Autumn Brew Review Wrap-Up

Saturday was a day filled with beer tasting and discovery.  Having made a spreadsheet ahead of time of which new beers I wanted to try and how many offerings were at each of my favorite breweries, I feel like I got a lot more out of this beer fest.  I had a better idea of what I wanted to try this year because of all my prepping and that allowed me to avoid beers that I knew wouldn't wow me.
The best thing about the ABR is that I got to try new beers of a very high quality. However, there is always something random that happens at a beer fest that makes it fun.  My highlight was a stop at the Northern Brewer tent where they were daring people to eat a hop bud and win a pint glass and a t-shirt.  I decided that I could handle it and ate a hop.  It was surprisingly not as bad as I thought it would be.  I don't really prefer hoppy beers, but there was something refreshing about eating a hop that was kind of delightful.  The one thing I regret doing was waiting in line for 35 minutes to try the Central Waters 1414 stout.  It was good, but I found out later on in the evening when I went to The Lowry that I could have just gotten it on tap.  Below is a summary of my 3 best beers and the 2 beers that I thought fell short and disappointed.

3 Best (in no particular order)

Southern Tier Pumking-Despite how many times I have this beer, there is always the first sip where I fall in love all over again with its buttery and percectly spiced character and complexity.

Minneapolis Town Hall 3 Hour Tour Milk Stout-This was something new to me and I could not stop going back for more.  It combined a sweetness of a chocolate mousse dessert with the perfectly balanced thickness of a milk stout.  If they offered a tasting of this that involved flippers and a buddy system so I would remember to come up for air, I would do it every day and twice on Sundays.

Pour Decisions Pubstitute-All the robust and smokey characteristics of a Scotch Ale, but without the heaviness.  I could have several of these before feeling like I had to move on to something more drinkable.









2 Worst or most disappointing

Flat Earth Brewing Co. Mummy Train-I have enjoyed everything that this brewery puts out.  I had my hopes based on their Grand Design Porter and Cygnus-X1 that this pumpkin concoction would be something that could lead to a stay in a day treatment center.  Sadly, it lacked the character and depth that I have come to expect from good pumpkin beers such as Ichabod and Pumking.  It was very flat and one-note.

New Holland Golden Cap-This is billed as a Saison, which by definition should be refreshing and drinkable.  Where this beer gets lost in translation is that it is neither refreshing or drinkable and instead is muddled and miscategorized.  The color of it is cloudy which you would expect, but the flavor is bland and doesn't really take me to the french countryside.  Instead, I am transported to a shitty bar in Anytown, USA where I am forced to drink Budweiser and listen to Waylon Jennings on a jukebox.  This beer was disappointing because I love everything else I have every had from New Holland.

The day was perfect from the weather to the different samples.  I continue to be amazed at the high level of talent and craftsmanship that many of our small local brewers possess.  While I am still relatively new to the craft beer scene, I feel like I broaden my horizons by leaps and bounds when I attend festivals such as ABR. 

Why beer and why now?

Beer is something that I have been a fan of for a while.  However, it is not until recently that I have become to understand why I like it.
In my early days of experimental drinking, I preferred the obnoxiously sweet nectar that was Zima.  I discovered this nectar of the dipshits at a party on Halloween my sophomore year of college.  Many people might think that I had bad taste in drinks, but in my defense, the only other option was warm Busch Light in a sketchy Sterilite tub in a basement that could have easliy doubled as a sex dungeon.  I feel like I chose the high road.
As my horizons broadened, I discovered Rolling Rock and Killians Irish Red.  These beers are far superior when compared to Busch Light and Zima(sadly this liquid mistake is no longer available in the U.S.) and gave me an air of sophistication when I was sitting in my dorm room eating a Papa Johns pizza.
Lienenkugel's Honey Weiss and Heineken soon joined my list of "really good beers" and I felt like I was becoming somewhat of a beer afficionado.  Little did I know I was still in the dark ages as far as beer was concerned.  I thought that the beers I liked were the great beers.   The big problem with that is that I had no clue of even why I would like one beer and not like the other.  I knew that a beer tasted good, but I had no idea why it tasted good.  Some beers were bitter and I thought that meant they were just skunky.
The day I realized that I was developing a beer palate was the day that I was fortunate enough to try a beer that you could only get in and around Colorado from a place called New Belgium called Fat Tire.  It was a darker beer with a really nice and complex flavor.  I had not tasted a beer like that ever before and it was a revelation.  Suddenly, all the beers I thought were decent were pedestrian at best.  It was like thinking Maria from Sesame Street was hot, then accidentally walking in on Selma Hayek in a changing room at the Dress Barn.  There was no way I could go back to Rolling Rock.