Through September 26, beer writer Tomm Carroll is filed quick-hitting dispatches from the Great American Beer Festival on his iPhone. Here are his latest reports from the Super Bowl of beer.

Coors Field/Sandlot Brewpub
Sun, Sep 27, 2009 at 5:55 PM

A gorgeous Denver afternoon at the ballpark. Like Saturday, Sunday has temps in the mid-80s, so with some time to kill, we score some tickets on the street and watch the Colorado Rockies squeak past the St. Louis Cards.

Not a rabid baseball fan, but always wanted to visit The Sandlot brewpub at the Field. Coors’ experimental brewery where Bluemoon was born.

The Sandlot is pretty spacious with inside seats and a patio facing Market Street. Flat screens are all around — and even audio play-by-play is piped everywhere, from the elevators in the stadium to the restrooms. Okay, time for some beer…

A flight at the Sandlot: Blue Moon Honey
Moon, left, Pilsner, Hefeweizen and Right Field Red. More beers than the Cards scored runs.

Blue Moon Honey Moon had honey notes in the nose and mouth, but also some complementary spices. Kinda a cross between a honey wheat beer and a saison.

Pilsner was a damn site better that the Coors (or Bud or Miller) basic beers posing as the real thing. A definite hop presence but nicely balanced.

Hefeweizen was pretty decent. Unfiltered and lotsa cloves in aroma and flavor. Not much banana, tho.

Right Field Red had a medium body and a caramelly malt flavor. Not a fan of the beer style, I nonetheless found it enjoyable.

Now of course these beers pale in comparison to the Sandlot’s best brews (see earlier posts), let alone the majority of beers at the fest, but I don’t think I’ve has more agreeable beer at a ballpark — especially given the summer-like temps.

The Rockies win, I get a pleasant buzz and before I know it, I’m off to the airport for th flight home. Another great GABF.

We now return you to your regular Food GPS posts…

The Morning After GABF
Sun, Sep 27, 2009 at 5:32 PM

Managed to get over to Argonaut Liquors in Denver to load up the beer suitcase with some Colorado, Kansas City and Dutch (de Moelen!) brews not otherwise available in SoCal. Also found canned six packs of my fave IPA of the fest, Modus Hoperandi from Ska Brewing in Durango. Here I am in the lobby of my hotel, The Curtis, lightening the load for home.

GABF Saturday night after party
Sun, Sep 27, 2009 at 4:26 PM

The feeding frenzy ensues at Dr. Bill’s (foreground) annual rare beer tasting at Falling Rock.

Leaving the final 4th session of GABF to the amateurs (who typically turn it into a frathouse party) I opt omtead to have dinner with the folks from Library Alehouse. Sullivan’ s Steak House had some amazing steaks and seafood, and definitely provided me with my best meal of the visit (ahi tuna steak, seared rare). However, despite their excellent food and impressive wine list, the beer list wasn’t much better than what you’d find at a local LA 7-Eleven. They wouldn’t even let us pay a corkage fee to drink some of the rare beers I had along with me. Hello, Sully, this is Denver during GABF! What’s the deal?

Tom Kelley from the Library and I are the only ones with the stamina to head over a block or two to (surprise) Falling Rock.

The total beer geeks (including many mentioned in this blog already) were there Quaffing the rare pours. My contributions included Dogfish Head Pangea ‘05, Russian River Damnation 23 ‘09, St. Bernardus Abt 12 Special Edition ‘06, and Chocarubbica, the carob and cacao beer from Italian craft brewery Grado Plato.

Impressive beers tasted/remembered: all 4 versions of The Bruery’s Papier (regular, bourbon-, brandy-, and rye whiskey-barrel-aged Papier, Lost Abbey Sinners Blood, Alesmith barrel-aged Wee Heavy ‘04, Oude Beersel Oude Gueuze and Oude Kriek, Hanssens and 3 Fontein Gueuze…

GABF session 3 part 4 final
Sun, Sep 27, 2009 at 3:06 PM

Larry James of Wine Warehouse Distributors, left, Sierra Nevada Brewing’s Steve Grossman and your trusty beer blogger enjoy another taste of that barrel-aged Sierra Nevada Porter that I had at the Pints for Prostates tasting. It was not available at the fest, but hey,it helps to have friends who are connected.

Larry, and I also visit Rob Tod at the Allagash booth to talk about the Allagash beer class I will be teaching for Learn About Wine in LA on Nov. 14. As bad luck would have it, Rob is in LA that week, but must leave town two days before. We discuss a special video message he might produce to screen at the class. Rob and his brewmaster Jason Perkins are game. Larry should be there in the flesh.

GABF Session 3 part 3
Sun, Sep 27, 2009 at 2:09 PM

When there are over 2000 beers to sample and only 4 hours, who has rime to eat? Attendee Ray here has the right idea: Wear your food.

ABF Session 3 part 2
Sun, Sep 27, 2009 at 11:56 AM

Two exceptional sours from Captain Lawrence Brewing in NY. The Cuvée in particular was a standout. Neither was medaled in the awards.

Had less beers (only about 25) but more outstanding ones, regardless of whether they won medals. Aside from the 2 pictured above, they were:

Ommengang Adoration (a seasonal spiced version)
Brooklyn’s Brooklyner-Schneider Hopfenweis ( a Silver winner in the Traditionally Brewed Beer category)
Brooklyn’s Cuvée de Cardoz (made with 12 Indian spices, not unlike Italian craft brewery Troll’s Shangri-la)
Ska Brewing’s Modus Hoperandi (one of the IPAs I tasted at the fest)
Iron Hill Brewing’s Mahalo Apollo (lemongrass, grains of paradise, other spices)
Brugge Brasserie’s Bad Kitty (Bronze winner in Heman-style sour category)
Sandlot Brewing’s Where the Helles Bill? (Silver winner)
New Glarus Belgian Red (sweet and sour cherry)
New Glarus Raspberry Tort (Silver winner in American-style sour category)

GABF Session 3
Sun, Sep 27, 2009 at 9:04 AM

Garrett Oliver of Brooklyn Brewing pours some of his Cuvée de Cardoz, an ale made with 12 Indian Spices, at GABF Saturday afternoon.

The Saturday afternoon session of GABF is the Members Only Session, for Brewers Association members and their guests. It has less people and is the only session where you get a atasting glass made of glass. It’s also the session during which the awards ate announced.

Speaking of which, I was watching a bit of the awards announcement when my pal and fellow Pacific Gravity Homebrew Club member Jonathan Porter, brewmaster of Tustin Brewing, struck Gold with a first place finish for his Golden Spike in the Blond Ale category. Cheers, Jon!

This is also the first GABF that the ubiquitous Twitter played a huge part in on-floor communication among beer geeks. Someone watching the awards would send out a tweet when a beer won, and suddenly, hordes of Folks would show up at that brewery’s booth to sample a winning beer.

Up Your Reinsheitsgebot!
Sun, Sep 27, 2009 at 7:40 AM

Beer Chef Bruce Paton, left, and Allagash Brewing topper Rob Tod at the after party. They did a beer and food pairing demo in the Food and Beer Pavilion at the Saturday evening GABF session.

Friday’s after party was at (yet again) Falling Rock. Entitled Up Your Reinheitsgebot! — An Evening of Impure and Illicit Beers,” it featured a quartet of brews that flagrantly (and fragrantly) flaunt their violation of the German Purity Law of 1516.

They were:

Allagash Victor (made with chancellor red wine grapes)
Dogfish Head Red & White (a wit fermented in Pinot Noir juice and aged in Pinot Noir barrels)
Dogfish Head Black & Blue (blackberries & blueberries)
New Belgium Tart Lychee (self-explanatory).

GABF Session 2
Sun, Sep 27, 2009 at 2:00 AM

Drake’s It’s Fity. One of the better beers I sampled during the Friday session. Thanks for the tip, Logan.

Wasn’t gonna, but decided to pay a short visit to the Friday GABF session to meet with some friends from DC who were attending that session. It was louder and more crowded and had a noticably enhanced security and police presence.

Still, hadda have a few beers. My faves:

Drake’s It’s Fity (wonderful sour blend)
Sierra Nevada Estate (hops and barley grown on the Chico estate.
He’brew Jewbelation 13 Bar Mitzvah (rich and complex)
Maui Brewing Smoked RIPA (where there’s smoke there’s hops, apparently. Never thought that would work. But it was exceptional).

A couple favorite beer names:

Sandlot Brewery’s Where the Helles Bill? (a Silver medal winner)
Maui’s Milk of Amnesia Stout (which ran out before I could taste it)

Philly Beer Week Reception
Sun, Sep 27, 2009 at 1:08 AM

A Couple of Chouffes Celebrate Philly Beer: Martin Svab of Naja’s, left, And Tomm Kelly of Library Alehouse.

Grabbed a cab from Wynkoop to catch the end of the Philly Beer Week Reception and, with LA beer buddy Dean Bochner, sampled the following Philly area beers that were still being poured:

Yards’ IPA
Yards’ ESA (“Extra Special Ale” – kinda ESB)
Landcaster Milk Stout (pretty mild)
Iron Hill Imperial Stout (rich and chewy; best of the lot).

Run into Martin from Naja’s and Tom Kelley from Library Alehouse — bedecked in chouffe hats from a D’ Chouffe promo earlier that day.

Media Bus Tour Rare Beers served at Wynkoop.
Sat, Sep 26, 2009 at 7:45 PM

- Foothills 23-year-old Pappy Van Winkle Barrel Aged Total Eclipse Stout
- New Glarus Golden Ale – Ale w/Brett Yeast Dry Hopped w/Stryian Hops
- Stone 2008 Old Guardian Barley Wine Aged in Red Wine Barrels
- Sierra Nevada Barrel Aged Scotch Ale
- Stoudts Old Abominable Barleywine 2007

We arrive at Wynkoop for the rare beer tasting, a benefit for Pints for Prostates. Got in for the last half hour. Too many good beers to drink and too little time. Who had time to take notes? So I took photos of the beer signs instead (see below).

Only beer I had here that I didn’t get to shot the sign for was Mich Brett from, believe or not, Michelob. Had a nice bretty nose, and seemed to have a similar flavor — until the rubbery off flavor materialized. A Michelob collaboration with Goodyear perhaps?

Colorado Top Winning State at National Beer Competition
Sat, Sep 26, 2009 at 12:16 PM

Here is the winners press release from GABF. The individual style winners can be found HERE.

American IPA winners at GABF
Sat, Sep 26, 2009 at 1:19 PM

Breaking into the chronology to report the winners of the American IPA category:

Bronze: Blind Pig
Silver: Sculpin
Gold: Union Jack

Go California brewers!

Media Bus Tour
Sat, Sep 26, 2009 at 12:16 PM

A seasonal treat for hopheads at The Great Divide.

At the luncheon, I asked Tomme Arthur if there might be a collaboration between his Lost Abbey and Cascade Brewing, at whose booth he was seen at Thursday’s session. “They’re getting better,” he said. “I’d be open to a collaboration. But we’re not distributed in Portland, so we’d have to address that first.”

Then, we beery 4th estaters were treated to a bus tour of three local brewpubs/bars conducted by Denver beer guru and former Celebrator writer Marty Jones.

First stop was Falling Rock (again!), where we were ushered downstairs for some pours of mediocre beers from Breckenridge Brewery and the fine canned brews from Oscar Blues. Did find out that there will be a draught-only bourbon barrel-aged Ten Fidy out by the first of the year.

Next stop: Great Divide. We beat the crowd as there is a back room reserved for us. A brief talk by owner Brian Dunn and then multiple tastes of the brewery’s bottled line. Fresh Hop, the winter beer Hibernation (an old ale) and the great Yeti coffee stout were the standouts.

Then it was off to the Wynkoop Brewpub, where the rare beer tasting was already in progress…

GABF Media Luncheon
Sat, Sep 26, 2009 at 9:19 AM

The media briefing luncheon at the Denver Marriott at noon on Friday included some stats on this year’s GABF (over 49,000 attendees and nearly 200 credentialed media, an address from Denver Mayor George Hickenlooper (founder and founder of Wynkoop Brewing Co.) and brief talks from the brewers or reps of the beers used in the pairing luncheon. Frankly, it was a nice respite from the feeding frenzy of the tasting sessions and the packed parties. And good food to boot, prepared by the Marriott’s chef.

The Ale-pertif: Saaz hops, left, cascade hops, chocolate malt and munch malt. Breakfast of champions.

Salad and Hottenroth Berliner Weisse. The pairing brought out the flavors of both.

Hibiscus Granite with Long’s Peak Raspberry Wheat. This Intermezzo was a great palate cleanser.

Just Desserts: Molten chocolate cake, hazelnut brown ale gelato, and Fresh Chinook hop cones. Paired with Rogue Hazlenut Brown Ale, left, and Jolly Pumpkin Maracaibo Especial Brown Ale. An expert example of how beer can pair wonderfully by either complementing (Rogue) or contrasting (the sour Jolly Pumpkin) a dish.

GABF Session 1g
Fri, Sep 25, 2009 at 2:12 PM

Santa Monica beer chicks Christina Perozzi, left, and Hallie Beaune at Dogfish Head’s after party at Old Chicago.

Oh yeah, forgot one more 5-star beer:

Bluegrass Brewing Co.’s (Kentucky) Quad Lambic (a blend that had a finish of pistachio, at least to my palate).

GABF Session 1f
Fri, Sep 25, 2009 at 1:58 PM

Session 1 Survivors: Evan, left, Gabe, Brian, Julian, Jason Rosenfield from Strand Brewers and Sierra Nevada Brewing, and Martin Svab of Naja’s Place in Redondo Beach.

Okay, my 5-star beers from Session 1 in no particular order:

Herikmer Gose
Dogfish Head Chicha
Dogfish Head Sahtea
Jolly Pumkin IO
Terrapin Depth Charge Espresso Stout
Weyerbacher Riserva (wild ale with brett and raspberry purée)
The Bruery Black Tuesday
Cambridge Sergeant Pepper Saison
Cambridge Cerise Cassis
Triumph Oatmeal Cookie Stout

Time does not allow for more detailed descriptions. But they got this new thing called The Google if you want mode info.

GABF Session 1e
Fri, Sep 25, 2009 at 1:26 PM

Look Ma, No Hands: This beer wench found an effective way to hold her beer glass. No sample tastes, please.

My top breweries (where every beer seved at their booths was outstanding: Dogfish Head of Milton, DE, and Cambridge Brewing of MA.

GABF Session 1d
Fri, Sep 25, 2009 at 12:49 PM

Sour summit: You know you’re making good sour beers when superstar brewer Tomme Arthur of Port/Lost Abbey stops by behind your pouring table to chat and drink, as he did here at the Cascade Brewing of Portland, OR booth.

The all-sour Cascade beers including The Vine (aged in white wine barrels) and Apricot were all very good. But a sour blond called Vlad the ImpAler was exceptionally well balanced and was another of my favorites of the day.

GABF Session 1c
Fri, Sep 25, 2009 at 12:21 PM

Another reason that the Dogfish Head booth had such long lines was because Sam would stop and chat with folks, and even poss for photos. Here he obliges hours truly.

GABF Session 1b
Fri, Sep 25, 2009 at 12:08 PM

The list of ancient ales at the Dogfish Head booth. Sahtea is the name of the beer obscured by that guy’s head.

An amazing first day session. As media, I was able to enter 15 mins before start time and I saw lines formed already, by fellow media and brewers reps only, at the Russian River and Port/Lost Abbey booths.

I started at Herkimer Brewing of Minnesota becaue they had a Gose (pronounced go-zuh), an ancient German beer style from the Leipzig area that is similar to a Berliner Weiss but with coriander and rock salt included, which balances out the mild tartness. A low gravity beer with subtle flavors, it was the perfect beer to start with. And a good call. It was one of my faves of the day. I sampled about 49 more beers over the next 4 hours.

Dogfish Head also had a long line for it’s ancient ales, including the debut of Chica, an corn beer dating back to the Incan era of South America. It starts with purple corn chewed by the brewers and then spit out in a paste. The saliva ferments the corn. Despite the obvious yuck factor, it was a tasty brew, like peppered sweet corn. And wouldn’t we all like to have a bit of Sam Calagione in us?

GABF Session 1a
Fri, Sep 25, 2009 at 10:50 AM

The hordes lined up in the longest beer queue of the day for the the 8 pm debut draught release of Black Tuesday, the new Russian Imperial Stout from Orange County’s The Bruery. One of the best beers of the day, it was gone on less than a half hour.

Lunch at Falling Rock
Thu, Sep 24, 2009 at 4:15 PM

Brian Lenzo of Blue Palms Brew House, left, Gabe and Dr. Bill opening some Saint Levainus for lunch at Falling Rock.

Meet Gabe, Julian, Evan, Paige, Dr. Bill and Brian Lenzo of Blue Palms in LA — who all had the same idea of lunch (with beer) before the first GABF session. Also met the two great beer chefs there: Sean Paxton and Bruce Paton.

Beer chefs Sean Paxton and Bruce Paton.

GABF Reception at Great Divide
Thu, Sep 24, 2009 at 2:40 PM

Another oak-aged Yeti Imperial Espresso Stout served.

Dropped in for a quick oak-aged Yeti at Great Divide Brewing’s reception for GABFers Thursday afternoon. Think of it as a late breakfast. The food spread was mostly gone, so I headed over to Falling Rock (again), believe it or not, for some food to coat my stomach for the upcoming opening session.

The crowd of the reception was so packed it spilt out onto the street. Open container laws be damned!

Falling Rock Nightcap
Thu, Sep 24, 2009 at 11:38 AM

Publican, the latest beer from Russian River Brewing.

The unoffocial clubhouse for GABFers, Chris Black’s Falling Rock Tap House is Denver’s answer to SF’s Toronado — only larger, with more ataps and food. As soon as we arrive we run into Ryan Sweeney and Brandon Bradford of LA’s great Verdugo Bar, and Aaron and Patricia Barkenhagen of Bootleggers Brewery in Fullerton.

Then, of course, there are the beer celebrity spottings: Maui Brewing’s Garrett Marrero and his family, Lost Abbey/Port Brewing’s Tomme Arthur and even Dave “Big Daddy” Keene of SF’s Toronado.

We try Russian River’s new beer, Publican, a hoppy (big surprise), citrusy draught-only saison with a touch of funk. Tasty.

Falling Rock is one of only five beers in the country that will carry this beer. The others are Brouwers in Seattle, Horse Brass in Portland, Toronado in SF and Monks in Philly. Plan your road trips now.

Also have some draft Temptation, drinking wonderfully. Gabe and Julian arrive and Evan orders a bottle from Falling Rock’s rare bottle list: Cantillon’s Saint Lamvinus, a lambic made with merlot grapes and aged in oak. A pleasant pucker-fest of a beer. We all share and actually close the place down at 2 am. So much for an early first night.

But, having drank only low-gravity sours at Falling Rock, we were spared those nasty mile-high hangovers the next morning. At least I was…

Pre GABF Party
Thu, Sep 24, 2009 at 10:36 AM

Logan strikes a Speedway pose whilst Dr. Bill and Paige ponder the next pour.

After checking into the hotel upon arriving in Denver and chilling the beer I brought from LA to contribute to the in-progress Pre-GABF part,y it is off to said party. Held annually by local beer raconteur and “Three Sheets” foil Logan “Ayiieee” Perkins, this year’s bash was at Indulgences, Etc., suitably a Belgian Chocolate shop across from the state capital building. The renowned Dr. Bill Sysak from Stone Brewing was on hand to pour, ably assisted by another Californian, the lovely Paige Reilly of Shmaltz Brewing and Blue Palms fame.

Literally hundreds of beers were poured, five every five minutes. And drank down almost as fast by the thirsty throng. Among the offerings were Dark Lord, Mikkeller Black Hole, Cuvee de Tomme, Schafly Reserve Imperial Stout 07, Double Bastard 05, Upstream Gueuze and a braggot-tasting homebrewed peach lambic called Mission Impeche-able. Literally too many beers and too little time.

I hovered around the pouring station to ensure I got a taste of the 2 beers I brought: The Bruery’s rye whiskey barrel-aged Autumn Maple 07 and the great new IV Saison from Belgium (I forget the brewery). I didn’t think anything could improve on the amazing Autumn Maple, but the barrel aging did it, the whiskey notes enhancing the yam flavors wonderfully.

Believe it or not, many of us were still thirsty, so Evan and I grabbed a cab to the Falling Rock Tap House. Stay tuned…

Good for what ales ya: Dr. Bill administers a pour.

Just a portion of the beer list/pouring schedule.

Just a portion of the “dead soldiers.” No, not the guy; he’s texting.

Off to Avery
Thu, Sep 24, 2009 at 2:06 AM

Evan and Gabe at the Avery Tap Room in Boulder, with the “Beast-ly” bartender in the back ground.

Well, Gabe never reserved that rental car, so he, Evan from Brewbakers, Julian and I took a cab to… Avery Brewing in Boulder. Not only were they launching a new beer (sour of course), the barrel-aged Sui Generis ($8 a 12 oz bottle; limit of 6), but they had some rare beers on tap and were pouring tasters.

Among those we quaffed:

Reverend Oak Barrel 05. The Cabernet barrel aging gives a nice winey character to this already complex quadrupel. Best of the lot.

Eagle Rare Reverend 08
The same base beer aged in Eagle Rare Whiskey barrels.

Oak Barrel Salvation 09
Belgian Golden Ale aged in Cabernet barrels with Brettanomyces added. Very bretty.

Brett 16
Avery’s 16th anniversary saison aged with Brett added. Puts the farm in farmhouse.

Good Sally
Salvation with Brett but no barrel aging. Funky but not as complex as the oak barrel version b

Port Altar Boy
Yet another version of The Reverend.

Dry-hopped IPA.
Better than the original!

The Beast 05
Mellowed and oxidized somewhat after 4 years but still a monster.

What could possibly follow that?

The meter on the taxi was running so we hadda head back to Denver. No chance to taste the Sui Generis — but there will be an opportunity soon.

Arrived in Denver
Wed, Sep 23, 2009 at 2:28 PM

Julian admires Boulder Brewing’s cold Hop, left, and Hazed and Infused at the brewery’s airport bar.

Arrived in Denver to rain and temps in the low 40s. Met up with SoCal pro-am brewer Julian Shrago, whose Panzer Imperial Pilsner, via Port Brewing, is in the GABF ProAm competition, at LAX.

We grab some lunch and a couple beers at Boulder Brewing’s airport bar whilst waiting for Gabe Gordon from Beachwood BBQ’s flight to land. Gabe is renting a car, and we’re off to…well, let’s not give that away yet.

The Cold Hop was chewy hoppy. British style Pale ale, roughly. Hazed and Infused, a much hoppier American Style IPA, had a great, toasty tea-like flavor from it’s not unsubstantial dry hopping.

All 4 now…

GABF Bound
Wed, Sep 23, 2009 at 9:30 AM

Ah, beer for breakfast. Killing time at LAX before boarding my flight to Denver. Somehow a Märzen always tastes better this time of year. That said, this Gordon Biersch take on the style will likely be the most mediocre beer I will consume for the next five days or so. Next stop, Beertown! All aboard…

Tomm Carroll is a feature writer and the L.A. correspondent for the Celebrator Beer News, the oldest beeriodical in the United States. He has also written about beer for the Ale Street News, Los Angeles Times and Entertainment Today, and is an experienced Beer Judge in homebrew and commercial competitions. An avid beer drinker, enthusiast, collector, writer and traveler, he drinks locally and globally. He can be reached at beerscribe@earthlink.net.

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2 Comments

1. Neil Fitzpatrick, September 26, 2009:

   Tomm,
   Great shots and it looks like some even better beer. Cheers!
   Neil,

2. Sean Inman, September 28, 2009:

   I do not know how you fit all of that in. Amazing journey through the river of beer that was flowing in Denver!

This entry is filed under Drink Events, Drinks.