Official 2008 GABF Denver Oct 9-11 thread

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Anyone at the Sheraton Denver at 1550 Court Pl?

im crashing at my cousins place in arvada and taking the express bus in and out each day. ill prolly end up at the sheraton at some point though since i found out like 6 of my friends are going to be staying there and going to the saturday night session too :mug:
 
Yes Sir! Dont know what we are doing. Anyone that isnt working got day plans? (Thrus - Sat) I would like to go to Boulder and check out things there. Red Stone would be nice to see.

From an e-mail I got from avery the other day. This place is what craft brewing is all about. They hang out, they drink, they chat. I gaurantee Adam Avery will be chilling, they will have food, and good times. I love this place!!!


Avery Tap Room Hours

Beginning September 30th, 2008

Tuesday through Friday, 2 PM to 8 PM, Brewery tour at 4 PM

Saturday, 12 PM to 8 PM, Brewery tour at 2 PM

Sunday, 12 PM to 6 PM, Brewery tour at 2 PM
CLOSED MONDAYS



GABF Week at Avery: Extended Hours and Extravagant one-off tappings!

We're breaking into our keg cellar and tapping up some crazy stuff all week long beginning Tuesday, October 7th. Locals and die-hard Avery fans (you know who you are) can thank the huge influx of out-of-towners in Colorado for the Great American Beer Festival for this special occasion. Avery wants to show folks what we're all about. When it comes down to it, we're a company of brewers dedicated to experimentation, variety, knowledge and whatever flows forth from it! We make the beer that we want to drink, so stop by the Avery Tap Room and join us in tasting our latest experiments!

Hours for GABF week from October 7th to October 12th will be:
Tuesday - Friday, 10 AM to 8 PM
Saturday, 12 PM to 8 PM
Sunday, 12 PM to 6 PM

You can be sure that Avery standards like IPA, White Rascal and Ellie's Brown will be on tap all week. That leaves another 9 taps for experimental beers. Tapping schedule is as follows:

Tuesday - De Vogelbekdieren (aka The Platypus)- Blend of three different projects aged in five different oak barrels. Belgian, funk, slightly sour.
Wednesday - Uberschwein - Our Hog Heaven Barleywine Style Ale, dry-hopped in the keg with an additional two pounds of Columbus hops (that equates to four pounds per barrel!). This is what we call "gettin' jiggy with the piggy!"
Thursday - Sour Cherry Mephistopheles' Stout - Huge, coal black Belgian Imperial Stout aged with sour cherries in a J.W. Lees barrel. This beer will literally knock the taste buds right off your tongue. Only 8 gallons produced!
Friday - Bad Sally - Our 9% ABV Salvation Belgian Golden Ale aged in a Bookcliff Cabernet Sauvignon barrel with a secondary fermentation of brettanomyces.
Saturday - Battle of the Beasts - 2008 Beast Grand Cru alongside other versions of The Beast TBD. Gaze, smell, taste and compare!


Scheduled tappings are of limited availability beers (just a few kegs in existence of each.) As such, all kegs will tap at 12 NOON on the scheduled day and will stay on tap until they run out.
 
If you're looking to brush up on the BJCP styles... I decided to compile a list of BJCP Commercial examples of American beers from the 2008 Style Guidelines... I cross referenced it the list of breweries at Beertown.org weeding out the ones who won't be serving beer... (No Bell's at the fest this year?)

I made one with a nice looking, easy to read format and it's about 9 pages long showing the Style, subcategory, then examples with their location at the festival on the map (map PDF link from the beertown link) in parenthesis.
I also made a condensed version where I deleted all the fluff and formatting so it basically just says the style name, example and location all crammed into a paragraph for each subcategory. If you deleted a few lines I left in saying there were no examples for that specific subcategory it would probably fit in 3 pages (everything is in 12pt font).

I created these in OpenOffice (free Microsoft Office-like suite... wiki link) but saved .doc files in case you're an Office user, though I'm not sure if all the formatting will stick since I can't check it, also made PDF's.
Feel free to distribute or edit to your heart's desire... let me know of any errors.

Long Form:
PDF
DOC (MS Office)
ODT (Open Office Document)

Condensed:
PDF
DOC (MS Office)
ODT (Open Office Document)

No guarantees they will be serving these exact beers at the festival, but I'm sure many of the examples will be available.
 
Yay!!! Can't wait until Thursday!!!
I'll be at the GABF Thursday and then for the Saturday members-only session. And making a rare appearance will also be my HWMOM! (hasn't got quite the same ring as SWMBO huh.) HIMBO? Whatever, we'll both be there.
 
Anyone have any extra GABF tickets they would like to sell (any day)? I'm in dire need and seemed to have procrastinated till the last minute this year :(
 
Went to Vine St. Pub last night - about 1.5 miles from downtown. They are the sister brewery to Mountain Sun. Had an excellent lineup of their own brews (about 15). A very good stout and several IPAs. There was a ginger beer and a blackberry beer. The place is new, but worth the trip. The Blue Basil Burger was good too.

Also, a few guest taps.
 
Went to Vine St. Pub last night - about 1.5 miles from downtown. They are the sister brewery to Mountain Sun. Had an excellent lineup of their own brews (about 15). A very good stout and several IPAs. There was a ginger beer and a blackberry beer. The place is new, but worth the trip. The Blue Basil Burger was good too.

Also, a few guest taps.

The Pollo Asado burrito smothered in green chile is heaven on a plate!!! I am usually at the Mountain Sun once a week.

Going to Avery after work tonight for one of their special releases, and probably thursday at lunch as well...
 
I'm actually excited to go set up tomorrow morning. I'll try to grab some 'behind the scenes' photos as the convention center gets transformed for the GABF.
 
Ugh, I'm not feeling so hot today....

haha I bet.

Hey does anybody know of any hotels nearby the Conv center with availability? I've called freaking everywhere and cannot get a room. I need one with at least 2 beds for under $150. We're at the hotel Monaco for the night of the 10th but want something cheaper for the 11th. Any ideas?
 
haha I bet.

Hey does anybody know of any hotels nearby the Conv center with availability? I've called freaking everywhere and cannot get a room. I need one with at least 2 beds for under $150. We're at the hotel Monaco for the night of the 10th but want something cheaper for the 11th. Any ideas?

You might want to try the Marriott in the Denver Tech Center. Yes, it's 12 miles from the convention center, but it's just a couple of minutes' walk from the light rail station -- you can take the train directly to the convention center and back.

Here's a link to a google map.
 
You might want to try the Marriott in the Denver Tech Center. Yes, it's 12 miles from the convention center, but it's just a couple of minutes' walk from the light rail station -- you can take the train directly to the convention center and back.

Here's a link to a google map.

Thanks so much...I'm having trouble figuring out how to take the lightrail directly late at night on saturday. Check out the following map: 101 SE Line - the convention center station and belleview station don't match up on the list. I've never taken the lightrail before so I'm not familiar with how it works. Any insight?
 
lightrailmap.gif


Basically, you can take any southbound train from the convention center, then transfer over to the F line at the 10th and Osage or Broadway stations*. I'd recommend the broadway station, as hanging around 10th & Osage late on a Saturday might be a bit dicey. You're better off catching an F train from the start.

Worst case, you should be able to get a train to anywhere in the tech center, then catch a cheap cab to your hotel. Belleview is a major station, though.

I've never been able to read the schedules easily. The designers need a solid dose of Edward Tufte.

*TAKE NOTE: I don't ride the F line, since I come in from the Englewood station on the D line.
 
OMG!!! Ticketmaster cancelled both my ticket orders without my knowledge!!! :mad::mad::mad:

I'm on hold with them right now to find out what the hell is going on.

Anybody got any tix for ANY session available to sell?
 
I am heading out tomorrow for Thursday night session , then 4 of us are taking Quads to the top of the mount kingston and St. Mary's glacier on Friday, then lunch and bad behavior at Tommyknockers in Idaho Springs , skipping Friday night and going to Bull and Bush ( ah....Royal Oil ...) then Saturday MO session , then who knows what Saturday night skipping that session as well , leaving on Sunday probably in badddd shape.:drunk:

Denver rocks !

Hope to meet up with a few HBT'rs
 
Getting on a plane tomorrow afternoon. Heading over with a couple friends who were there last year (I couldn't make it :().

Woohoo beer! :rockin:
 
So who's at Falling Rock right now? I'm watching their web cam. I can't believe I'm not there. My first year missing GABF since 1995. :(
 
The Pollo Asado burrito smothered in green chile is heaven on a plate!!! I am usually at the Mountain Sun once a week.

Going to Avery after work tonight for one of their special releases, and probably thursday at lunch as well...

I had the burrito last night and it rocked. The line up of beers at Mountain Sun was great. After that we went over to the Boulder Brewing Company and wasn't as impressed. The very uninformed bartender tried to tell us that their beer only took 1 and half hours to ferment. I thought I misunderstood him and I asked him to clarify to which he replied that it is true.

:mug:
 
I had the burrito last night and it rocked. The line up of beers at Mountain Sun was great. After that we went over to the Boulder Brewing Company and wasn't as impressed. The very uninformed bartender tried to tell us that their beer only took 1 and half hours to ferment. I thought I misunderstood him and I asked him to clarify to which he replied that it is true.

:mug:

You passed my office then, I am on that same street as Boulder Beer.

There are better places in Boulder for beer. Avery for certain. Oskar Blues is close enough (Lyons) and their burgers are fantastic as well. Ribs are even better.
 
hanging around 10th & Osage late on a Saturday might be a bit dicey.

Eh, it's not so bad. If you've got time to kill slip in to the Buckhorn Exchange for a pint. Bit of history for you. It's the oldest liquor license in Colorado.


I'll be pouring tonight (thursday) and friday and going to the members session.
time to make a pretzel run
(pouring in the Pacific region but no idea what brewery)
 
They ran out of volunteer tix for Satiurday afternoon, so I guess I'll go to the Saturday evening session.

Unless somebody has a spare ticket to swap, that is. Anybody?
 
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