World Beer Festival--Raleigh

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hey we didnt buy but 10 tickets.. well i bought 2 sailman bought 8.. lol.. looks like we were just meant to have it.. told ya it was OURS! :)
 
Congrats Rocky Mounters! You guys went from 0 to 60 in one day flat.

Kai, were there any beers you did like :confused: :p

And as far going out later, we snagged a pint on the way to the Mexican restaurant (something about some women flashing on top of the bar that drew us in), and then had a few more at the Flying Saucer. Needless to say, I was toast after that. I don't really remember getting home, but the passenger seat in the Baronmobile was in full recline when I went out this morning (though I woke up in bed :confused:).

That's probably my last festival for a while, but mark you calendars for the Brewgrass Festival in 18 months. I'm going to talk the Chairman into attending that one, too.

Oh yeah, I don't think I'm sick.
 
Baron von BeeGee said:
Kai, were there any beers you did like

There were a number of good beers too, but unfortunately the bad one stood out so much. One problem with such a festival is that you are getting drunk to soon and you will have a hard time remembering the beers you like. Next time I should get a tick-list of beer that I want to try in an earlier stage of drunkenness so I can evaluate them well.

Dude, I had the beer in the bottle with the cap labeled "Hooch" tonight. What was it? It reminded me of the one Witt I tried at the festival and that's why I assume it is a Witt. Do we just post beer critique in this thread?

Assuming it is a Witt: I'm not familiar with the style and cannot comment on how close you hit a desired style. But the beer was well brewed, there were no off-flavors that I noticed. It is a little sour in the finish, but this seems to be desired and goes well with the style. Witts remind me of German Hefes without the funkiness of the yeast, but with more funk than American Hefes ;). All in all I liked it.

Kai
 
If yout bottles map out the same as mine, that "Hooch" bottle was his Honey Wheat.

Although, you did just remind me that one of the beers we all seemed to really like was the Witt from Moon River Brewing (is that right?... I think it is, but not certain.)

-walker

PS: I think we should start a separate thread for beer tasting analysis. One thread per brewer. Something likes "Review of Dude's beers" or something that includes the brewer's name.
 
Walker-san said:
PS: I think we should start a separate thread for beer tasting analysis. One thread per brewer. Something likes "Review of Dude's beers" or something that includes the brewer's name.

Yeah, that sounds good.


Kai, that was the honey wheat. Was it flat? It has been bottled (with priming tabs only for about 2 weeks. Hopefully it was carbed enough. Definitely a sour finish--I think that is from maybe the yeast--it was the WLP320 and I get that same sourness from Widmer hefe, which the yeast is supposedly from. The malt bill on that sucker was also 60% wheat. Could be part of it.

I wonder why the sticky note labels are falling off of those bottles...oh well.
 
Dude said:
Was it flat? It has been bottled (with priming tabs only for about 2 weeks. Hopefully it was carbed enough.

After asking what beer was what earlier today, I realized that I had taken the beers from you and just put them straight into my cooler full of ice and left them there overnight. I pulled the honey brews back out and put them in a warmer place to let them finish conditioning, but the LPR and SPA went to the fridge.

-walker
 
Dude said:
that was the honey wheat. Was it flat?

No carbonation problems here. And no residual sweetness (from the primer) either. I would have noted that.

I think I should read your list again to see what beers I should have first. And I added a key for the numbers on the caps of my bottles to my sig. This makes it easier to identify the beer. Though the difference between pale ale and weizen should be pretty clear.

Kai
 
Walker-san said:
After asking what beer was what earlier today, I realized that I had taken the beers from you and just put them straight into my cooler full of ice and left them there overnight. I pulled the honey brews back out and put them in a warmer place to let them finish conditioning, but the LPR and SPA went to the fridge.

-walker

The honey pale ale is drinkable now, just a touch green. It might be interesting to drink one now and then try another one in a month or so.

Those were bottled with the beer gun so they will definitley be carbed.
 
Now that I've gone through the book and refreshed my memory.....

For kicks, here is my top five and other thoughts....

Hop-it, Urthel Brewery--This was one of the first beers I tried. It still sticks out as one of my faves. Very hoppy. Very bitter--almost harsh. Maybe Chinook? It is a belgian strong ale at 9.5% I thought it was great.

Highland--2 of their beers are in my top 5 (EDIT: And they still count as only 1!). The Gaelic Ale. As I said in another thread--even after Kai and Walker said it was good--I was skeptical. It just sounded boring. I was kind of expecting the whole Irish red thing. Nahhh...it is way more complex than that. It had a great balance--you could tell it had hops. After I read the description about it and read it had Cascades--I was even more hooked. Then the Oatmeal Porter. That was super. I loved the hint of sweetness in it. Just a hint. This is a fine brewery!

Hoppy Hour IPA, Mashouse--Great example of an IPA. I could drink that all day long.

Wild Wacky Wit, Moon River--I'm not usually gaga over wit beers, I like the style but I have to be in the right mood. Well this one was SUPER, IMHO. It had a really pronounced citrus nose. I'm a citrus freak so I loved it. It was about as classic in style as you can get--but probably had more citrus notes in smell and flavor than the classic styles, at least from what I've had. I loved this one.

Rainbow Trout ESB, Blue Ridge--I might be confusing this with a different ESB--we had a ton of samples--but I know an ESB stuck out to me and I *think* this was it. I was really surprised at how bitter this was, but balanced. I haven't much exposure to ESB styles, so i didn't really know what I was getting. They had an IPA too, Bull-n-Chain, that I tried and it was decent.

Also--I'm getting some beers confused--but I'm pretty sure the Shiva IPA is the one that reminded me very much of Lake Walk Pale Ale. Of course I liked that one. :p I like the Bridgeport beers I had--the IPA was great and the Black Strap Stout was extremely interesting. Later this summer I am going to put together a winter stout recipe with blackstrap molasses in it. I have a feeling that will take a while to ferment out so I'm gonna start it early.

Anyway--I have to mention one I absolutely DID NOT like. Lakefront Brewery's Oraganic ESB. I've had it in the bottle before. I had to try it again because they are from Milwaukee. Nahhh. Bad beer.

And as I said earlier--it was a nice treat to get SN Celebration Ale out of season. Always a nice treat. That is a fine beer. Right behind Hop Rod Rye as my 2 faves.

And I did commit one major "beer snob faux-pas". I blame you guys though. How in the hell did you all let me buy a solid BLACK pint glass? How the hell am I supposed to see the color of my beer through that beast? :D
 
#1: I'm thoroughly enjoying reading the adventures you guys had...

But of course there is a #2: :D


Dude said:
And I did commit one major "beer snob faux-pas". I blame you guys though. How in the hell did you all let me buy a solid BLACK pint glass? How the hell am I supposed to see the color of my beer through that beast? :D

And I know you would NEVER do this :D But wouldn't it come in handy to hide a B/M/C that someone gave you??? ;)


Camo-Beer....


Ize
 
Dude said:
Baron...post your pics....or I'll cut off your johnson.
I think I've only got two from standing at the gate? Nobody reminded me to take more inside, and it didn't cross my mind again! However, I'll post the two by lunch.

Edit...wait a second...who the hell got a hold of my camera?
 
Baron von BeeGee said:
I think I've only got two from standing at the gate? Nobody reminded me to take more inside, and it didn't cross my mind again! However, I'll post the two by lunch.

Edit...wait a second...who the hell got a hold of my camera?

You were totally trashed, Billy. We ended up taking several more pics inside the place after you attempted to tell my wife how to work the camera part of your phone. :)
 
Dude said:
The Black Strap Stout was extremely interesting. Later this summer I am going to put together a winter stout recipe with blackstrap molasses in it. I have a feeling that will take a while to ferment out so I'm gonna start it early.
The first stout I ever made (circa Xmas, 1997) had black strap in it. I don't recall how MUCH black strap was in it exactly (it was a kit from Brewer's Best), but I do remember that it was in a pouch that was about 1/2 the size of a swollen Wyeast smack-pack. I'm guessing it was about 8oz or so. You don't need very much of it in 5 gallons.

I don't recall it lenghening the ferment time, but I was a total NOOB at that time. That stout was my 3rd batch ever, and we did not have a secondary fermenter. We left it in the primary for 2 weeks and then bottled it for 2, and it was ready to roll.

Dude said:
And I did commit one major "beer snob faux-pas". I blame you guys though. How in the hell did you all let me buy a solid BLACK pint glass? How the hell am I supposed to see the color of my beer through that beast? :D
I must have missed that. I didn't know anybody bought anything.

-walker
 
Hmmm...found it easy enough. Actually, I realize that I need to get a new phone from work that has blogging built in (beerging?). But anyways... And sorry about the size, that's just how I roll.

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The Dude Family and BeerLuvnGrl at the gate before they let us in. Dude and I managed to hook up pretty quickly, but I think he sent the first two dozen SMS's of his budding texting career trying to locate BeerLuvnGrl and sailman. The cups we're holding are some 'DopplePepsi' (in case the man is reading this) the Kaiser brought for the interim.

DSC00086.jpg

The Kaiser and the Walkers at the gate. We showed up at 11:30 for a 12 BeerFest and it was good we did...the line went around a city block, and we were about 10-12 people from the gate. Again, thanks to the Kaiser for the excellent DopplePepsi.
 
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My buddy Chuck at the gate. He doesn't brew, but he does drink it.

DSC00089.jpg

Paul & ???. Paul's a buddy of mine I ran into inside the festival, and ??? is a gal he met at a bar the weekend before. I'm not sure he even knows what her name is, but by the end of the fest she was known as 'The Flasher'.
 
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No explanation required! Mrs. Dude, BeerLuvnGrl, and Mrs. Walker.

DSC00091.jpg

Pretty much everybody, I guess. Mr & Mrs Dude, me, sailman, BeerLuvnGrl, the Kaiser, and Walker-san. I imagine Mrs. Walker was shooting the pic.
 
DSC00092.jpg

Another buddy that came with me, Ed. That's his daughter Jamie who came with her mom to pick Ed up at the Flying Saucer (she's not good with directions, but can get there). He homebrews, but doesn't hang out here.

That was pretty much the end of the day for us!
 
wow awesome pics.. i had my camera and was too lazy to bring it in.. lol i really should have! now i gotta actualy read about the beer....
 
Wow...I'm impressed by the quality of those pics from a camera phone!

That 'dude' in the blue sweatshirt is a handsome fella!

Thanks for posting those Baron! Damn that was a good time!!!!!
 
Dude said:
Wow...I'm impressed by the quality of those pics from a camera phone!
2MP, baby. I even set it to medium quality so the pics would be manageable. I've got a 3MP here at work, but didn't think to bring it.

And I'm not wearing a sweatshirt...that's a blue shortsleeve shirt.
 
So I'm sitting here looking at the handy-dandy BAC chart that was passed out at the festival, and I noticed that impairment begins at a BAC of .02, for a 200 lb male. For a 220 lb. male, impairment begins at .03.

Looks like I've got some eating to do. :rockin:
 
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