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GABF Session 1c
Fri, Sep 25, 2009 at 12:21 PM

Another reason that the Dogfish Head booth had such long lines was because Sam would stop and chat with folks, and even pose for photos. Here he obliges hours truly.

GABF Session 1b
Fri, Sep 25, 2009 at 12:08 PM

The list of ancient ales at the Dogfish Head booth. Sahtea is the name of the beer obscured by that guy’s head.

An amazing first day session. As media, I was able to enter 15 mins before start time and I saw lines formed already, by fellow media and brewers reps only, at the Russian River and Port/Lost Abbey booths.

I started at Herkimer Brewing of Minnesota becaue they had a Gose (pronounced go-zuh), an ancient German beer style from the Leipzig area that is similar to a Berliner Weiss but with coriander and rock salt included, which balances out the mild tartness. A low gravity beer with subtle flavors, it was the perfect beer to start with. And a good call. It was one of my faves of the day. I sampled about 49 more beers over the next 4 hours.

Dogfish Head also had a long line for it’s ancient ales, including the debut of Chica, an corn beer dating back to the Incan era of South America. It starts with purple corn chewed by the brewers and then spit out in a paste. The saliva ferments the corn. Despite the obvious yuck factor, it was a tasty brew, like peppered sweet corn. And wouldn’t we all like to have a bit of Sam Calagione in us?

GABF Session 1a
Fri, Sep 25, 2009 at 10:50 AM

The hordes lined up in the longest beer queue of the day for the the 8 pm debut draught release of Black Tuesday, the new Russian Imperial Stout from Orange County’s The Bruery. One of the best beers of the day, it was gone on less than a half hour.

Lunch at Falling Rock
Thu, Sep 24, 2009 at 4:15 PM

Brian Lenzo of Blue Palms Brew House, left, Gabe and Dr. Bill opening some Saint Levainus for lunch at Falling Rock.

Meet Gabe, Julian, Evan, Paige, Dr. Bill and Brian Lenzo of Blue Palms in LA — who all had the same idea of lunch (with beer) before the first GABF session. Also met the two great beer chefs there: Sean Paxton and Bruce Paton.

Beer chefs Sean Paxton and Bruce Paton.

GABF Reception at Great Divide
Thu, Sep 24, 2009 at 2:40 PM

Another oak-aged Yeti Imperial Espresso Stout served.

Dropped in for a quick oak-aged Yeti at Great Divide Brewing’s reception for GABFers Thursday afternoon. Think of it as a late breakfast. The food spread was mostly gone, so I headed over to Falling Rock (again), believe it or not, for some food to coat my stomach for the upcoming opening session.

The crowd of the reception was so packed it spilt out onto the street. Open container laws be damned!

Falling Rock Nightcap
Thu, Sep 24, 2009 at 11:38 AM

Publican, the latest beer from Russian River Brewing.

The unoffocial clubhouse for GABFers, Chris Black’s Falling Rock Tap House is Denver’s answer to SF’s Toronado — only larger, with more ataps and food. As soon as we arrive we run into Ryan Sweeney and Brandon Bradford of LA’s great Verdugo Bar, and Aaron and Patricia Barkenhagen of Bootleggers Brewery in Fullerton.

Then, of course, there are the beer celebrity spottings: Maui Brewing’s Garrett Marrero and his family, Lost Abbey/Port Brewing’s Tomme Arthur and even Dave “Big Daddy” Keene of SF’s Toronado.

We try Russian River’s new beer, Publican, a hoppy (big surprise), citrusy draught-only saison with a touch of funk. Tasty.

Falling Rock is one of only five beers in the country that will carry this beer. The others are Brouwers in Seattle, Horse Brass in Portland, Toronado in SF and Monks in Philly. Plan your road trips now.

Also have some draft Temptation, drinking wonderfully. Gabe and Julian arrive and Evan orders a bottle from Falling Rock’s rare bottle list: Cantillon’s Saint Lamvinus, a lambic made with merlot grapes and aged in oak. A pleasant pucker-fest of a beer. We all share and actually close the place down at 2 am. So much for an early first night.

But, having drank only low-gravity sours at Falling Rock, we were spared those nasty mile-high hangovers the next morning. At least I was…

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