GABF results: great for some, not-so-great overall

And yes, that's a homer's title: I'm talking about Pennsylvania. We've done better, though Bob Barrar continues the harvest, and Saison Vautour continues an incredible job on scavenging gold. Go see it all here (Uncle Jack at the Beer Yard) and here (where Bryan "Brew Lounge" Kolesar lets the Patrick Jones/Triumph break-up out of the bag). Congratulations to all the PA brewers (no NJ brewers won), and congrats to New England, where they finally broke through and won a bag of medals: 'bout time.

Rare Beer Tasting at GABF to benefit Pints for Prostates

My good friend and fellow drinks writer Rick Lyke survived prostate cancer -- thank the Good God -- and as a way of giving back, founded and grew Pints for Prostates, a group for raising awareness about prostate cancer screening...through beer. Rick's raising money for the cause with the help of American brewers, All About Beer magazine, and BeerAdvocate, through a Rare Beer Tasting to be held at the GABF.

80% of the tickets are already sold! If you're going to be in Denver for GABF, take a look at the drool-worthy list below, and TRY to tell me that ain't worth $55! Details are on the graphic (click on it to see it full-size). Get your money down, people! Tickets are available HERE.


Beers at the Tasting:
Allagash Fluxus ’09: This saison from Maine is brewed with sweet potatoes and black pepper, weighing in at 8.3 percent alcohol by volume. Jason Perkins will represent the brewery.

Alaskan 1999 Vintage Smoked Porter: The last known draught keg of the 1999 vintage of Alaskan’s much decorated Smoked Porter. This beer will be served alongside a sample of 2008 Alaskan Smoked Porter for comparison.

Anheuser-Busch Pilot Batch: This is an experimental beer from Anheuser-Busch so rare that only brewery insiders and a few lucky beer journalists will ever get the chance to taste the brew. Get ready to be surprised. Kristi Saviers will represent the brewery.

Brooklyn Wild 1: This beer started off as a batch of the popular bottle-conditioned Brooklyn Local 1 farmhouse ale, then spent nine months in Bourbon barrels and then it was bottle conditioned with Belgian re-fermentation yeast and a strain of Brettanomyces bruxellensis. Only 80 cases were made for consumption by Brooklyn Brewery staff. Garrett Oliver will represent the brewery.

Deschutes Black Butte Porter XX: Brewed in 2008 to celebrate Deschutes’ 20th anniversary, this 11 percent alcohol by volume beer was pulled from the brewmaster’s private library. This beer starts off as a Double Black Butte Porter, has cocoa nibs and Bellatazza Coffee Roasters’ Sumatran and Ethiopian beans added, then it is aged in ex-Bourbon barrels. Brett Porter will represent the brewery.

Dogfish Head 2006 Raison D’Extra: This is a super charged 18 percent alcohol by volume version of the popular Dogfish Head Raison D’Etre. The brewery has not made this brew for the past two years.

Foothills Barrel Aged Total Eclipse Stout: One of only 10 kegs of this beer in the world. This North Carolina brewery took its award winning stout and aged it for three to four months in ex-whiskey barrels that previously held 23-year-old Pappy Van Winkle Bourbon. Jamie Bartholomaus will represent the brewery.

Harpoon 100 Barrel Series Glacier Harvest ’09 Wet Hop Ale: The 28th edition of Harpoon’s 100 Barrel Series, this deep copper colored beer is made using fresh Glacier hops. Todd Charbonneau will represent the brewery.

Highland Big Butte Smoked Porter: Winner of the Highland Cup homebrewing completion and based on a recipe created by Alex Buerckholtz, this beer is only available for a very limited time in North Carolina. Features smoked German malt and Fuggle hops. John Lyda will represent the brewery.

New Glarus Golden Ale: This Belgian-style ale is the first of the Wisconsin brewery’s R&D Series and previously was only available at the brewery. The 7 percent alcohol by volume beer is bottle fermented with Brettanomyces yeast. Dan Carey will represent the brewery.

Reunion – A Beer of Hope: This Double White Ale was collaboratively designed and brewed by four brewers across the U.S.: Bison Brewing and Pizza Port Brewing in California, Elysian Brewing in Washington and Terrapin Brewing in Georgia. This Belgian-style witbier uses sweet orange peel, coriander, lemongrass and rhubarb root. Sales of the beer support The Institute for Myeloma & Bone Cancer Research. Daniel Del Grande and George Allen from Bison Brewery represent the brewers.

Rogue John-John Hazelnut Dead Guy: Named for Rogue Brewmaster John Maier and Rogue Master Distiller John Couchot, this brew starts off with Rogue’s famous Dead Guy Ale that is aged in Rogue Hazelnut Rum barrels. Brett Joyce will represent the brewery.

Saranac Imperial IPA: Part of the New York brewery’s limited release High Peaks Series this ale features 10 different hop varieties and 10 different malts.

Stone 2008 Old Guardian Barley Wine Aged in Red Wine Barrels: This 95 IBU barley wine has a massive malt character that is made even more complex thanks to the barrel aging. Greg Koch and Mitch Steele will represent the brewery.

Stoudt 2007 Barrel-Aged Reserve Old Abominable Barleywine: This vintage barleywine from Pennsylvania was aged for 10 months in oak whiskey barrels before being keg conditioned. Carol Stoudt will represent the brewery.

Wynkoop 2008 Barrel Aged Berserker Mead: This 11 percent alcohol by volume mead was made using Colorado wildflower honey and has spent about 20 months in barrels that were formally the home of Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey. C. Andrew Brown will represent the brewery.

Pennsylvania's newest brewpub onboard with SBP

Just got a copy of the e-letter from Old Forge Brewing, the new brewpub in Danville, PA (thanks to Sam Komlenic for forwarding it to me). Sounds like things are going well: sales are strong enough that they're having to brew often to keep the taps full, they've started live music, and the chef is now doing weekly specials. But the lead item, the one that caught my eye, was this:

For the past few weeks we had a "name that beer" competition. The ale is an easy drinking british mild, light bodied but dark and malty, a low alcohol session ale. The name that was chosen is Sensessionale! We did have some suggestions that we would like to share with you, hoping that it brings a smile to your face as they did for us: "Thomas had a big brown beaver ale", "I'm not larry ale", "what the ale", and "braveheart ale – long live William Wallace" and some others that aren't fit to print! A big 'Thank you' goes out to everyone who tried to "name that beer".

That's what I like to hear! Old Forge is on the breaking front of the newest wave in American brewing: session beer. Okay, maybe I'm overstating it to make my point, but maybe not. I'm seeing a lot more interest in session beers, and I'm going to predict right here that the Session Beer category at the 2009 GABF will see a large increase over the number of entries in 2008 (33), and there may be more in the two Mild Ale categories as well.

Cheers to Sensessionale and the folks at Old Forge! Can't wait to get up there and try some.

In Which I Keep All About Beer's Streak Alive

As this posts, I'm accepting the trade and specialized beer and brewing media award of the Michael Jackson Beer Journalism Awards at the GABF; my piece in All About Beer on "The Real History of Craft Beer" won. My apologies to all the folks I told I was not going to be at GABF: the BA asked me not to tell anyone about winning the award, so I didn't. At all.

And so this morning I left my hotel in San Francisco at 4:20, flew out of SFO at 6:20, and got into Denver about 10 AM to make it to the GABF on time to get the award. At least, I assume I did; I'm writing this in my room at the San Francisco Marriott Downtown on Friday afternoon before WhiskyFest.

My thanks to Rogue Ales, Boston Beer, and Brooklyn Brewery for the sponsorship of the award, to Daniel Bradford for the original idea of the story, and to Julie Bradford for suggesting that I submit the piece for the program. "We've got a streak going," she said, "and I just have a feeling about that piece." Other folks liked it too -- it's one of the few pieces I've done that I've gotten fan mail on -- so I sent it in.

So right now I'm collecting the award (that's a picture Tom Dalldorf took, and thanks to him and Celebrator for it), and tonight I'm going to spend some time at Falling Rock or Wynkoop with brewers and fellow writers. Good times, folks, good times. Thanks to everyone who's dug my writing; I do it for the most sincere beer geeky reasons: to share the love.

An update: I ran into Don Russell at the Fest afterwards, and we got to talking. Writers from Philadelphia have won one of these awards every year they've been awarded: Don, Carolyn Smagalski, Marnie Old, and now me. Sounds like we've got America's Best Beer-Writing City, too!