mmmmm, beer....

[ucsigep]

Flight leaves in 10 hours....

http://www.greatamericanbeerfestival.com/


2009 GABF Quick Stats
3,362 Beers in the GABF Competition
2,100 Beers served in the hall
495 Breweries represented in the hall
73 Beers entered into the Pro-Am Competition
51 Breweries attending for the first time



2100 beers to try in a total of 8.5 hours that I'll be attending. Going to be tough, but I'll try my best. :)

[hndaklr]

Lucky Bastard! Drink a couple hundred for me.:beer

[BlackEclipse]

Try some Duff beer.

[ucsigep]

Charlie Papazian (president of the Brewer's Association and founder of the GABF) says there won't be Duff beer at the festival.

http://www.examiner.com/x-241-Beer-Examiner~y2009m7d14-Homer-Simpson-will-uncap-Great-American-Beer-Festival

No there won’t be any Duff Beer at the fest either. Duff is brewed in Belgium (really!) and doesn’t qualify as an American brewed original – at least as far as the Great American Beer Festival is concerned.

[BlackEclipse]

Another night of no sleep and returning to the office a little tipsy for your shift?

[ucsigep]

no, I fly back Sunday, and don't have to be back to work until Monday. :) I'm going to the Festival tomorrow evening and Saturday afternoon.

[YU_LOST]

Awsome:beer

[Mike C]

No Duff, No care!

[ucsigep]

No Crown, No care!

fixed.

[ucsigep]

no idea how many I had, but I must say it was a lot of fun, and I drank a lot of really great beer.

One of the best ones I had, Sam Adams Utopias 2009. Sorry, though. They are not allowed to sell it in Ohio.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Beer_Company

Samuel Adams Utopias, which went on sale in February 2002, was claimed to be the strongest commercial beer in the world, at 27% alcohol by volume. The beer was stronger than Millennium, a single release brew made by Sam Adams in 1999, at 21% alcohol.

Utopias are made with caramel, Vienna, Moravian and Bavarian smoked malts, and all four varieties of noble hops: Hallertauer Mittelfrüh, Tettnanger, Spalter, and Saaz hops. The beer is aged in scotch, cognac and port barrels for the better part of a year. It is described as having a "distinctive smell of cinnamon and vanilla with subtle hints of floral, citrus and pine."[citation needed]

The beer was packaged in a copper-finished kettle designed to resemble those used in the brewing process. 8,000 twenty-four-ounce bottles of Utopias were produced in all, with a suggested price of US$100 a bottle. The beer is considered by some to be more comparable to brandy or sherry than to other beers.

Because of legal restrictions, Samuel Adams Utopias are not offered in the states of Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Washington, or West Virginia.[9]

Utopias are still being made and have been released in 2001, 2003, 2005, and 2007. Samuel Adams produced just 12,000 bottles for the 2007 holiday season,[10][11] and plans to release the next Utopias in November 2009 at a suggested retail price of $120.





Some of the highlights of this years trip...

Visit to New Belgium Brewing in Ft Collins. This place was just gorgeous, and they gave so many free samples it wasn't even funny. I had probably 5 different 5-6 oz samples during the tour, then enjoyed another free sample at their tasting room at the end of the tour.

Also had a fantastic burger at the Cherry Cricket. Those that watch Man vs. Food on The Travel Channel would recognize this place, it is where they used a dart board to pick the toppings for his burger (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDlJGqWyWhA)

And to stay with the Man vs. Food category, we also hit up Jack-N-Grill for breakfast before flying out. I thought about the 7 lb burrito, but didn't think I had time. I'm seriously glad I didn't, the thing was even bigger in person, the guy behind me ordered one so I was able to see it. Besides that, I barely was able to finish the regular burrito, let alone the 7 lb one. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntCmNw4SNU8)

[BlackEclipse]

I had a 1/2 lb burrito from Taco bell today. I could have easily ate 4 of them.

So, Sam Adams Utopias 2009, can be purchased in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Kentucky. I am not sure why it cannot be sold in Ohio. It is alcohol and as far as I know, the age is 21 for ALL alcohol. Maybe it has too much alcohol for Ohio's beer "labeling"? Maybe they need relabel it and call it Whiskey or something.

[ucsigep]

that's likely it, because many states have laws about types of beer. For example, one of the beers I had at New Belgium, 1554, is actually a lager, but they call it an ale on their label because in Texas you cannot sell lagers higher than like 4% ABV, but this beer is around 8%.

Oh, and one of the nights after the festival, I was hungry, so we got some Taco Bell, and they actually had Chili Cheese Burritos! I haven't seen those in 5 or 6 years.