The top 5 breweries I sampled were:
5. Short’s Brewing
4. Lost Abbey
3. Dogfish Head
2. Jolly Pumpkin
1. New Glarus
By far, New Glarus was the best! I am on a sour beer kick right now, and I loved their beers, it is a shame, and a blessing that they do not sell their beer outside of Wisconsin. It’s a shame because it is so good, but it is a blessing, because they keep their quality high, and it gives me a reason to visit their brewery!
Jolly Pumpkin was a treat, once again, at this time I am really into the sours, and they have some delicious beers, don’t ask me to remember exactly what I had, but they were good.
It was a tough decision to place Dogfish Head and Lost abbey, I chose Dogfish Head above Lost Abbey because they had some really off the wall brews there and Bitche's Brew through a coffee bean randall was awesome, however, Lost Abbey’s Angel’s share was really, really tasty.
As far as Short’s Brewing goes I threw them in there because they had some really interesting beers, like a spruce infused pilsner, and a black licorice lager, and a very good barley wine aged on raisins, very different tastes. Plus their line was never ending.
So there you have it, hopefully I can make it back next year. If you are planning to attend and are an AHA member, only go to the Friday night session, and the Saturday afternoon members only session. It will give you plenty of time at the show to enjoy it. Do not attend the Saturday night session, it is the busiest, the crowd is more rowdy, and the vendors start to run out of beer.
If you are not a member, I suggest going to the Thursday evening session, it is by far the least busy other than the Saturday afternoon session.
When you do make it, be sure to stop by the American Homebrewer’s Association booth to say high to Gary Glass, tell him Tyson and Cheryl sent you!
Enjoy the few pics I managed to take:
Gary Glass, Tyler Keith, and Charlie Papazian. I think Tyler approves of Gary's superb goatee.
Yours truly, Gary Glass, Tyler, and my better half. I think Tyler is thirsty! Hurry get him a sample!
Tyler and Dad having a blast! (BTW, see the guy behind me on the left side of the photo, he was security, and was talking to some chick who was freaking the 'F' out because she was seperated from her boyfriend, and had severe anxiety issues...can you say freak? Better yet can you say make a plan before coming to an event like this so if you do get seperated you can meet somewhere, maybe bring cell phones? Even better, maybe don't put yourself in situations where you are bound to have a problem with you anxiety issues!)
(Notice the guy over my shoulder still there, yeah it was a long ordeal...)
Happy mother and son, especially son after a diaper change!
Some of the people at the show are hardcore with their pretzel bandoliers. (Dude nice shirt, and skirt, real kilts are plaid, poser!)
We stopped at Rock Bottom Brewery to have some lunch and a couple of beverages, Tyler was not impressed with the beer selection.
On the last day we were there, we went to the Glass house and Tyler got to meet his cousin Mya, to the left is Erin Glass, Gary's wife, and the Brewer's Association coordinator.
There is a couple of other photos I want to upload, but they are not on my computer yet, so I'll add them to this post later.
Otherwise, go to GABF when you get the chanceit is a blast, there is a lt to learn, alot to taste, and some beers you may not be able to find in your local area.
