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I awakened early on Day 3 to the throb of my liver, apparently trying to flee my body. This was no ordinary “beer-cation.” It’s not like “hey honey, let’s go to a few breweries when we visit your Aunt Minnie.” No… this is definitely not that.
As I rolled over to begin combat once again, my first foe was dry mouth, something we low-land sour-freaks endure in these highlands. Denver is a challenge, but 3,600 beers all under one roof isn’t a challenge, it’s an impossible feat that not even four full sessions could conquer. Maybe I should have gone back to sleep, but the awards beckoned – the real drama of the weekend awaited.
Day 3 – Reward
On a beautifully clear, soon to be summery day, I briefly get a coffee and a half-assed coffee shop egg sandwich – time for breakfast has been at a premium. I amble on toward the Convention Center’s Theater for the awards starting at 10am.
And who do I bump into, for like the 7th time in three days? Steve Mills, the CEO of Uinta Brewing. He was at my flight transfer in SLC, then the seat behind me, then the baggage carousel, in the train, I ran into him TWICE chatting on the convention floor and now at breakfast.
Having escaped my poorly disguised stalker, I powered on through the long walk from the front door to the back of the mammoth center. I picked up what one could only presume was another lame breakfast thing wrapped in foil, but these were free – threw a couple in the cargo pocket for later, maybe (thanks for the idea Damian).
The other accoutrement upon entering is a tiny sample glass, the same as the “Paired” glass the night before and each doorway offering 2 beers on draft. I filled mine with Oskar Blues Beerito, a delightfully smooth 4% Mexican Lager with depth. I was in no fucking shape for anything big at this fuzzy, bone-dry-mouth hour.
The awards were as they generally are – long but exciting when you know the winners. Of particular note were the two times when a brewery was awarded a medal while waiting for another to be received. It happened to Fat Heads while they were in line to the stage, then it happened to Breakside while posing for their Papazian Pic. It was pretty rad, especially as a Portlander.
Best award-winning beer names? A toss-up between the Session IPA Gold Winner, Trump Hands (Cannonball Creek) and I Dunkled in My Pants (Gold, European-Style Dark Lager/Munich-Style Dunkel, Figueroa Mountain).
Seeing Charlie Papazian surprised by a special award from Governor Hickenlooper for his 35th year of the event was definitely the highlight. As a “social media journalist blogger” I pushed my phone to the limit in a historically bad reception zone, doing my best to twit-out the important stuff. But once that deliberately delayed IPA award was announced 2.5 hours later (Georgetown Brewing’s legit Bodhizafa), I was recharged and ready for beer.
Saturday afternoon was my shortest stint on the floor – between recharging the phone and my next engagement across town, there was no time to get pissed. I was happy though to finally try J.Wakefield Brewing for the first time – Haterade, a huge juicy Berliner Weisse that tasted more like cool aid, gave me mixed emotions.
Waiting in line for 10 minutes to sample the most awarded brewer at the festival, Überbrew (Small Brewery and Brewer of the Year) was a rewarding wait. They had 5 beers on tap, 4 of them now had medals next to them. Their ‘Average At Best’ (Silver, Double Red Ale) was begging to be drank and it was great.
Leaving my last session was a little sad, especially since I only spent about 1.5 hours braving what seemed like the busiest session – traditionally the most laid back. Quickly charged my bastard of a phone (again) so I could catch an Uber to First Draft and probably the best time I had all weekend.
Tavour’s Bottle Fest was epic. To receive an email within two weeks of GABF effectively saying “come down to one of the coolest bars in town to drink from our rare cellar – Toppling Goliath, Cantillon, Jester King, Casey Brewing, Avery, New Glarus, Hill Farmstead…” We couldn’t say no. And it was free for VIP’s and Media, just had to do the twitters and the IG and we were in.
My friends and I were like drunken kids in a candy shop. We could choose anything we wanted… so we opened two bottles of Ale Apothecary including the excellent Therapy Ferret, a Cantillon Fou Foune, a Rusty Nail from Fremont, a Casey Family Preserves Blackberry, the brand new brewery Alesong’s Touch of Brett (Gold, Brett Beer), Deschutes’ Rye Barreled Abyss, Monkish Kiss the Sky, Brasserie St. James Plum Saison, Jester King’s Nocturn Chrysalis (Blend 3) poured by their Founder Jeff Stuffings… and there were many more in there – couldn’t try ‘em all.
If you don’t know who Tavour is, check-out their website and find out how you can have beer from all over the country and world mailed to your door – it’s absurd. The co-owners Phillip Vaughn and Sethu Kalavakur were there reveling alongside us, enjoying their first time on the floor at GABF and they certainly showed us a wonderful afternoon. A huge thanks to them and to First Draft for hosting us as well.
But we weren’t done yet. We met up with my friend’s friends, a lovely older couple who know as much about beer as anyone I’ve met. In fact one of them has even written a song about his Westvleteren 12 homebrew clone. Our destination was Freshcraft, an excellent taproom in LoDo, that just happened to be hosting a Surly takeover. But we were early…
So, I first tried a collab between SKA and Telluride – two brewers I’d never had before. Called Spirit Animal, it was a wonderful one-off brew that I was a bit too shabby to jot down (damn bastard phone now dead) but you can’t find the beer anywhere online, only for this event. Pretty sure I ate food there at some point (thanks Dana), so that was a bonus. We drank a wide variety of things and… I wasn’t really keeping track of what I was pouring in my face.
For good measure, we went home and opened 6 more bottles to share with friends including an Oddside, a La Vie En Rose, Das Überkind, Even More Jeffe and Buford’s Roadside Wares (w/ Arizona Wilderness) from Jester King, Oregon Native from Upright and Snozzberry from Block 15.
Day 4 – Reprise
And on the 4th day, we finally had breakfast and more sleep than we’d had in three days. We checked out the Bacon Social Club in the Sunnyside neighborhood. They had Raspberry Provincial from Funkworks on tap – the temptation was real, but we resisted, ate our trendy bacon flight and lemon poppy-seed pancakes and had one more stop.
After our amazing experience trying Black Project on night one, we did what any incorrigible sour freak would do… we went to get more. The plan was to hit up Crooked Stave as well, since I haven’t been to the newer location, but I ran out of time before my flight home.
As luck would have it, we ran into Martin Svab, co-founder of Phantom Carriage, another brewer killing it with the wild/sour stuff. It was awesome to see him for the first time since their breakout visit during CBC in 2014.
God… I had to leave this place before they pulled my pickled liver from my body, put it in a jar and charged tourists to witness its hideousness.
But yeah, I’ll probably come back to GABF again. Planning, moderation, pocket burritos and German genes can take you a long way in life…
Breakside Brewing GABF Award Photo © 2016 Jason E. Kaplan via Brewers Association
All other photos by Warren Wills
