsin that makes the best damn raspberry tart I've ever tasted - a friend of mine actually drove out there just to fill his car with it!

I missed out on GABF last year because tickets sold so fast and I wasn't paying attention; so I'm very excited to go again this year.

YES! Once I determined that dark does NOT = bitter, I was thrilled.

Recently tried this Creme Brulee Stout. Delish.
http://www.stbcbeer.com/stbc/our-bee...lee-beer-page/

That? Sounds delicious.

With much sadness, I failed to get tickets. They were sold out in minutes - last year it took 10 days; the previous record was 55 days. I was online, at Ticketdisaster, trying to buy tickets at at 10:00 promtly I was told none were available.

Minutes later -literally at like 10:03, on StubHub, there were blocks of hundreds of tickets for three and four times face value. Tickets on eBay for up to $700.

I am saddened, and sort of disgusted.

[QUOTE=KarmaContestant;1060365] Two years ago I was WAY into scotch ales and IPAs (some of the IPAs I've tried taste like a bag of weed :nod: ), /QUOTE]

Was the IPA you tried called Avery The Maharaja? My local pub, the Black Squirrel, rotates its taps regularly and they always have 3 to 4 good IPAs. A month or so ago they had the Maharaja and my exact reaction was "tastes like weed." I mentioned it to the bartender, and noted everyone started asking for samples.

Did you know today is National IPA Day? I'm headed to the squirrel to celebrate.. they sometimes carry an IPA from Mother Earth Brewing called Sisters of the Moon. The first time I tried it - thought it was hoppy but not overwhelming, quite mellow and delicious - I asked if I could keep the bottle.. cool label, very Stevie.

Keep enjoying the IPA!

It was a local brew called "Colorado Kind" :laugh: from Mountain Sun brewpub.

I love IPAs - some of them are indeed quite bitter but pouring them in a glass often takes some of that away.

I do NOT like IPA's. :laugh: Waaaayyy too hoppy for me. Last night I tried

Kissmeyer Witbier Saison du Fleur
Saison • Denmark • 6% abv


Nice. A fruity finish, but not sickeneingly sweet.

Last night I drank:

Crabtree Brewery's Boxcar Brown
http://www.crabtreebrewing.com/pages...xcarBrown.html

...and

Left Hand Brewing's Oktoberfest
http://www.lefthandbrewing.com/beers/oktoberfest

Both were new to me, and neither one was noteworthy. :shrug: