Woodshop Ten

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In all honesty, the soda was a lifesaver as it was a welcome break from the bombardment of sours and strong ales. Maybe it would be a good idea to have a few sodas on tap to refresh the palate a bit?
 
nanobrew said:
cquiroga, need me to do more sodas next year?
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LA BLIND HOP SHOWDOWN
A - Beachwood BBQ Hop Ramen IPA (kegged 9/30) (Reigning Champ)
B - Highland Park Neon IPA (kegged 10/3) (Home Turf Defender)
C - Modern Times Lost Horizon Double IPA (Challenger)
D - Pizza Port Wet Hopped The Burning of Rome IPA (Challenger)
E - Alpine Handshake IPA (kegged 9/23) (Challenger)
F - Belching Beaver Pound Town Triple IPA (Challenger)

LA BLIND COFFEE SHOWDOWN
A - Abnormal The Full Pint Breakfast Porter w/ Vanilla
B - AleSmith Velvet Speedway
C - Highland Park Hammered Satin w/ Espresso
D - Pizza Port - San Clemente Dusk Til Dawn Imperial Coffee Porter

Winners were Neon and Velvet. Really cool to see Neon defend its home turf. Hell of a beer.

I thought all of the Hop Showdown beers were really great. Would love to drink any of them again. My personal favorite was the Wet Hopped Burning of Rome, because I thought it had the most complex, interesting flavor. Then probably Belching Beaver. But Neon was great too.

I'd be very curious to see how these beers would stack up against the ones from San Diego. In particular, the winners from San Diego... Galaxy Showers was really awesome, and the surprise of the weekend, for me, was Coffee Silva Stout from Cellar 3. Amazingly delicious beer.
 
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SD BLIND HOP SHOWDOWN (I might have the order wrong on a couple of these-- have to check my notes)
A - Beachwood BBQ Hop Ramen IPA (kegged 9/30) (Reigning Champ)
B - Cellarmaker Admiration IPA (Challenger)
C - Noble Ale Works Galaxy Showers (Challenger)
D - Alpine Duet IPA (kegged 9/30) (Home Turf Defender)
E - El Segundo Mayberry IPA (kegged 10/2) (Challenger)
F - North Park Beer Co. Hop-Fu! (kegged 9/30) Home Turf Defender)

SD BLIND COFFEE SHOWDOWN (again, might have messed up this order)
A - Alesmith Vietnamese Speedway
B - Cellar 3 Coffee Silva
C - Noble Ale Works Naughty Sauce
D - Pizza Port - Carlsbad First In Imperial Coffee Porter

SD BLIND STONEFRUIT SHOWDOWN (I got this order correct)
A - Lost Abbey Ad Idem (collaboration with Wicked Weed)
B - Modern Times Fruitlands Apricot
C - Craftsman Cuvee de Masumoto
D - Council Imperial Beatitude w/ Peaches and Nectarines
E - Jeremiah Bignell Chat Flou! Two-Year Blend (homebrew)

Winners were Galaxy Showers, Coffee Silva, and Chat Flou! Two-Year Blend (of this point I am sure).

Galaxy Showers was delicious. For my tastes, only Hop Ramen and Hop-Fu! were close, but I thought Hop-Fu! quickly burned off of its fantastically itchy hop aroma to leave a noticeable butteriness that was not flattering. Coffee Silva was the showstopper in the Coffee Showdown, for my money. Crazy fudge brownie richness. Just not even close to the other beers.

And while several of the Stonefruit beers left a little lacking here or there ("too mild aroma"; "no carbonation and weak mouthfeel"; etc.), the Two-Year Blend of Chat Flou! was ridiculously, ridiculously good. Awesome to see Jeremiah (longtime underground legend homebrewer-- "Greenhill Brewery", currently working on collaborating with Homage Brewing in Pomona) take it down against some very formidable competition. Expect big things!
 
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swivelhips said:
Well how was the draft then?
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Really good. Lots of flavor from all of the additives (not surprising knowing cquiroga and his love for french pressing). Big plus for me is it was not a booze bomb. Honestly though, much like a lot of the beers from that day, I cannot give a detailed description, more of just a Yes, Meh, No rating. This beer is a Yes.
 
swivelhips said:
Well how was the draft then?
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Really good. Lots of flavor from all of the additives (not surprising knowing cquiroga and his love for french pressing). Big plus for me is it was not a booze bomb. Honestly though, much like a lot of the beers from that day, I cannot give a detailed description, more of just a Yes, Meh, No rating. This beer is a Yes.
 
I had it pretty early on at Woodshop – I remember it being smooth and very vanilla forward with the coffee present but not in your face (which is a saving grace for me, as I’m not a huge coffee person).
 
The keg of Hammered Satin w/ Trystero espresso was one of the most coffee forward beers I've come across. Absolutely amazing. Still can't believe Velvet beat it out in the blind challenge... SMH
 
wuntrikpony said:
The keg of Hammered Satin w/ Trystero espresso was one of the most coffee forward beers I've come across. Absolutely amazing. Still can't believe Velvet beat it out in the blind challenge... SMH
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If it's the one think it was, lots of folks felt it had too much of that bell pepper flavor happening in the Hammered Satin. I'm a coffee guy, and it was a bit much for me in a beer. Almost reminded me of Big Bad Baptist when it was first released out here. Was too coffee heavy, and I like coffee. To each his own.
 
Sage said:
I had it pretty early on at Woodshop – I remember it being smooth and very vanilla forward with the coffee present but not in your face (which is a saving grace for me, as I’m not a huge coffee person).
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i think i remember it being a cinnamon bomb. really tasty.
 
The 10th anniversary is tasting delicious. Word on the street is that Bob has some plans for the remaining bottles, cause it really was something folks just glossed over while destroying themselves with that BT vertical like some masochist.
 
FBIinformant said:
The 10th anniversary is tasting delicious. Word on the street is that Bob has some plans for the remaining bottles, cause it really was something folks just glossed over while destroying themselves with that BT vertical like some masochist.
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Yeah, the next morning I was shocked to find that I had actually picked up my bottle.
 
wuntrikpony said:
The keg of Hammered Satin w/ Trystero espresso was one of the most coffee forward beers I've come across. Absolutely amazing. Still can't believe Velvet beat it out in the blind challenge... SMH
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Very surprised by the Velvet win, I had both the Hammered Satin and Abnormal porter ranked above it...
 
In case you were wondering, the votes were as follows...

Abnormal - 10
Velvet - 16
Hammered - 11
Dusk Til Dawn - 2

And the hops...

Beachwood - 6
Neon - 13
Lost Horizon - 7
Wet Hopped Burning of Rome - 7
Handshake - 1
Pound Town - 6

I liked the Abnormal, but it had a distinct green apple/acetaldehyde nose that I couldn't shake, and I actually thought it might have been the Alesmith because of that (Vietnamese Speedway suffered the same fate in SD, and I've had too many bottles of various Speedways over the years with the same flaw). Velvet was incredibly rich, intense, and complex, and because of that I guessed that it might be Dusk Til Dawn. Hammered Satin had a fantastic, fantastic aroma of fresh roasted coffee beans unlike pretty much any beer I've ever had, but the flavor and body was surprisingly a little bit thin (add lactose, maybe? like we did with the Woodshop 10??). Dusk Til Dawn simply did not measure up, and was surprisingly faint.

The "Elite ****" blend we made of about 60-70% Velvet and 30-40% Hammered Satin was an absolute soul-crushing monster of a beer. They should bottle that ****.

Hops were, as I said before, ALL really damn good. And add to this the absolute deliciousness of the Tiny Dankster and Nose Candy in that mini-Hop Monster Showdown of their own... It was a really, really good day for Hop lovers.
 
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It was interesting drinking velvet off draft right next to my bottle pour. Not even close to the same beer, it was weird. Bottle so much better, almost wish I had more left.
 
Did you guys vote for the Blind Coffee Showdown? Lots of trash-talking against a clear winner, and a beer that many were clamoring for to drink more of and to use in the infusions...
 
I personally didn't in SD since I completely forgot what time I needed to get my answers in by. The generosity of everyone coming by with growlers and bottles pretty much made me lose track of time. =P
 
sdreaper said:
I personally didn't in SD since I completely forgot what time I needed to get my answers in by. The generosity of everyone coming by with growlers and bottles pretty much made me lose track of time. =P
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We did not serve Velvet on draft in SD. FYI...

We had Vietnamese Speedway in the Blind Coffee Showdown in SD. Velvet was only served on draft in LA.
 
nanobrew said:
I am terrible at remembering to not only vote but to also try the blind taste show down. I think next year I will make a rule for myself where I need to belly up to the bar and go through them all before I can partake in any of the other festivities.

I did try all the Stone fruit ones and vote.
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In LA, the core group of volunteers made a point to do exactly this... Order all of the Hop Showdown beers as a group right at the beginning of the event, work through them and find your favorite(s), and then do the same with the Coffee Showdown beers. It's really great to go that route, because you let the bartenders know you're tasting with a group, get a large pour of everything so you can note particulars like head formation, color/clarity, head retention, aroma, and then how the whole thing evolves a bit as it opens up and warms.

ADDED BONUS: You have a can't-miss great beer to turn to any time throughout the rest of the day that you're "bored" and can't find something tasty to drink. The Blind Showdown beers are and have been some of the very best beers we've served the last couple of years. And if I have my way, it'll remain that way for any future Woodshops (but let's not get ahead of ourselves there...).

I know it's a crazy environment to try to think about stopping and concentrating on something like this (believe me, I *KNOW* it's crazy...), but the Blind Showdowns are one of my absolute favorite things about these events, and I make a point with each of the host venues every year that they do not tell me which of the Showdown beers are in what order, so I can participate in the fun myself. Good times....
 
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cquiroga said:
you let the bartenders know you're tasting with a group, get a large pour of everything so you can note particulars like head formation, color/clarity, head retention, aroma, and then how the whole thing evolves a bit as it opens up and warms
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Ah, doing the blind tasting as a group – smart, will do that next year.
 
cquiroga said:
Did you guys vote for the Blind Coffee Showdown? Lots of trash-talking against a clear winner, and a beer that many were clamoring for to drink more of and to use in the infusions...
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i dunno if 16 to 11 is a clear winner when the sample size is so small.

When guys were doing the infusion I felt like it was more for the novelty with a rare beer than anything. I heard more than once "HAHA I AM MAKING AN INFUSION WITH (insert X number)OZ OF VELVET". (maybe it was the same guy saying it, who knows)

You know the game, people want to drink what's rare. I know I'm guilty, I had a second taste of it after the reveal and it confirmed my original note :D
 
clayfu said:
i dunno if 16 to 11 is a clear winner when the sample size is so small.

When guys were doing the infusion I felt like it was more for the novelty with a rare beer than anything. I heard more than once "HAHA I AM MAKING AN INFUSION WITH (insert X number)OZ OF VELVET". (maybe it was the same guy saying it, who knows)

You know the game, people want to drink what's rare. I know I'm guilty, I had a second taste of it after the reveal and it confirmed my original note :D
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I wish more people had participated in the vote, sure, but 39 votes out of about 120 attendees amidst the madness actually doesn't seem that bad. I know that, statistically, it's a low confidence level/high confidence interval claim, but I still find it curious that there are at least 3-4 people on here who are so surprised/opposed to the results (although 1 of them, it sounds like, had the wrong beer/wrong day).

From my experience talking to folks before the Reveal, it seemed a clear 2-beer race between Velvet and Hammered Satin, so my big surprise, personally, was actually just how close Abnormal was to the others. But it seemed like that small, informal polling basically agreed with the vote and that the group tended to prefer Velvet. So even if people were clamoring for Velvet AFTER the Reveal, I'm not sure "people want to drink what's rare" really does anything to undermine the results of the polling.

Sample size sort of does, and your point is well taken, either way, but again I ask... Did you vote?
 
cquiroga said:
In LA, the core group of volunteers made a point to do exactly this... Order all of the Hop Showdown beers as a group right at the beginning of the event, work through them and find your favorite(s), and then do the same with the Coffee Showdown beers. It's really great to go that route, because you let the bartenders know you're tasting with a group, get a large pour of everything so you can note particulars like head formation, color/clarity, head retention, aroma, and then how the whole thing evolves a bit as it opens up and warms.

ADDED BONUS: You have a can't-miss great beer to turn to any time throughout the rest of the day that you're "bored" and can't find something tasty to drink. The Blind Showdown beers are and have been some of the very best beers we've served the last couple of years. And if I have my way, it'll remain that way for any future Woodshops (but let's not get ahead of ourselves there...).

I know it's a crazy environment to try to think about stopping and concentrating on something like this (believe me, I *KNOW* it's crazy...), but the Blind Showdowns are one of my absolute favorite things about these events, and I make a point with each of the host venues every year that they do not tell me which of the Showdown beers are in what order, so I can participate in the fun myself. Good times....
Click to expand...

This is exactly what my friend and I did in LA. We arrived around noon, cracked one of the beers we brought at a table and shared maybe one other. Then we saddled up to the bar and went through the blind hops one by one, and then the coffees one by one. It made it much easier to compare and remember what we liked and didn't like and it gave us a purpose to drink aside from just dome-to-the-face-bro that we were secretly wanting to do.

We both voted for Neon as the best hoppy beer by a long shot (and ironically, Hop Ramen as the far and away worst of the group). He voted for Absolution in the coffee and I voted for Dusk, which probably means we both suck at coffee.

Either way, I'm glad we instituted some "structure" to our day, it helped us reign in the madness and come away feeling like we actually participated somehow.

Can't wait for next year!
 
cquiroga said:
I wish more people had participated in the vote, sure, but 39 votes out of about 120 attendees amidst the madness actually doesn't seem that bad. I know that, statistically, it's a low confidence level/high confidence interval claim, but I still find it curious that there are at least 3-4 people on here who are so surprised/opposed to the results (although 1 of them, it sounds like, had the wrong beer/wrong day).

From my experience talking to folks before the Reveal, it seemed a clear 2-beer race between Velvet and Hammered Satin, so my big surprise, personally, was actually just how close Abnormal was to the others. But it seemed like that small, informal polling basically agreed with the vote and that the group tended to prefer Velvet. So even if people were clamoring for Velvet AFTER the Reveal, I'm not sure "people want to drink what's rare" really does anything to undermine the results of the polling.

Sample size sort of does, and your point is well taken, either way, but again I ask... Did you vote?
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re: people wanting to drink what's rare, is in response to you saying that it's a beer people were clamoring for after the reveal/using for infusions, not about the voting.

I didn't vote. I went to go look roughly around 15 minutes before you announced the results and the buckets were gone. For the hops showdown there was a big quiet down and announcement to tell everyone to go vote (which I did) but I don't remember the same for coffee. Not that my singular vote would have swung it since it would have just been 16-12.

We can discuss more tonight :D
 
cquiroga said:
Did you guys vote for the Blind Coffee Showdown? Lots of trash-talking against a clear winner, and a beer that many were clamoring for to drink more of and to use in the infusions...
Click to expand...

I have to admit I was too far gone and lost my chips...

I definitely agree on going for the blind stuff first, and it helps even more to have a few spare glasses to make some side by side comparisons.
 

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