Mike Loves Beer

We believed after Night of the Barrels it only made sense to do the night session of the Extreme Beer Fest Saturday night sessions.  We took the opportunity to sleep in a little bit (my buddy Brian needed it more than the rest of us) and then head to Quincy Market and walk around.  We also took the T all the way down to Boston Beer Company to do the Sam Adams tour.  But around 4:30 it was time to head over to Cyclorama again.

We were happy that Saturday in general was not nearly as cold as the day before but once that sun went down waiting in line again brought on the challenge of staying warm.  Oddly enough we were pretty much in the same exact spot in line as the night before.  We planned our course of attack once again in line and when the doors opened we tried to get to it.

This time instead of all the breweries along the walls they had some there and some in the middle.  This cut down the amount of space to just hang out and relax.  This along with there being more people for the Saturday sessions led to some big time clutter in spots.

Right away Funky Buddha and Short’s had big lines and they pretty much stayed that way the majority of the night.  We continued our plan of each person in our group getting a different beer from whatever brewery we went to in order to let us try as many as we could.  And in about 2 hours again we hit almost everything we wanted to have with maybe less than a handful of exceptions.

My top beers of the evening were as such.

• Stone – Punishment
• Funky Buddha – Passionfruit Berliner Weisse
• Cigar City – Hungarian Oaked Peach IPA
• Founders – Canadian Breakfast Stout
• Captain Lawrence – Cuvee de Castleton

A few breweries like Heavy Seas, Evil Twin and Dark Horse didn’t receive a beer that they were each hoping for.  They seemed to have gotten lost in distribution or accidentally sent to an account.

I must say that I was also a bit disappointed in some of the Dogfish Head offerings.  While I initially had no intention on trying Dirty Fermentini, I don’t like olives and the idea of them pureed and put in beer sounds disgusting to me, I ended up having it after a friend told me it didn’t taste like anything.  After sipping it I had to agree.  It was rather watery and didn’t really taste much other than some sweetness.  Then Positive Contact, which was a beer that I really did want to try sort of came up flat as well.  Just didn’t really get any of the ingredients that it was said to have.

But again it was a great night of great beers.  We were happy to see our friends at Funky Buddha be so well received and numerous posts on sites all over and Twitter seemed to say they stole the show for the whole weekend.  They even got some major props from Tomme Arthur of Lost Abbey and Sam from Dogfish (all be it completely spelled their name wrong).  We are proud to say we have a great brewery in South Florida.

As I said yesterday this is absolutely a fest that every beer geek must do at least once.  Take friends with you as it is even more enjoyable than it already is when you can take in the great times with those that you love being around.

Man there have been a lot of beers in 2011.  Between beer festivals, events, small tastings, big tastings and just personal consumption I have sampled probably more beers this year than I have in any other calendar year.  And there is still one week left!

Well with that I will take on the daunting task of trying to compile a list of 10 of the best.  But I’m up for the challenge.  And while I’m sure I will miss a few here and there and you all will undoubtedly let me hear about it I will do my best.

So I give you, in no particular order, my top 10 beers of the year 2011.

• Passionfruit and Dragonfruit Berliner Weisse (Cigar City) – This was my absolutely favorite beer from the many that I tried at Hunahpu’s Day this year.  The pink color and head were the first thing that caught my eye from other people drinking it.  Then just the name sold me completely.  Light in body with an outstanding tartness that was just perfect for a easy drinking.
• Nelson IPA (Alpine) – This small brewery out of California is making a name for itself for extremely well craft beers.  Thanks to friends that are avid traders I have been able to sample a number of their brews.  But the one that really knocked it out of the park for me was Nelson IPA.  An American IPA brewed with an incredible amount of New Zealand’s Nelson Sauvin hops.  This hop variety has become my favorite and this beer spotlighted the strain very well.
• Heady Topper (The Alchemist) – Speaking of hopped up beers, The Alchemist out of Vermont released a double IPA that everyone is talking about.  The 120 IBU brew is a hop heads dream.  Even myself that has slowly been moving away from overly hoppy beers couldn’t help but enjoy this.  Plus it’s from a can, got to love cans.
• No Crusts (Funky Buddha) – The guys at Funky Buddha have released some great beers this year but one in particular stands out to me.  No Crusts is their take on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in a brown ale.  I’ve had a lot of beers that claim to taste like something in particular but none hit the nail on the head as much as this one.  From the peanuts to the fruity jelly tastes all the way to hints of wheat bread.  They have the whole sandwich in a glass.
• La Parcela (Jolly Pumpkin) – It’s no secret that pumpkin beers aren’t my thing.  It’s also no secret that sour beers are my thing.  So when one of my favorite bars got a keg of this I just had to give it a try.  Let’s just say from there after I probably helped kick that keg more than anyone else.  Pumpkin fans were probably disappointed in this but I was far from a pumpkin fan.  Some subtle spices mixed with a traditional sour JP beer suited me just fine.
• Hop Scotch (Tequesta) – Tequesta turns out solid beers that are made to style and super easy to drink.  When I heard of their decision to make a hoppy Scotch ale I was excited as this seemed like a new venture for them.  The experiment was a great success as this beer turned out to be my personal favorite that they have ever released.  Here’s to hoping they decide to make it again next year.
• Veritas 006 (Lost Abbey) – Yes this beer was not released in 2011 but I had it this year.  A bottle I received in a trade and decided to share with a couple friends on a very sour Thanksgiving.  Tons of raspberries in this tart beer made me more than happy.
• Charkoota Rye (New Holland) – While many people talk about Dragon’s Milk (and rightfully so) there was another beer from New Holland that I just loved.  This smoked rye doppelbock was packed full of bacon and smokey flavors.  Maple syrup and rye notes rounded out this bad boy.  I call it bad because I would want to drink this for breakfast everyday and unfortunately that is frowned upon.
• Hunahpu’s Imperial Stout (Cigar City) – Yes Cigar City is making another appearance on the list.  I promise it’s the last and the only brewery that makes a second appearance.  I loved Hunahpu’s the first year it came out but this year’s batch was so much better.  More chili peppers, more chocolate, more awesomeness in a glass (side note: my computer did not say that awesomeness was a misspelling so it must be real word now).  I’m glad I have one of each year to build up my vertical.
• Tart of Darkness (The Bruery) – Everyone wants to talk about Black Tuesday and Chocolate Rain from the Bruery.  While I enjoyed those beers they weren’t mind numbing like so many people make them out to be.  And believe me, I’m a big fan of the Bruery.  It’s their sours that really stand out to me though.  And Tart of Darkness was one of such beers.  A great mixture of a stout and sour brew brings a beer that is memorable to me.

Well there you have it, my 10 favorite beers of 2011.  Have you had any of these?  Did you like them?  Or better yet, what was your 10?  Tell me in the comments.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and got to spend it with some good people.  Even if that includes family you maybe don’t like so much.  I spent much of the day with my family and that is usually pretty good.  My dad and I watched football then we ate enough food to put back on all the Biggest Losers weight.  But after that I went to spend some time with friends.

My friend and podcasting partner Phil in crime invited myself and my girlfriend over to his house for a very, very small sour tasting unlike any other.  Along with our friend Tony, we each supplied a bottle of an uber rare sour beer.  Just take a look at the picture.

If you can’t tell by the picture this is Isabelle Proximus, Veritas 006 and Duck Duck Gooze.  All of which Lost Abbey had a hand in oddly enough.  These all are sought after and rare sours and I was just happy to be sharing these with good friends.

Just some short thoughts, Isabelle was everything that I had hoped it would be.  Beautiful American style sour that I could just drink all day long.  Duck Duck I’ve had before and it’s always a delight to have.  A lot like a traditional Belgian version in almost every way.  And the Veritas, well we had some issues with that but not taste related.

I went to open the bottle and was taking off the cage with the cage broke and the cork just shot out of the bottle.  While I got over the shock of that about 5 – 10 seconds later Old Faithful started to arise from the depths of the inside.  Of course a mess ensued but we got it under control rather quickly to where we didn’t lose a lot of it.

The Veritas was like a really well aged Framboise.  Tons of very tart and acidic raspberries in the taste.  Just delicious.

Well I just wanted to share with you what I did for my Thanksgiving.  I hope yours was just as good and spent with just as good company.