Quote:
Originally Posted by kidcolin
Any TR for this? Heard it was a bit of a **** show.
Yeah it was pretty meh, but not as bad for me as some others. I came in with a gameplan, had a list of beers and an order (based on reports from friday that Bokkereyder sold out immediately) so I was able to hit everything I wanted except one. Also I had VIP tickets again which was basically make or break for this.
But I also left 2 hours early because I was standing around and there was nothing left I wanted to drink. They definitely ****ed this up, there just wasn't enough beer and the organizers apparently didn't make any attempt to anticipate that certain breweries would be more popular than others. I was a complete beer noob for this last year (dig up my posts from when I found out I was going if you want to cringe), but I don't recall anything running out from any of the hyped breweries (HF etc).
JC Tetrault has come in to defend the breweries, which seems reasonable:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/communi...3#post-5653178
But there was just too many customers and not enough beer. I'm not sure how to do it better next year, nor do I know the economics of it obv, but if they do it again there needs to be more of a balance between the VIPs and GAs and maybe less sessions? Also the venue was not as good as city hall.
Anyway, I did have a list and made some notes:
Bokkereyder - Frambois and Noble Ghost both awesome. I'm not well versed enough in Frambois to accurately describe how good it was to others but they were the most hyped brewery by far going in, and sold out first in all sessions. I knew this and so did everyone else so about 90% of VIPs went right to them as soon as they were let in. I definitely wasn't disappointed at all.
Other Half - Daydream in Green and Down to the Socks -DiG was smooth and soft, tons of citra aroma, delicious as expected and on par with most OH beers. DttS was good but with slightly more bitterness than I'm used to with them.
Cloudwater - session IPA - solid aroma and good mouthfeel but not very flavorful, a good amount of up front and lingering bitterness, very solid overall for a session IPA.
Veil - We Ded Mon - this was an amazing triple ipa, super smooth and not sugary at all, I couldn't believe how well the 11% alcohol was hidden, one of the dankest and aromatic beers I've ever had, smooth as hell and all around amazing. They had a gose that was also extremely good, best brewery of the day I thought.
Tired Hands - Alien Church - good neipa, big mouthfeel and very smooth, medium hop aroma and a bit of a lingering bitterness. Would have preferred to try one of their milkshakes which they didnt bring this weekend so may have been a little biased but it wasn't on Other Half or Veil's level imo
Bottle logic - Number Crunch - amazing, straight chocolate and a huge mouthfeel. Was really excited to try this coming in and it was every bit as good as i thought it would be. Recursion IPA - a sort of mixed east west ipa with a huge aroma. Was solid but not in this crowd of breweries it's nothing special. Another annoying theme to this festival is breweries known for crushing stouts bringing one stout that runs out instantly and some other thing that no one wants.
Kane - really pissed about this, I missed the Sunday Brunch porter by one person in line and all they had left was something that I can't even remember but I had zero interest in. Only beer on my list I whiffed on.
Abnormal - M3 - Imperial Stout w/ Coffee, Vanilla, Cacao Nibs aged in Rye
Whiskey barrels - was solid but a bit disappointing, I had this on my list to try after not being able to get out to them when I was in SD but it was slightly too bitter an aftertaste compared to other stouts. It was good overall though, like standard bcbs basically.
3 Floyds - Zombie Dust, awesome west coast ipa very drinkable, bitterness falls off quicker than expected. This is probably nothing new for people outside of NE though.
Mikkeller SD -Rumple Milkskin - this was another stout on my list and I thought it was terrible, huge fusel alcohol taste, it was like a standard stout with rubbing alcohol.
Arizona wilderness - American Presidential imp stout 11% - this was very good, coffee forward, a bit thin on the mouthfeel but definitely good overall.
I had a few other forgettables after this and stopped taking notes. I don't regret going but I'd pick Zwanze over this if I knew going in. Also ran into this Swedish guy from Brewski who had tattoos of all the breweries (including Lord Hobo) on his arms which was...interesting: